# A Ben Moore Guy uses Sherwin Williams



## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

It's not that I have anything against SW, it just worked out that way
I started on crews that used an excellent regional brand, "..or Ben Moore if the regional isn't available"
Pittsburgh if we had the need or want

But never SW

As the years went by I just never had the occasion to use it
The old school Main St. SW in town left-there was no SW for a while
The regional brand went OOB
A family friend took over the independent paint shop in town and I've been going there since the '80s anyway

I know and respect the opinions of my colleagues that use SW and have understood it to be quality paint
I have said I wouldn't have a problem using it, it just never happened

...until now

We just moved to a new place
The new (to me) house interior was recently painted in pastel hell colors by the prev. owner (probably because it was going on the market)
A sweet, sweet, woman...and not too bad of a job either
But we really couldn't live with those colors

So the teen decides her room should be red
And she gets some SW that her aunt bought but never used...real red

I was busy with the Master bedroom but I had to pop-in (the teen and her mom love to paint, though sometimes it pains me, I let them do it in our house) and explain to them that "...for professional reasons, I have to spread some SW"
Ha ha
Well, they let me do a little section

What great paint, I'm sure I could get as proficient as am with Ben Moore rather quickly (know it's abilities and limits)

Best of all it only took two coats to get this real red to look great
...well, three over the patch areas I had to do, but that's to be expected, they weren't big enough for me to open up the primer

So from my short little test of SW I give it:
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Two Thumbs Up


On a side note:
Some more ammo against those that want to paint because the house is "going on the market"
I have always said, unless it's truly heinous, don't paint
The chances of the new owners wanting the same color are slim
Chances are the first thing they'll do is paint

But I don't know, these H/O want to do something, and figure a DIY paint job is a small amount of money well spent
It pained me to repaint the weeks old repaint
But it looks like I lived my advice from a home buyer's perspective
We walked in to each room and both said "Looks in good shape-that paint's gotta go"
Really, it was the second thing out of both our mouths

I wish they had DIYed a new carpet instead
:cheesygri
The color's fine but their three year old must have had run of the house, juice boxes and lollipops in hand
I've steam cleaned it twice already
Most of it's a goner, and I don't lay carpet:sad:


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## ProWallGuy (Oct 17, 2003)

Good review, but something's lacking. 
Kinda like saying "I just bought a new Ford". A Ford what?

So, cough up the goods. What was the SW brand and flavor?


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

ProWallGuy said:


> So, cough up the goods. What was the SW brand and flavor?


If your wife and teen-age daughter used red paint to paint the teen's room, would you be able to read anything on the paint can?
It looks like evidence from CSI
In fact, the ceiling and the rug look like evidence from CSI






:biggrin: 
lol...I'll go grab the can...


I can read "Real Red" that's about it
Oh wait, there's still a mix tag on one...

Sher-Color
Interior....Architectural
Color Accents...latex
Flat...IFC 7012
6321 Red Bay
...and then the formula book

So what's that?
Color Accents?


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## ProWallGuy (Oct 17, 2003)

I'm a big fan of Color Accents when I need deep ....color.....accents. 
Didn't know they made it in a flat, I'm definitely intrigued. I used it for all the Subway remodels in an eggshell. It was spec'ed by the franchise home office, in a mustard tone. Coverage was kick a$$.


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

ProWallGuy said:


> I'm a big fan of Color Accents when I need deep ....color.....accents.


For sure I'll think about it the next time I need to do a deep red
Looks like the base is "Real Red" that's tinted to "Red Bay"
I might even try them for a deep blue accent I want for the living room

I found the local Ben Moore dealer and got the paperwork started with him
There's a local Sherwin Williams not even a block down from them, maybe I should put in some face time down there

Good service is worth extra $ as far as I'm concerned, but as neither of these guys know me from Adam maybe I shouldn't judge the local BM and SW dealers from my previous experience (in my former home-town)



ProWallGuy said:


> Coverage was kick a$$.


I would have to agree
I was very impressed
I told the girls it would be three or more coats
After one coat I was impressed
Two coats, with them painting, and wow... it's really, really red
...did I mention it's red?


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## AAPaint (Apr 18, 2005)

That's gotta be color accents. It's the only thing that would have done that red in two coats unless you went to a heavy body exterior like A100....ugh, been there. Now you see how I do it. Color accents on the dark stuff, duration for the rest. 

Oh my, wait till the first time you dip a brush in duration......I can't say words to describe how smooth and nice it is to use on this forum. I can say it's like painting with silk....much runnier than you are used to, but wow! 

As for the paint stores. I would go to each and see how they treat you.


