PAINT TIPS

• SMART BUYERS GUIDE
• REAL ESTATE PROTECTION
• CUSTOM COLOR TINT BASES
• INK vs. PAINT COLORS
• PAINT COMPARISON
• HOW TO READ PAINT SPECIFICATIONS
• SPREADING RATES - THEORETICAL vs. PRACTICAL

SMART BUYERS GUIDE

You have probably heard these words of wisdom many times - "You get only what you pay for," "There is NO free lunch," "The LESS you pay the LESS you get." You know that they are true - and yet, do you act like you really believe them?

Perhaps you go from one store to another comparing prices, expecting to get a lower price somewhere, hoping you won't be stuck with the lower quality that always accompanies the lower price. Or, you buy from the person who gave you the lowest quote - but you ignore the fact that the only way any supplier can give you a lower price is to give you lower quality! So, you're really comparing Apples with Oranges - and you're only deceiving yourself.

The ONLY legitimate way to get a lower price without getting lower quality is to cut out the middlemen in the distribution chain from the manufacturer to the distributor to the retail store to the consumer. That's why so many smart paint buyers buy directly from The SOMAY PAINT FACTORY - where everyone saves, because everyone buys at wholesale, everyday!

But, even buying directly from the manufacturer is not the whole story, because the manufacturer may make several different grades or qualities. For example, when you buy from General Motors, you never get a Cadillac when you pay for a Chevrolet! It's the same with paint - You get only what you pay for!

SOMAY wants to help you become a wise, smart, intelligent, sophisticated and successful paint buyer. Here's how ...

Your first consideration always should be the specifications of the paint IN the can ... especially the Total Volume Solids . When you know this number, you can figure the Cost per Sq. Ft. per Mil Dry Film Thickness - which is the ONLY number that really counts, because ONLY the PAINT Solids are left on the surface as the solvents evaporate and the paint dries! It also relates to the paint's hiding, coverage, durability and ability to protect and decorate. Here's the formula: Total Volume Solids % x 1604 = Total Sq. Ft. Coverage per Gallon per Mil Dry Film Thickness (DFT). (Note: a Mil is 1/1000 of an inch thickness). 

Here's a real example, based on two of SOMAY's "Premium" House Paints -

The price of (A) is almost two times the price of (B), but both (A) and (B) actually cost the same, because there is almost two times as much Total Volume Solids in (A) as in (B). The ONLY number that really counts when comparing one paint to another paint is the Cost per Square Foot per Mil DFT.

For additional examples of SOMAY Paint Costs per Square Foot per Mil DFT, please click here.

SOMAY's LOWEST PAINT COST GUARANTEE

SOMAY GUARANTEES that: (A) your Cost per Sq. Ft. per Mil DFT will be less when you buy a regular SOMAY paint directly from The SOMAY PAINT FACTORY, at our Wholesale, "Cash & Carry" Prices, and (B) if it isn't less, SOMAY will custom manufacture* a paint for you, so that your Cost per Sq. Ft. per Mil DFT for the SOMAY paint will be EQUAL TO or LESS than for the same kind of paint from any other legitimate paint manufacturer. That's SOMAY'S GUARANTEE.

* All Custom Manufactured Orders require: (A) a 50% non-refundable Deposit with the order, prior to manufacture; (B) the other 50% when you pick up your order at the SOMAY factory; (C) a minimum order of 50 gallons of one product in one color; and (D) you must provide a wet sample and full specifications, including Total Volume Solids % for any competitive paint you want us to match with SOMAY paint.

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REAL ESTATE PROTECTION

Somay is the oldest manufacturer and distributor of paints and coatings in southern Florida, founded over eight decades ago, in 1926. Somay specializes in manufacturing premium quality paints and coatings especially formulated to withstand tropical climates, the severest environmental conditions for paint to endure. We ship thousands of gallons every month to many tropical areas in the world, including the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, the Mid-East and the Pacific.

SOMAY's emphasis on quality is based on the knowledge that its coatings are expected to perform miracles .... a thin paint film, only a few mils (1/1000 inch) thick, must protect our customers' homes (usually their biggest asset) and other real estate from the deteriorating effects of the environment, including the sun's ultraviolet rays, heavy tropical rains, high humidity, salt air, wind driven sand and dirt, rapidly fluctuating temperatures, air contaminants including sooty, chemical exhausts from cars, trucks and airplanes, and attacks by microscopic living organisms, such as mold, mildew and fungus.

Intelligent real estate owners and managers realize that an ordinary paint isn't good enough for such a tough job. They also know that the price per gallon of paint is but a small percentage of the total cost of protecting a building, which must also include the labor for preparing the surface and applying a protective coating .... that "cheap" paints are far more costly in the long run .... that high quality paints, which may have a higher price per gallon, are actually more economical when one considers the cost per mil thickness, per square foot of coverage, and per year of protection and satisfaction. That's why, year after year, for over three generations, SOMAY's premium quality paints and coatings have consistently been our best selling products.

Protecting your real estate is too important to leave to chance .... that's why you should insist that only premium quality SOMAY paints and coatings be used to protect your real estate.

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CUSTOM COLOR TINT BASES

Because of the many questions SOMAY has received about custom colors, we will try to explain the tinting system.  With a system of just 4 tint bases and just 12 colorants, one can make all 858 colors in the Colortrend Nuance color fan deck, since we have the formulas to make each of them. The price of each color varies depending on both the tint base and the amount of each of the 12 colorants used to make the color ordered. 

