why use oil-based paint rather than water-based paint?

Answer 1

What are you painting? Interior trim--oil-based products are more durable. Exterior trim--acrylic is more flexible. On exterior wood(which exspands and contracts more) acrylic(or water-based) has a better exspansion rate than oil-based products. But ext. metal doors aren't the same and should be painted with oil. Interior products can be different. Wood doors and base do not have as much exspansion so oil would be the best bet(more durable). Interior walls(like in a bathroom) would do the best with an acrylic-(but with a sheen) to deal with the moisture changes. Really it all depends on what you're painting and what's on it now. Not all acrylic paints can go atop oil-based products.

Answer 2

I don't know about the house paints available today, but some 35 years ago, when I was a struggling art student here in Italy, to save money (acrylic paints and gesso have always been very expensive here) we would use house paint as a primer. (An "expert" grad student recommended it to us undergraduates.) Years later, the paintings done on those canvases, which were stored rolled up, have cracked and peeled off some of the surfaces, and the house paint itself has also cracked. It just wasn't flexible enough. Maybe on a wood panel it would have worked better, although I can't be sure at this point if the paint would have "stuck" for all these years. My other paintings, done on "real" gesso, haven't deteriorated at all.

Answer 3

If you are painting wood, oil based paint is better

during the process of painting, you are also adding oil to the wood. This adding oil help the wood more water resistance, the wood will be less dry and prevent from cracking, and helping the wood last longer.

Answer 4

I prefer water based paint because the clean up is much easier. High gloss water based paints can have as good a shine and easy clean up as oil based enamels.

Answer 5

These days I don't know why anyone would use oil based paints. I painted cabinets with semigloss latex to match the walls in an apartment. I have just slightly touched them up and they have held up for years. They were so good that I started painting all the cabinets with the semigloss paint to match the walls. And I used WalMart paint for $12.50 a gallon. They have the premixed colors(different shades of white) and I can touch up the walls-cabinets-woodwork ever so easy and the colors always match. The white colors go from a deep cream to a snow white. I'm in the process of doing my house-inside and out with the same.
Hint: Bare wood seal with Bin or Kilz-Bin being better. . .of course, water clean up. . .