What's the difference/ pros and cons of water base paint and oil paint ?

If you are painting walls, use water based. Hard to use a roller with oil based paint, harder to clean up any mistakes or drips. Water based paint dries fast so you can do a second or third coat the same day.

Oil paint, which is not often used these days, is what you might want to use on things that get a lot of wear and tend to get dirty, such as trim or doors.
Oil based paint can be scrubbed over and over again without being affected.
It can take a lot longer to dry and if you painted walls with it and needed to apply a second coat, you'd have to wait at least a day.

I doubt if oil paint has been used on walls in the last 50 years, except occasionally in a bathroom or kitchen and even then it's unusual. I think I have seen walls painted with oil based paint only once, in a kitchen, and they were probably painted sometime in the 1960s. That was back when water based paint really wasn't as durable in many ways. That is not the case now.
A good quality water based paint can be washed as much as anyone needs to wash a wall.

I can't imagine why anyone would even consider using oil based paint on a wall....Show more

the biggest pro for water based paints is it hides a lot of defects a wall ..whereas an oil based finish show up every defect ...and it will sweat...Show more

Oil Based Paint --Con - Miserable clean up reuiring mineral spirits, very glossy finish, higher VOCs, requires a primer to paint over it, more expensive
Pro -- More durable, smoother finish, easier to clean on walls

Water Based Paint -- Con - Often needs a primer unless one is built in, harder to clean on walls
Pro - Comes in several finishes (flat, satin, semi-gloss, gloss), soap and water clean up, low VOCs, less expensive

Go with a water-based paint. You'll get too much glare and wash out with navy oil-based paint....Show more

You "believe it's water base" so use water base, you can use it on oil or water, but you can only use oil on oil....Show more