About House Paint

Function

House paints provide a beautiful finish to any paintable surface inside or outside your home, such as drywall, wood, concrete, stucco, wallpaper, iron or steel. Not only does paint make structures colorful and beautiful, it also offers protection from dirt, stains and scratches. Decorative painting can add depth and more character to any home such as those seen in faux painted homes.

Paint contains pigments and binders. The pigment provides the hue and color while binders hold the pigments together. Pigments can be inorganic, whether natural or artificial, or organic, whether natural or synthetic. Binders, on the other hand, come in oil, acrylic and casein. They each provide a different type of adhesion to paintable surfaces.

Latex Paint
There are three types of house paint: latex or water-based paint, alkyd or oil-based paint and acrylic paint. Latex is a name coined by paint manufacturers for all water-based paints. Oil-based, or alkyd, paint has linseed oil in the mixture. Paint comes in semi gloss, glossy and high gloss finish.

Acrylic paint is somewhat similar to latex or water-based paint, also known as latex acrylic. These paints include acrylic as an active ingredient in the mixture, which prevents yellowing and can make clean up easier.

Exterior Paint
Before tackling a painting project for your home, that are certain things that you would need to consider. If the areas you are painting will have many activities and would tend to get dirty easily due to smudges and dirt such as in garages, playrooms or basements, you would need a paint that would be easy to clean up. A latex paint will be good for these areas. When painting areas exposed to high humidity such as in bathrooms and kitchens, you would need an oil-based paint because they tend to hold up much stronger against this type of environment. If you are painting the exterior part of your house, choose a paint that is weatherproof so that you do not have to repaint too often. If you live in a residential community with a Homeowner's Association (HOA), check the regulations when it comes to choosing the color of your paint. In some areas marked as Historical neighborhoods, one would need an approval of what kind of paint to use from the board of Historical Society in your location to ensure that you keep the integrity and character of the era that your house belongs in.

Older homes may have lead-based paint.
When tackling painting projects for homes built before 1978, check first for the presence of lead. The use of lead in paint was outlawed in 1978, but homes built before that time may still contain lead-based paint.

Lead can cause cancer and blood poisoning when inhaled or ingested. Therefore, it is important to get an assessment of the old paint before tackling this project. Children are at a high risk when exposed to lead paint. Consult abatement experts to find out how to deal with lead-based paint.