# Oil-based paint vs. 100% Acrylic paint: which one more durable?



## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

On an interior, both will last just as long. Prime any bare wood with an oil primer and you shouldn't have any peeling unless you have a moisture problem. Latex won't yellow like oil will, but it will tend to pick up more dirt and it is more pourous. Oil will tend to lay down flatter (IE less brush or roller marks) but the new waterbourne enamels are just about as good. 

Basicly look at it this way. Paint with whatever was painted on there before and you will be fine. You can make the transition from an Oil painted surface to latex with a good primer, preferably an oil based primer, but as a rule once it has latex on it, you can't go back to oil other than primer.


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## poppameth (Oct 2, 2008)

I'd have to say a good acrylic is better than any oil in most situations now. Floors and exterior stain are the two exceptions I can think of. Oil has been so heavily regulated that it isn't nearly as good as it used to be. Acrylics on the other hand have received all the research and advances in technology over the last several years.


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

poppameth said:


> I'd have to say a good acrylic is better than any oil in most situations now. Floors and exterior stain are the two exceptions I can think of. Oil has been so heavily regulated that it isn't nearly as good as it used to be. Acrylics on the other hand have received all the research and advances in technology over the last several years.


This research statement is only true in USA. Other countries have continued to develop oils. Oil paint is still superior, but latex works better on siding since it allows the wood to breathe. Oil has been developed for more than 50 years. Latex only 18. So the technology is still not there.


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

Latex is only 18 years old? That would be news to me. :laughing: Just kidding. I think Latex Paint was invented in the 40's but I am not sure when it really started making it into the market.


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

Matthewt1970 said:


> Latex is only 18 years old? That would be news to me. :laughing: Just kidding. I think Latex Paint was invented in the 40's but I am not sure when it really started making it into the market.


I just attended a seminar from the engineers from Milesi (Italian firm) on water borne poly. One of the questions addressed was just this.. is water as good as oil. Simply put.. NO! But it will be at some point. Most likely within the next 5 years with such a push to use it.


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## saggdevil (May 17, 2009)

I've used Latex for the 22 years I've lived in this house .


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

_"Oil has been developed for more than 50 years. Latex only 18"_​Bob:

I trust you mean a certain range of Milesi SpA's products...

I read that statement and took it to mean that oil paints *- as a group -* have been developped for more than 50 years (true) but that latex paints had only been developped for 18 (not so). 

So I like others probably took it out of context. Like pretty well any other product I know of, there are more suitable products for almost anything -depending on the application. ​


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

> *2. What is latex paint?*
> Latex paint is a Canadian invention. CIL invented it in the 1940's. It uses a resin from the rubber tree called "latex" as the binder. The advantage is latex paint can be reduced with water and doesn't smell bad.​



OR the US....



> 1940s
> Styrene-Butadiene synthetic rubber latex developed as the “Mutual Recipe” in the USA (75% butadiene, 25% styrene with a rosin soap and a little mercaptan) since isoprene did not give a useful material. Production started in 1943. This project involved a number of universities and large chemical companies in the US at the time and it is claimed that the project rivaled the Manhattan Project in size and importance (http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/about2.html ).
> Flory develops his version of rubber elasticity theory to model the properties of crosslinked polymers (with Rehner).


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## Bob Mariani (Dec 1, 2008)

ccarlisle said:


> _"Oil has been developed for more than 50 years. Latex only 18"_​Bob:
> 
> I trust you mean a certain range of Milesi SpA's products...
> 
> ...


Actually what I meant was oil has more than 50 years of development over Latex and it will take another 18 years for latex to catch up. As far as the scientist statements he was specifically talking about water based polyurethanes. The binder (latex; rubber) cannot be made as tiny as it can be with the oils. Thus you get a lower sheen, less durable finish, since the size of the binders effects the surface plain.


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

OK Gotcha!

In fact, latex has about 50 years of existence if not more...


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## Matthewt1970 (Sep 16, 2008)

Actually Oil based paints have been around for about 500 years. You can use the arguement that Latex paints allow wood to breathe, but that would mean for the last 450 years we would have had wood rotting out on houses all over the place, and that wasn't the case. Besides, the "breathing" latex will allow is on a molecular level, so any transfer of water moisture or air would be a very very slow process.


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