The truth is, there is nothing that transforms a house faster than paint. While it’s possible to regard painting as a trivial and superficial addition, there are profound logistic benefits to painting your exterior.
Aside from the incredible aesthetic value, good exterior paint gives your house vital functional advantages. Therefore, it is a home improvement project that you should not overlook. Some benefits can either be immediate, while others accumulate over time as a way of saving on maintenance costs.
Why is Painting Necessary?
Before you start choosing the right exterior paint for your house, you need to understand some of the underlying benefits of painting. Why would exterior paint matter? Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits.
- Better aesthetic- After several years of seeing the same thing, you might now be ready for something new. A fresh coat will rejuvenate the old, making your whole house more appealing. It is a way of giving your home some personality and visual interest.
If you use the right paint, the exterior may stay vibrant for as long as ten years on stucco or as long as seven years on wood siding.
- Curb of appeal: When your house is on the market, potential sellers are likely to make judgments about how much they are willing to spend based on how the house looks from the exterior. With little money to spend on the curb of appeal, a fresh coat of paint will transform your old home, giving you the most value in return.
- Protection against rain, wind, sun, and insects are some of the natural elements that are likely to damage your home- but having the right paint can withstand nearly all of these. Think of exterior paint as a protective coat that shields your house against the extreme conditions of all the climatic seasons, from freezing winters to soaking rains and scorching sun radiation during summer.
- Reasonable costs- Compared to rebuilding or remodeling part of your home, painting is the least expensive renovation.
As part of the maintenance routine of your building, a general rule of thumb requires you to paint your house every 10-15 years. The interval, however, is dependent on the area you live- places with harsh climates with wind and rain require a new coat every ten years, while those in the sunny regions may only need 15 -20 years.
Such benefits of painting exterior do not come without expense or effort. For the best results, you need to choose exterior paint that guarantees these results while giving you a return on investment in material, labor, and time.
How do you Determine the Best Paint in The Market?
To understand the product in question, we first need to look at the recipe. And of course, that requires us to get familiar with the ingredients that make up paint. Most paints are made up of three main components called the pigment, the binder, and the solvent.
- The pigment is the color chemical in the paint. The paint takes a particular color because it reflects and absorbs a certain amount of light wavelength. To get the desired color, you will want to mix different pigments.
- Binders: Pigments occur in solid form; therefore, it would be difficult to apply them on the wall as they are. That’s why paints contain binders to glue the pigment particles together and to make them stick to the surfaces you are painting. The binder affects the flow, film build, and gloss development.
Pigments and binders are the solid portions of paint that are left behind when the paint dries, and solvents evaporate. Paints with a high concentration of the solid portions provide better-concealing properties and durability than ones with lower solid contents.
- Solvents: a solvent is something that dissolves something else. When you mix the binder and the pigment, you get a thick viscous substance that is difficult to spread. The solvent’s job is to make the mixture thinner and less dense, thus easier to use.
In addition to the three components, there are additives to improve the performance of the paints. For exterior paints, the additives may be designed to make it waterproof, rustproof, or protect the wall against frost or sunlight.
The proportions of these components determine the overall performance of the paint. Before buying, you will need to check out the proportions that suit your needs, which are usually in the manufacturer’s technical datasheet. Manufacturers summarize these ingredients into solids concentration, dry-film thickness, coverage, and VOCs.
- Solid Concentration: This is the number of solid particles (Pigment and Binder) per volume unit. The higher the concentration, the better the barrier properties.
- Dry film thickness: this is the thickness that paint achieves after it has been applied on a surface and dried. Paints with higher values provide better barrier properties than ones with lower values.
- Coverage: This number is used to measure how much paint you need per unit area. It is dependent on the film thickness; the lower the film thickness, the higher the coverage.
- VOCs: this abbreviation stands for volatile organic compounds- solvents that release toxic compounds in the air. Most regulations limit the amount of VOCs to 250 grams per liter. Paints with lower VOCs concentration are considered more sustainable and friendly to the environment.
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Having analyzed the ingredients of the paint, how do we make a recipe that suits an outdoor project? There are a couple of things to consider before choosing the paint to use. First, you need to know the nature of the surface you are painting.
The nature of surfaces determines the concentrations to look for in the paints, their preparation, and application techniques. In most cases, the manufacturers will specify the kind of surface each paint is suitable for. They will either be for sidings, walls, fences of ground surfaces.
Secondly, you will have to choose paints based on their binders. Paints are either water-based or oil-based. Water-based paints need water-based solvents, while oil-based need oil-based solvents. Water-based paints are easier to clean and have lower VOCs concentration than oil-based ones.
Even so, oil-based paints are glossy, smooth, dirt-resistant, and provide some degree of hardness and impermeability that no latex(water-based paint) can match.
Therefore, it makes sense to use them on certain outdoor elements that are most vulnerable to elements of weather or ones that deserve to stand out and shine. The downside is that they take longer to dry, contain a high amount of VOCs, and tend to crack over time.
While oil-based paints have been the most preferred paints, recent technological advancements have made water-based paints with a performance that equals the oil-based paints. Acrylic paints are water-based paints with similar barrier properties of oil-based paints, making them the most durable of all. They are best to use on wood and aluminum sidings, stucco, plaster, and porch floors.
Regardless of the nature of the project, there are universal terms that describe and qualify paint. The simplified terminologies will enable you to review and understand the product with ease.
- Hiding Power: This is the ability of paint to cover a surface once it has been applied sufficiently. You will need to analyze the extent of wear on the surfaces and determine the film thickness and solid concentration you will need.
