The Best Paint Additives I’ve Used in My Own House (That You Should Try Too)

Paint can be a cheap way to go transform and improve your homehiding the wear and tear of everyday life or bringing bright color to your home. The paint you buy at your local hardware store is a pretty powerful stuff, but if you've ever tried to give a DIY paint job a professional look or tried to solve a specific paint problem, you should know about paint additives.

Paint additives are just what they sound like: substances you add to paint to increase its usefulness or make it easier to work with. Essentially, they are chemicals that interact with paint or the surface it covers to achieve a specific effect. Many additives are already included in the paint you buy, but there are some specific additives you can purchase yourself. I've used some of these with great success: I've become a big proponent of paint additives that make my DIY painting projects more effective and easier to clean up.

Supplements I Used

In my experience, these supplements really work wonders:

• Floetrol. This is a conditioner for water-based paints. Paint conditioners essentially lubricate the paint, causing it to flow more smoothly from the brush and slowing down the drying time slightly, resulting in a smoother finish with fewer brush strokes. It really works! I used to be the king of brushstrokes and adding this to my paint has changed that. There are also Penetrol for oil paints, but I haven't used oil paints for a long time.

• Paint hardeners. There's a reason why every garage and basement in the world is filled with old, rusty paint cans filled with swampy, useless dirt that there used to be paint: Throwing it away hurts. A paint hardener Here's the secret: If you need to get rid of old paint, add a little paint hardener to a can and it will turn it into a solid that you can safely (and legally) throw in the trash.

• Anti-mildew. If you're painting a damp area – a bathroom, basement, or even a laundry room – I've found that including some anti-mold additivesin combination with anti-mold primerwill stop the appearance of mold and mildew. For example, instead of having to clean and repaint my bathroom ceiling every year, I have had no problems since I started using this additive.

• Anti-slip. I wrote about mine famous slippery staircase in my old house before I discovered anti-slip additives for paint. Adding a little paint to the floor and deck creates a slightly textured, non-slip surface that makes my stairs safer – I haven't seen my life flash before my eyes in months!

Other useful supplements

There are other additives you can purchase for your painting projects. I haven't used them personally, but they are worth knowing about:

• Aromatic additives. A flavor additive gives the paint a pleasant smell and also acts as a room freshener. They are easy to use and usually last several months before the smell goes away. People use them to mask the strong smell of fresh paint or just for the temporary scent they bring into a room.

• Textures and flakes. If you want your walls to have a texture that imitates stone, sand or plaster, you can buy additive this will add a finishing touch to any paint job. You can also buy supplements that will add shine or other elements of your paint if you like.

• Insecticides. You can add insecticides to paint to kill or repel insects such as ants, silverfish or mosquitoes. They don't last very long, so it's not a permanent solution. But if you're concerned about insect infestations, this can be another weapon in your efforts to keep your home or yard bug-free.