Picardy Poll: Behr vs. Glidden

Of course there are a bajillion other kinds of paint as well, but I know, for us at least, these are the two we stick to the most. Every big box sticks with their two big brands, and because our closest big box is Home Depot, these are the two that they really concentrate on.

Of course it would be great if we could use Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams all the time, but it's just too costly for us :( Of course when we tackle painting the exterior of the house, we'll definitely go with a higher rung paint as it's an area we want to make sure stays in tip top shape with all the beatings it'll get.

Now, on to the task at hand: for me, it's Glidden all the way, absolutely no question at all. And here's the perfect example:

I'm working on a painting project and am using some yellow paint that's Behr, and some white paint that's Glidden. I wrote, in pencil, on the project in small letters where certain colors were supposed to be, and then I painted over them.

Here I wrote a "W" and covered it in only two layers of the Glidden white

And here I wrote "Y" and painted over it in FOUR coats of Behr yellow and you can still see a slight haze of the pencil lines. And it really is a tiny haze (you'll have to click the pic to make it bigger), but to me, if there is still a tiny haze at all after FOUR coats, that's a bit ridiculous

Chris of course is always more scientific than me :) So here's his opinion:

ben moore and sherwin-williams (along with dunn-edwards, kelly moore, and others) are most often used by the pros. they're expensive, but they cover real well and are just better paints all around. they also have a better variety of paints for specific applications - commercial grade paints, epoxy paints for steps, alkyd paints, paints with mildewcides, low/no voc paints, etc.

behr is pretty much the lowest quality paint i would bother with. it's good enough on interior surfaces and places that don't have problems.

glidden covers better than behr.

paint is highly scientific stuff. they put in all kinds of chemicals that control the dry and cure time so fewer brush strokes are seen or so that mold can't grow or any number of other desirable attributes. behr is just paint. behr has the premium line which i've used and is supposedly self-priming and better quality. i didn't find it to be worth the extra cost. in general i eschew the self-priming paints and prime first with a dedicated primer. they all claim it, but i've still not found a paint that gives true one coat coverage either (unless the colors are close).

So what paint to you like?

Which Paint is Best?