- Color retention: This is the ability of the paint to maintain its original color. You’ll want surfaces exposed to sunlight to a higher capacity to retain color.
- Blister resistance will keep excessive moisture from penetrating through the coat layers. Oil and acrylic paints give you desirable resistance.
- The Finish- A paint’s finish is the characteristic that changes how a surface looks after the paint has dried up. If some paint has a matte or flat finish, there will be no much change in how a surface looks, since the paint doesn’t add reflections. But the finish can appear dull in dark light.
A glossy paint gives a surface a shiny reflection determined by how much glossy paint you use. The glossiness range from satin (minimal reflection), to semi-gloss and high gloss (high reflection).
- Satin gloss is best for siding because it offers a low reflective finish, giving the paint more hiding power. The minimal gloss protects the paint from abrasion while making it easy to clean.
- Semi-gloss is shinier, more durable, and has a higher capacity for moisture-resistant than satin. It is best suited for areas exposed to weather elements.
- High gloss is dirt-repellant and highly resilient to elements. It gives the paint a richness and depth of color. It’s highly reflective nature augments surface imperfections, demanding skillful application.
You should use it sparingly on surfaces you are most likely to touch.
All these factors taken into consideration, I have curated a list of the best exterior paints for wood and other surfaces:
Best Overall: Aura Exterior
It is a water-based 100% acrylic paint manufactured by Benjamin Moore. It is self-priming and contains 46% of solids by volume, making it a highly durable paint that lasts for years without fading, cracking, or peeling. J.D Power’s 2019 Paint Satisfaction Study rated the product number one overall in exterior paint. Benjamin Moore’s unique color technology gives the paint vibrant and deep colors that do not fade. The paints are water-based, which means the surfaces can be cleaned with soap and water without wearing out. The paint is available in both satin-gloss and semi-gloss finish.
Benjamin Moore’s Aura exterior covers 500 square meters per gallon with few coats, which means less paint and less time spent in painting. With VOC level 50%, the paint is friendly to the environment.
Which Type of Surfaces to Apply the Paint?
Best used as wood paint and on fiber cement sidings, brick, stucco, and primed metal.
Best for porch and Patio: Kilz Interior Porch and Patio Latex Floor Paint
With massive positive online reviews, Kilz’s Porch and Patio Floor Paint provides the best protection for your outdoor floor surfaces. It is easy to apply and highly durable. With 200-300quare feet coverage, Kilz is formulated to endure extreme weather conditions, offering protection for years against peeling, cracking, and fading.
It comes in attractive different shades of silver-gray color and dries to a durable, satin-gloss finish that withstands moisture and frequent sweeping.
The water-based paint is easy to apply on surfaces, and the first coat dries within 4-6 hours, after which the second layer can be applied.
Pros:
- Easy to apply
- Dries fast
- Attractive sheens after drying
Cons:
- Lengthy application, taking up to 6 hours.
Can it be applied in interiors?
Yes, the paint can be used on both interior and exterior surfaces.
Best Wood Paint:
BEHR Barn and Fence PaintThe finest BEHT Barn and Fence Paint offer exceptional durability and timeless beauty of your wood surfaces. This paint delivers extreme protection against blistering, peeling, and color fade. The paint is self-priming, which means that you do not have to prime the deck before applying the paint.
Just like many exterior paints for wood, BEHR’s Barn and Fence Paint uses a combination of oil and latex, which gives it excellent color retention capacity, adhesion, and durability. The product is also livestock free, which means that it is safe to use around animals.
Pros:
- Livestock free
- Durable
- Self- Priming
Cons:
- Contains high amounts of VOCs, thus not environmental friendly
- It takes longer to dry up
- Limited color options. It is only available in red and white, with a flat finish
- Kilz Exterior Siding, Fence & Barn Paint
Kilz brand has been producing quality paints for 40 years. This is a premium paint that assures you of the protection of your outdoor wood project.
The formulation makes the paint resist against tear, mold, rust, and more. It is durable, resisting cracking, peeling, and blisters caused by the sun. As a self-priming paint, you do not need to prime the wood surface before applying the paint, which makes it easy to use.
Pros:
– Self-priming
– Resists tear and wear from weather conditions
– Long-lasting
Cons:
– Long application process
Best for Stucco: Valspar Duramax Masonry and Stucco Paint
Valspar Duramax Masonry and Stucco Paint offer a flat finish with exceptional hiding power concealing all imperfections on the brick. The elastomers additives make the paint resistant to cracking, peeling, and moisture penetration. The paint can withstand 98mph wind-driven rain, keeping the stucco and brick safe.
The paint comes with different colors and can be tinted depending on your preference.
It can be used on masonry surfaces, including cement, stucco, concrete, and brick. However, it is not for use on glazed brick, floor, or steps.
On smooth surfaces, it covers up to 130 square meters per gallon while on rough surfaces, 90 square meters per gallon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I try to mix my paints?
Yes, but there are a few tips to observe:
– Only mix the same ‘type’ of paint. Water-based paints should only be mixed with water-based ones.
– Keep in mind the color wheel and the resulting color.
– It is easier to darken a light color than it is to lighten the dark color.
What sheen of paint Should I use?
The condition and nature of a surface will determine the sheen to use. For stucco or stone, flat sheen works best. Satin-glossy is good enough for wood paint. Generally, Semi-gloss works on most surfaces and provides the best protection on the shelf life of the surface.