House paint: how to read the data sheet before you pay
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Premium interior paints from three different companies run from 40 to 46 percent volume solids on their own data sheets. That number, the binder and the MPI approval tell you more than anything printed on the front of the can. This page puts the three sheets side by side and shows where to find the one for any paint you are about to buy.
Wet film thickness gauge comb, 1-80 mils
A notched metal comb: you press it into the fresh paint and read the last wet notch. It is how you check that four wet mils really went on, which is…
See it on Amazon →Read these three
On the technical data sheet: volume solids (how much stays on the wall), the binder (100% acrylic, styrene acrylic or vinyl acrylic), and the MPI number (what an independent institute tested it for).
Volume solids
Wet film times volume solids is what stays on the wall. At the same price, more solids means more of what you paid for.
The binder
The front of the can will not name it. The data sheet does, in one line.
The MPI number
The only number on the sheet the manufacturer does not grade by itself. Approval is for particular uses, not every surface.
Ignore these four
Paint and primer in one works, but almost every can says it. One-coat guarantees exclude colors and untinted bases. Lifetime warranties replace the paint or refund it, never the labor. The name tells you who sells it, not what is inside.
Keep the receipt
Both lifetime warranties we read ask for the original sales receipt. Photograph it and keep it with the house papers.
Check it yourself
The data sheet promises a dry film thickness at a given wet film. This is the tool that tells you, while you are painting, whether you are actually laying that much on the wall.
Wet film thickness gauge comb, 1-80 mils
A notched metal comb: you press it into the fresh paint and read the last wet notch. It is how you check that four wet mils really went on, which is the number the data sheets quote.
Three premium interior paints, read from their own data sheets
| Paint | Built by |
|---|---|
| Sherwin-Williams Emerald Interior, satin | Volume solids 40% ±2 · styrene acrylic · 1.6 mils dry at 4 wet · MPI approved (sheet 11/2023) |
| Behr Marquee Interior, eggshell | Volume solids 45% ±2 · 100% acrylic · 1.8 mils dry at 4 wet · MPI 52, 139 (sheet 2/2023) |
| Benjamin Moore Aura Interior, eggshell | Volume solids 46% ±2 · proprietary 100% acrylic · 1.9–2.1 mils dry · MPI 138 (sheet 3/2025) |
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