Tips for Picking the Right Paint to Paint the Trim With

Knowing what kind of paint to paint your trim with can be a daunting task in home care. Knowing what kind of paint to paint wood window trim, door trim, or any trim in your home with can be accomplished in a few simple steps.

So, check out these tips for knowing what kind of paint to paint wood trim with. Once you master this the rest of yoru home DIY projects will seem like a breeze!

Wood Trim Paint How To #1: New Trim

New trim is easy to paint and very easy to know what kind of paint to use. First you always want to prime the wood. I like to use an oil based primer, but you can use an acrylic or latex primer. A product like Kilz is best for this.

Now, once the primer has dried you are ready to choose the paint. Using an oil based paint will lend you th most long lasting results. Oil based paint never fully dries and can expand and constrict with the weather, humidity, and other natural elements.

Oil based paint resists water exposure the best and will also clean the easiest. So, clearly the choice here is an oil based paint. You can always paint an oil based paint on top of a primer that is acrylic or oil based. You can never paint a latex paint on top of an oil based primer.

The latex paint dries completely, which will cause cracking and peeling if applied over the oil paint, which technically never completely dries.

Wood Trim Paint How To #2: Already Painted Trim

Now, if you have trim, which has already been painted, which is most of us, then you have a few steps ot go through.

I always recommend testing the paint to see what it is. You can hit up your local paint store or home improvement store and buy a simple kit in the paint section. It supplier chemical for you to swab on the paint and wait for the results.

Now, once you know what kind of paint you have on there already you can choose yoru wood trim paint based on that. As you probably figure, if you have oil based paint on the trim, then you need to stick with a oil based paint when you add another coat.

Now, if you have latex paint on the trim for some reason you really can use either. I recommend going ahead and switching to oil painted for the sheer durability of it. No need to carry on someone else's mistake here.