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O’Leary Paint Company proven to be superior paint manufacturer
- Russ White talks with David O'Leary and Scott Bower
Family-owned O’Leary Paint outperforms all brands, according to Coatings Research Group, Inc.
Based in Michigan, O’Leary Paint captured gold, silver and bronze honors recently from Coatings Research Group Inc (CRGI). CRGI tested regional, national and international paint products and O'Leary products were rated the highest of all paints tested. “We’re just really proud to be able to be recognized in a national study,” said David O’Leary, Co-President of O’Leary Paint Company.
No single paint company has ever taken the top three spots in this rating, said O’Leary. O’Leary’s Duramax 90 Line, Ceramic Coat and MicroSpec paints are locally produced in Lansing, Mich. “We produce everything right here,” O’Leary Paint chemist Scott Bower says. “We do all our research in the lab, make our own products, and produce everything right here.”
Bower has been with O’Leary Paint for 17 years and is the chemist who tests raw materials and refines coating formulas in O’Leary’s paint lab. The products he creates are made specifically to weather Michigan’s climate in addition to exhaustive lab and industry tests. “I make a lot of pre-production versions and test them in actual home settings. Painting 2-by-2 squares of drywall isn’t the same as painting a whole room with it.”
As the largest manufacturer of house paint in the state, O’Leary Paint outshone all national brands in the 2012 National Paint Ranking. Rating criteria included stain blocking, adhesion, water resistance, and washability and O’Leary received high ratings in all categories, the only brand to do so. “For a homeowner, if you’re only doing a project once every four years,” said O’Leary, “you rely on studies like this to tell you what kind of a product you should use.”
Many of O'Leary's products are certified as environmentally responsible paints by Green Wise Paint. A division of CRGI., Green Wise certifies paints as “green” if they have low amounts of volatile organic compounds, (VOCs), which evaporate into the air. “What we’re trying to do is make a very functional, green coating,” said Bower. Anyone can eliminate VOCs from paint formulas, but O’Leary aims to produce environmentally friendly paints that retain high quality and performance.
O'Leary Paint is a Michigan-based, fourth-generation, family-owned company in the paint business for over 100 years. Today O'Leary Paint manufactures a complete range of premium paints and coatings that are distributed exclusively through our company-owned stores in Michigan and Indiana. olearypaint.com
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