White Paint
Part of the fun of owning a studio with a large white Cyc, is the joy of constantly repainting that big white elephant. My clients who rent my studio want a clean white unmarked surface. My Cyc is 24′x24′ and is 13′ high. The walls only need to be repainted once in a while. That is of course if people will stop stepping on the curve and breaking the walls. Lately I needed to repair the walls a couple of times requiring a full repaint of the entire Cyc. Also had some expansion problems during the summer when I was gone for a couple of days with the air conditioner off. The temperature outside was 110F,and it was stifling hot inside when I returned. Had some temperature warps which took much work to fix.
Painting primer over repairs results in a kind of bluish white. I paint the cove with ultra pure white, which makes sense since I do photography and white should be white. I finished building the Cyc in April. The first time I painted it, I tried using commercial white. DO NOT USE COMMERCIAL WHITE. It is not white, but more of a yellowish white. For a couple days I looked at it trying to decide if it was white enough. No, it was not white enough. From that point forward, I decided to just use the good stuff that said it was pure white.
A large cost gap exists between the good paint and the commercial grade paint. Commercial grade paint is about $30 for a 5 gallon bucket. The good ultra white paint is $85-$100 for a five gallon bucket. After repainting the cove several times, I noticed that the expensive Behr Ultra Pure White paint I was buying from Home Depot was not hiding marks very well. I become completely disenchanted with the paint when painting over primer on repairs (primer is a bluish white), I could still see the primer after three coats of paint.
Besides the expense of the paint to apply three coats, I do not have the time to paint three coats, and still not be satisfied with the coverage. So, after a big shoot a couple weeks ago, I had to again repair the cove from high heel wholes and some other damage. I decided to change brands of paint. So I went around to the various paint stores asking about pure true white paint that covers well.
Frazee paint, they just could not get the concept that I need flat white that is a pure white. The last couple of times I went into their store, they try to sell me a product that is not quite what I want. I want flat white, not velvet white, not satin white, just flat white. I bought a quart of paint to try. Not good enough. Next.
Sherwin Williams is a well known brand name with well stocked stores. Unfortunately, the paint they recommended to me was worse at covering hiding marks than the Behr brand paint from Home Depot. Repeat this scenario at a couple other paint stores.
I went into Pittsburgh Paints. The guy seemed to understand paint, versus the semi-knowledgeable, non-listening salesmen at some of the other stores. He opened a can and did a demonstration for me. Looked good. The price was a bit high at about $100 for a 5 gallon bucket. But if their paint could do in one coat what the other paints could not do in several coats, then the cost could be worth the higher price. Poking around Lowe’s Hardware, as I read the labels on the paint they carry, I noticed that both Olympic and Valspar brand paint they carry is made by Pittsburgh Paints. Additionally, the Valspar Premium paint states on the label that it is a thicker one coat paint with good hiding. None of the other brands say that on the label. What I routinely find is that if a label does not say it does something, then it probably does not do it. Better is that a five gallon bucket is $85, a few dollars cheaper than the Behr brand paint a Home Depot. I bought a five gallon bucket to repaint the cove with the Valspar Premium Flat Ultra White.
The Valspar Premium paint did an excellent job of covering over marks. One coat and I was done. I Highly recommend that paint when you want to paint something pure white. I also noticed that it is a slightly whiter white than the Behr Ultra Pure white that I was painting over.
My recommendation for Flat Pure White Paint is Valspar Premium Flat Ultra White which is sold at Lowe’s.