Choosing Flat or Eggshell/Satin Sheens for Walls!

        Odds are, you have flat paint on the walls of your home. If you have bought a new house it's almost guarenteed. Even in the bath rooms, where it should definitly have eggshell or satin on the walls and possible even on the ceiling, depending on how good your ventilation is. Why builders do this is because it is easier and cheaper. Why pay an extra $ 50.00 or $100.00 per room when you don't have to.

Lets discuss the reasons for having a sheen on your walls versus a flat.

1. Small Children - nough said really, but I'll go into a little depth. If you have little kids and they are going to put their hands on the walls then you will need a coating that will be able to be cleaned, Eggshell, Satin and soforth. Hallways, Stairways and bedrooms are the prime culprit here. Current codes for stairs require just 1 hand rail on one side, but by placing a handrail on the opposite wall also, it will normally give the children a place to put their hands no matter which side of the stairs they traverse.

2. A room with high moisture content such as the Kitchen or Bath Rooms. For the kitchen, placing the fan over the stove to remove the moisture when cooking has virtually eliminated the need to have the walls painted with a sheen paint. In the bath if you have good ventilation it is not necessary to have a sheen paint. The problem is the fan placement. In the larger new houses the commode is often placed in a separate room inside the bathroom, and the exhaust is placed inside this room for obvious reasons. In this case the main part of the bathroom is often neglected as far as moisture control. Every bath room needs exhaust ventilation installed near the bath tub/shower area. This is the major factor in controlling moisture and keeping Toxic Black Mold out of this area of the home.

3. Lastly some people like one over the other. It's that simple. Like so many other things in life, one is not better than the other, just different.

                                                   Advantages

Flat Paint                                                               Eggshell/Satin Paint Easier to paint                                                                      Easier to clean
Easier to touch up                                                             Generally last longer
A couple $ per gallon cheaper
Hides mistakes in the walls

                                               Disadvantages

Flat Paint                                                             Eggshell/Satin Paint  Does not last as long                                            A few $ more per gallon
Cannot clean as well as sheen paints                     Harder to paint
Shows leaching stains in high humidity       Sometimes takes multiple
                                                                                                coats to cover
                                                                                      Cannot be touched-up to
                                                                                         any visual satisfaction    
                                                                               Shows all the mistakes in a wall
                                                                              Requires a level 5 drywall finish

        Lastly, we're not using Semi gloss or Gloss for anything but doors and trim. The only time I put Semi Gloss or Gloss on walls is for some Commercial or Industrial applications. Never inside a residential structure.