The longevity of an exterior paint job will land somewhere between: Not slowing down the degradation of your siding at all and lasting seemingly, forever.

It’s very important that homeowners know this. If they don’t then, they might fall into the trap of “a paint job is a paint job” and learn the hard way as price will usually determine the outcome with this mindset and then you get what you pay for.

Mostly, we see homeowners who seem to know this and are hoping to get a paint job that ends up toward the latter of the spectrum. It’s very common for them to get the idea that it’s “the best paint”that determines the longevity and quality of the finished product.

In researching the “best exterior paint”, it’s inevitable to end up confused and frustrated as corporate giants are battling (with endless amounts of capital at their disposal) all across the internet to sway the world towards their products. All you’ll find is possibly corrupt surveys, arguments, opinions and in the end its all hear-say.

If you ask a paint store for their “best”exterior paint”, they will point you towards their newest and most expensive product as the employees are trained to maximize profits.

Time proven product

It would be wise to use a time proven product that has not been reformulated (any change in the formula should raise a red flag). The leading paint manufacturers labs are pretty advanced but, they have yet to invent a time machine to know how it will perform with its new recipe and in our climate. We stick with our same paints we have always used. They are the only problem free products from our manufacturer (S-W) that have stayed true to their recipe in the last 10 years.

While houses are failing all around us and products are being reformulated, we have never had a single failure or painted the same house twice, in 10 years.

Sealing and build

The biggest overlooked variables in the exterior paint world is how well the house is sealed and how thick the paint is applied (within spec.)

Homeowners need to know that paint can be misted on the house with a fine finish or small tip in a single coat. It could look normal to the average person. Upon closer inspection (or even under a microscope) the bottoms of the slats or insides of grooves are not sealed. This thin coat will loose its moisture (elasticity), become brittle, then it’s all down hill from there if we weren’t already on the slippery slope to begin with.

Spraying a house generously, rolling it in with a roller and spraying another generous coat is the only way to go if you want longevity. It will take 2+ times the amount of paint and 2+ times the labor on average over a hasty job.