SOMAY manufactures tint bases in four of our "Premium" product lines, all of which can be used on both exterior and interior surfaces:

1. Product No. 383, "Premium" 100% Acrylic Latex Eggshell Finish House & Wall Paint;

2. Product No. 630, "Premium" 100% Acrylic Latex, Heavy-Duty Semi-Gloss Enamel;

3. Product No. 340, "Premium" Vinyl/Acrylic, "PVA", Latex Flat Wall Paint; and

4. Product No. 237, "Premium" Polyurethane High Gloss Enamel (solvent borne). 

Tint Bases work as follows: a small (and progressively larger) amount of white pigment (TiO₂) is subtracted from the paint formulation to allow for a small (and progressively larger) amount of colorants to be added to the paint formulation.

White or Pastel Tint Base - Must contain 1.8 lbs. of TiO₂ per gal.  Is sold in a full-fill can as "White", or can be tinted a pastel color, using no more than 1-oz. of colorants per gallon.  The Pastel colors are shown with numbers ending in "P" in the Colortrend fan deck.

Medium Tint Base - has less white pigment (1.6 lbs. of TiO₂ per gal).  The can is short-filled by 4-oz., and is tinted to medium tint colors, using 4-oz. of colorants per gallon.  The Medium Tint colors are shown with numbers ending in "T" in the Colortrend fan deck.

Deep Tone Base - has even less white pigment (0.68 lbs. of TiO₂ per gal.).  The can is short-filled by 8-oz., and is tinted to deeptone colors, using 8-oz. of colorants per gallon.  The Deep colors are shown with numbers ending in "D" in the Colortrend fan deck.

Accent Base - has no white pigment (0 lbs. of TiO₂ per gal.).  The can is short-filled by 12-oz., and is tinted to clear, true, pure colors, using 12-oz. of colorants per gallon.  The Accent colors are shown with numbers ending in "A" in the Colortrend fan deck.

Product Numbers for SOMAY's Paint Tint Base Systems are as follows: 

Eggshell - 383 = White & Pastel Tint; 385 = Medium Tint; 386 = Deep Tone; 387 = Accent

Semi-Gloss - 630 = White & Pastel Tint; 664 = Medium Tint; 678 = Deep Tone; 699 = Accent

Flat - 340 = White & Pastel Tint; 364 = Medium Tint; 378 = Deep Tone; and 399 = Accent

High Gloss - 237 = White & Pastel Tint; 225 = Medium Tint; 227 = Deep Tone; 251 = Accent

Please choose the Custom Colors you want SOMAY to make for you from the Colortrend Nuance Fan Deck so we will have a formula to make your Custom Color for you

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INK vs. PAINT COLORS

All Pantone colors are "ink" colors - the colors you would choose for printing literature, brochures or labels, for example.  Paint colors are made from completely different ground-in pigments so it may or may not be possible to get an exact match.  The Pantone Fan Deck, which includes small chips of each color, includes colors with both glossy and flat finishes.  For example, color 185C is a very glossy red while color 185U is a flat red.  Both are made with specific proportions of Warm Red and Rubine Red inks.

The Federal Standard for paint colors is No. 595B.  These color chips are available in glossy, satin sheen and flat colors.  The formulas to make each of these colors use paint pigments, so if one is making paint, then it is easy to follow the standard formula to create the actual color.  Standard reds might be 11136 (glossy), 21136 (satin), or 31136 (flat finish) or a number of other reds.  They do not necessarily match the Pantone colors. 

Additionally, most paint manufacturers have their own set of colors used for the various house and wall paints they make.  Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore have their own color systems, for example, and Somay uses a universal system provided by Colortrend worldwide.

Standard Traffic Paints always have a flat finish.  They are only made reflective of headlights when miniature glass spheres (beads) are dropped on the wet paint stripe - the wet paint acts like a "glue" to hold the glass beads in place.

Traffic Paint colors used on roadways or parking lots or airport runways are white, yellow, black, or handicapped blue and in Florida we also have a green for delineating parking spaces for parents with children in strollers. This same green is also available to delineate parking spaces used by electric cars where they are stopped for re-charging their batteries.  These colors are readily available in our alkyd (oil-based), rubber and two acrylic waterborne Traffic Paints. 

We regularly manufacture custom color paints, but that requires a minimum batch size of 50 gallons.  We can do this to match custom colors as closely as we can using paint pigments, not ink pigments. We can also tint 1 or 2 gallons at a time in paint systems that have custom color tint bases.  Obviously we do not have custom color tint bases in Traffic Paints, since all highway departments, roadways, parking lots, etc. normally require only the colors shown in the previous paragraph and use much larger quantities. Small quantities may be tinted in regular acrylic waterborne house paints in either a flat (vinyl acrylic), or satin sheen or semi-gloss finish (100% acrylic - more durable). 

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PAINT COMPARISON

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HOW TO READ PAINT SPECIFICATIONS

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SPREADING RATES EXPLANATION - THEORETICAL vs. PRACTICAL

Theoretical Spreading Rates assume application to a very smooth, non-porous surface like plate glass with 100% Transfer Efficiency (TE), i.e. Absolutely NO Wastage.

Practical Spreading Rates take into account the following five (5) factors:

• Total Volume Solids in the Paint Formulation (what % stays on the painted surface vs. what % evaporates into the atmosphere).

• The roughness vs. smoothness of the surface being painted.

• The porosity vs. density of the surface being painted.

• The dry film thickness (DFT) desired on the painted surface (we recommend 1.5 mils (38.1 microns) minimum per coat, and a minimum of 2 coats totaling 3 mils DFT (76.2 microns).

• The Transfer Efficiency (TE) - how much paint gets from the can onto the painted surface vs. how much is wasted, is left in the can, is left in the brush, is left in the roller, is dropped on the drop cloth, etc., the maximum practical transfer efficiency being 90% by the very best, most careful, most experienced, most professional painters.

Click here for a link that explains what the real world numbers should be for various SOMAY paints; remember that the same factors apply to all paints!

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