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

AAPaint said:


> That's gotta be color accents. It's the only thing that would have done that red in two coats...


Two coats, by amatuers, and it's done, D-U-N, done
Looks spectacular
Oh and I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but it's really, really, red
:cheesygri 




AAPaint said:


> As for the paint stores. I would go to each and see how they treat you.


Yeah I was thinking along those lines


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

Hey I had a meeting with the SW guys yesterday
They are very contractor oriented
This store is over 90% contractor sales
They were extremely helpful
The store itself was very well organized and had almost all the specific tools and sundries I use right out in plain view

One of the guys took the time to go over SW's products comparable to the ones I use now BM, Cabot, Sikkens

I was very impressed
I'm sure I'll be posting Qs about which products are comparable as I go through this material

The prices seem high compared to what I'm used to
I'm sure part of that is everything "On Cape" is more expensive
But that wouldn't account for all of it

They had that equalizer (ladder) wedge, zip-wall, and that 3-legged ladder all right out there
All stuff that's been discussed here but I've never used
Hmmmmm....


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## DecksEtc (Oct 27, 2004)

slickshift said:


> They had that equalizer (ladder) wedge, zip-wall, and that 3-legged ladder all right out there
> All stuff that's been discussed here but I've never used
> Hmmmmm....


You sir, had best get to the TBA meeting ASAP!


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

DecksEtc said:


> You sir, had best get to the TBA meeting ASAP!


:laughing: 

I'm not like those other guys, I can quit anytime I want
Heck I've quit buying tools dozens of times
:shifty: 


Actually, I stopped buying tools a few months ago because I was moving
Now I'm like :w00t: :cowboy: cowboy up!
Let me at 'em


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## Paul Burns (Jan 17, 2006)

Slickshift,

I was the same way about SW for about 15-20 years. Just never used them much. THEN CAME DURATION! I saw people talking about Duration on these BB's and how much they liked it for about a year. Then we bought our first gallon and haven't used anything else since, unless the client or substrate demans it.

I take that back, we did use SW lacquers throughout the years when needed.

Duration though, was by far the best off the shelf paint/primer that I have found yet.

The rest of their paints are decent too. We used their ....Tred Plex (forgot the name) over an oil based porch and stairs last week. Of course we power sanded the floors with those Makita variable spped circular sanders, (which are also great) and then applied that water based stuff in the dark blue can....something Tred Plex and the adhesion was fantastic! The ver ynext day I could not move that coating with my pocket knife. It is ready for "heavy traffic" in 18 hours after application. I rocked in an alluminum rocker the next day also and it was leaving black marks on the floor. After cleaning the dirt from under the rockers, I rocked away without leaving any mrak at all.

Oh, and they deliver. Just think about how much is llost by contractors that wait in paint stores! They delivered our goods the other day and then I asked them if they could bring us two more of those new grey paint holders and couple pack of liners. That afternoon, they returned with those also.

These are just a few examples from last week and that come to mind immediately. There have been a lot of other "save the day" stories since we went to SW. I have no compaints at all about them and have used several different stores in 2 different states.

I knew they were old and had been around for over 100 years, but I didn't know they were the first. At least that is what a client told us last week. That they were the first commercially sold paint in the US.

Oh, and try to get your local BM to deliver. Wait, one BM store did do that for us also ONCE. But getting them to do it every day is......

Regards,
Paul


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

Paul Burns said:


> Oh, and try to get your local BM to deliver...


lol
I don't know about this one here, but where I lived before it was an Independent Paint Shop that carried BM
I had been doing business with them since the now owner was a clerk
He would send a kid out with just about anything I needed
I realize this guy in my new town might not be so willing
lol


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## slickshift (Jun 14, 2005)

So the teen and mom are on there way out the door to get paint for the ceiling
The teen went to the SW website and picked out a color
As they are out the door they ask how much they should get
A custom color? Get two quarts, I said, not wanting to have 1/2 gallon of some custom-teen color ceiling paint leftover

They come back with Black
Real *BLACK*

 

Uhhh....you probably should have mentioned that....

Undaunted, they spread it up there, on the white ceiling, no primer

Well I'll be...
If that stuff didn't _almost_ cover in one coat
IMO It really needs another quart but, the teen likes it so, One Coat SW Color Accents Ultra Deep Tricorn Black it is
Impressive...


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## AAPaint (Apr 18, 2005)

Yup, if you want dark colors, good coverage, and high quality....color accents is the key. It's not cheap either...just like duration, but a gallon of the color accents oil is EXSPENSIVE, even by my standards. I think I payed $41-44 something last gallon I bought!!


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