I told you we were doing an interior/exterior job up the street using the new Emerald line of paint from Sherwin Williams.  The 300 sq ft addition comes off the kitchen with a bed, bath, large closet, utility room, and pantry, plus a new porch off the back of the house.

The homeowner obtained LEED credits where possible and painting was one area.  We used the new zero VOC, lifetime guaranteed “Emerald” from Sherwin Williams.

The paint is expensive, retailing at $76/gallon, but it makes up for itself in a few ways.  To the homeowner, it is scrubbable, durable, won’t scuff, and lasts forever.  But would a painter want to use it?  Its a sure way to stand high in a bidding war, and you have to sell it without paying for it yourself.  Hard to do.

It depends on several factors whether or not I’m going to go for Emerald.  Self priming is nice because it saves an entire step.  But with new construction, the drywall sucks up your $76 paint and I found that a gallon went about 200 sq ft.  (Typical latex goes 350-400, premium latex usually 250-300)  The second coat looked great, but it blew my estimate.  In the mild blue and light cream we used for the walls, two coats looked perfect.  A deeper or intense color that needed another coat would have broke the bank.

Two coats didn’t quite cut it on the trim either.  The wood grain came through and it took three, with touch ups even after that.  I would have expected to do a “prime and two” with any paint, but one just hopes that the best paint money can buy would work out a step.

I found the paint easy to work with.  It’s smooth, fills well, doesn’t run and is for certain a fine paint to have in the brush.  The job has a really good finish.

Some final thoughts.  If you wanted to do a repaint using a lifetime guaranteed, superior quality paint that will look great then go for Emerald.  If you’re like Ashley and change your mind on color every two years, then no sir.  For interior new construction, I’m not going to use it based on the self priming feature alone.  If the customer wants the life, durability, and zero VOC then sure.  But a good coat of primer, sealing up the sheetrock and concealing the wood grain, is still the best way for preparing a surface to paint.

For an exterior, Emerald is great.  Paint a wooden house with something that’s going to last.  Pay whatever you have to for paint, it will be the least of your worries.  Unless you’re like Ashley and you want to change the exterior color too, every two years.  But heck, if I wasn’t married to her I’d never have become a painter.

I’d give Emerald a sold B+ considering value.  If I was going with Sherwin Williams for interior work, I’d probably stick with Duration and a bucket of primer.