The Four Best Paint Additives I’ve Used in My Home (and You Should Try Them Too)

Paint can be an inexpensive way to transform and enhance your home , hiding the marks of everyday life or adding a splash of color . Paint purchased at your local hardware store is quite durable, but if you’ve ever attempted a professional DIY paint job or tackled a specific paint problem, you’ll want to know about paint additives.

Paint additives are exactly what they sound like: substances added to paint to enhance its performance or make it easier to work with. Essentially, they’re chemicals that interact with the paint or the surface it’s coating to achieve a specific effect. Many additives are already included in paint, but some can be purchased separately. I’ve used several of them successfully and have become a firm believer that paint additives make my painting projects more effective and easier to clean up.

Supplements I used

In my experience, these supplements really work wonders:

• Floetrol is a conditioner for water-based paints. Paint conditioners essentially lubricate the paint, making it easier to flow from the brush and slightly slowing the drying time, resulting in a smoother finish with fewer brush strokes. It really works! I used to be a brushstroke king, and adding this conditioner to my paint made all the difference. There’s also Penetrol for oil paints, but I haven’t used oil paints in a while.

• Paint hardeners. It’s no wonder every garage and basement in the world is littered with old, rusting paint cans filled with sticky, useless gunk that used to be paint —it’s incredibly difficult to get rid of. The secret is paint hardener : if you have old paint that needs to be removed, add a little hardener to the can, and it will turn into a solid substance that can be safely (and legally) thrown in the trash.

• Mold Protection. If you’re painting damp areas—a bathroom, basement, or even a laundry room—I’ve found that adding mold-preventing additives to the primer prevents mold growth. For example, instead of cleaning and repainting my bathroom ceiling every year, I’ve eliminated the problem with this additive.

• Anti-slip. I wrote about my horribly slippery stairs in my old house before I discovered anti-slip paint additives . Adding them to my floor and patio paint creates a slightly textured, non-slip coating that has made my stairs safer—I haven’t seen my life flash before my eyes in months!

Other useful additives

There are other additives you can buy for painting. I haven’t personally used them, but they’re worth knowing about:

• Air fresheners. Air fresheners impart a pleasant scent to paint and serve as air fresheners. They are easy to use and typically last for several months before the odor dissipates. They are used to mask the pungent smell of fresh paint or simply to temporarily freshen a room.

• Textures and Flakes. If you want your walls to have a texture that mimics stone, sand, or plaster, you can purchase an additive that will give your paint a similar look. You can also purchase additives that will add shine or other elements to your paint , if that’s your preference.

• Insecticides. You can add insecticides to paint to kill or repel insects like ants, silverfish, or mosquitoes. They’re short-lived, so they’re not a permanent solution. But if you’re concerned about an insect infestation, they can be another tool in your efforts to keep your home or yard pest-free.

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