No paint company except Glidden (which is a subsidiary of ICI Ltd. of Britain) actually makes it's own paint from scratch. Basically, they all buy all of the stuff they use to make their paints from chemical companies that specialize in the various components of latex paints, like acrylic paint binders, organic and inorganic pigments and the myriad of chemical additives that go into modern latex paints. Each of the chemical companies (many that you've probably never heard of) is continuously trying to sell their latest and greatest product to every paint company to make paint with.

So, how good the paint each paint company makes is not indicitive of the limitations of the engineers and chemists working for that company, it's entirely a management decision on how good a paint to make. That's because every chemical company (like Dow or Du Pont) are continuously taking the management of the paint companies out to lunch to tell them about their latest and greatest acrylic binder resin or their latest and greatest rheology modifier or green or red or yellow pigment. The management of those paint companies respond just as you or I would. They won't buy the latest and greatest of anything at the newest and highest price unless they're convinced that the resulting increase in cost is going to have an comensurate improvement in the performance of their paint, and that their customers are going to appreciate the difference in performance and be willing to pay the incremental cost of making that change. So, this is precisely why when it comes to paint, you get what you pay for. The trick is to buy the most expensive paint from the place that sells it the cheapest.

Also, House Brand paints like Sears Weather Beater, Ace Hardware's House Beautiful brand, Lowe's American Tradition, Home Depot's Behr paint all consistantly score well in Consumer Reports tests, and there's a good reason for that too:

When a chain of hardware stores decides they want to start selling their own house brand of paint, they will FIRST decide what that paint should sell for. That's because if you're willing to buy the latest and greatest offering of each chemical company, you can make the world's best latex paint for $200 per gallon, but how many people are going to buy it? So, a hardware store chain will interview it's customers and compare the sales figures of the paints that it had been selling before to get an idea of where the price range of their paint should be to both perform well and sell well.

So, when that same chain of hardware stores approaches a half dozen paint companies and asks for a quote to supply them with 15,000 gallons per month (say) that will be distributed to their 100 stores, THE STORE TELLS THE PAINT COMPANY WHAT THE PAINT WILL SELL FOR. So, after factoring in the store's usual mark-up, the store is effectively telling the paint company what the paint it buys will cost.

So, each of those paint companies sharpen their pencils and figure out what the best package of binder resins, pigments and additives they can put together for that price range from flat to high gloss interior and exterior latex paints. But, because the price has already be established, THE VOLUME DISCOUNT THE STORE WOULD NORMALLY GET ENDS UP GOING TO THE CUSTOMER in the form of a better binder resin, or a better additives package than you'd expect to find in paint selling for that price. THIS is why house brand paints typically get Best Buy ratings on Consumer Reports tests than cans with the well recognized paint company names on them. It's because the price of the paint is established first, and so the store doesn't get a reduced price because of it's volume discount. Instead, they get a better paint for the price they agreed to pay.

But, a Consumer Reports Best Buy rating doesn't mean that Home Depot's Behr paint is better than Sherwin Williams best paint. You're always going to get the best paint by buying any paint company's top-of-the-line paint. But, you're always going to get better value for your paint dollar by buying a house brand paint from a chain store, and the more stores in the chain, the more of a volume discount the guy with the sharp pencil has available to him to put together a better paint. I don't think much of Behr paint either, but if I only had 18 dollars in my pocket to buy a gallon of paint, I'd pick Behr too cuz it's the best paint you can buy for under $20 per gallon.

That whitening you've been noticing on the exterior paints on your house may be something called "chaulking". Chaulking occurs when UV light from the Sun breaks down the paint's plastic binder resins, causing that plastic to deteriorate and turn into a powder. Rub your finger on those white areas and see if a white powder rubs off on your finger. If so, then it's chaulking, and you need a top quality paint with plenty of UV blockers in it to get the maximum lifespan out of the labour you put into painting your house.

And, if it were my house, I would paint with any company's top-of-the-line exterior latex paint in a dead flat gloss and an "earth tone" colour, and I'll explain why the next time I sit down at my computer with some time to kill. In fact, I think I posted that on this site before, so I'll see if that post is still in the archives.