Oil vs. Latex Paint

You’ve just finished planning your project of repainting your bedroom wall, and now you’re heading out to the hardware or DIY store to get yourself set up with tools and paint that you’ll need. At the paint section, you smile at the usually overwhelming choices of colors. You’ve thought this through and made sure that any sort of looking dumbfounded in the middle of an aisle will be prevented. With shining pride, you reach for a can of Island Premium Paints, the color of your choice. But something catches your attention. You stop at the sight of the words ‘latex paint.’ Suddenly you’re unsure. You reach for another can and, adding to your confusion, it reads ‘oil-based paint.’

If anything, this is a fairly common sight and incident at any hardware store. Clearly, despite bits of information available online and offline, confusion between and latex paint still exists.

Allow us to help you in that department with this little cheat sheet.

Surface material and the environment it’s in are two other things that should be considered when choosing between alkyd or latex paint. Because it’s easier to clean up, has faster drying time and emits no harmful or offensive smells, latex paint would be the way to go for rooms inside the house.

Browse through Island Paints’ alkyd paints, latex paints and complete roster of specialty paints at our Products Page, or talk to us for specific concerns and assistance on your paint project.