Better Homes And Gardens House Plans Software

The Home Improvement Guide to Exterior House Paints

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Painting the exterior of your house is an important occasion for the homeowner. Done right, it leaves your house looking brand new and visually appealing. Below, we show you how to select exterior house paints. In addition, we introduce you to the major exterior paint brands that get the job done well.

There is a plethora of paint choices for painting the exterior of the house. Some of these are water-based paints, while some are oil-based. It helps to know the different paints available, their features, tradeoffs, as well as how well your choice of paint will suit the needs of your home.

Oil-based exterior paints work well on metallic surfaces as well as bleeding woods. Coming in two variants, alkyd and linseed paint, oil-based paint has a glossy, long-lasting finish. Water-based paints, on the other hand, suit a variety of needs, from walls to ceilings. They are typically not as durable as oil-based paints, but special types of long-lasting water-based paints exist.

Dunn Edwards Exterior Paint

Dunn Edwards is one of the most trusted paint brands. It is a particular favorite among professional painters, who make up the bulk of the company's paint sales. However, do-it-yourself home painters can also make use of the company's paints to carry out impressive painting projects.

Exterior paints available from Dunn Edwards include the ultra-premium Evershield and Aristoshield. These are some of the very best paints you can get anywhere for a proper painting job.

Other painters have found great success with the premium Spartashield Exterior 100% Acrylic Paint from Dunn Edwards, along with its other, lower-priced, paints.

Sherwin Williams

Another well-reputed paint brand for exterior house paints is Sherwin Williams. You can buy Sherwin Williams at hardware stores and retailers that stock paint all across the country.

Sherwin Williams has a wide range of exterior paints, including:

Emerald Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint
SWP Exterior Oil Paint
Duration Exterior Acrylic Latex

The company's website also offers an exterior paint tool which allows you to try out different colors on your house. This is a good step to take before you commit to the color and type of paint. The paint tool gives you a better idea how the final result will look.

Comparison of Cost Per Gallon of Big Exterior Paint Brands

A major factor to take into account in shopping for the right paint is to consider the cost of the different paint brands. If you want a cheap paint, even a premium brand like Christopher Peacock has cheaper priced paints available, so keep that in mind. The very best paints of each brand, however, is where you might need to pay premium prices.

Below are average prices for some purposes. The specific paint you need from each brand may well cost less or more than the price indicated here.

Behr - $30.98 per gallon
Benjamin Moore - $54.99 per gallon
Christopher Peacock - $125 per gallon
Kelly Moore - $46.47 per gallon
Olympic - $26.44 per gallon
Sherwin Williams - $53.49 per gallon
Valspar - $30.98 per gallon

Selecting Exterior Paint Color for Your House

Beyond the type of exterior paint and the cost of the paint you choose, the other really important choice you must make is that of the color. Color selection will affect the appearance of your house even more than paint type or quality. That said, a good color in a low-quality paint selection will yield a substandard effect. It pays, therefore, to combine the best quality paint you can afford with the best color palette that has good design aesthetics.

Here are some of the most widely selected exterior house colors and why you might want to choose each one:

Red - Red can lend a refined, old-school look to a property. Red is especially suitable for farmhouses and other big structures such as brick mansions.
Yellow - Not quite as stark looking as red, yellow can be warm and bright, lending a light feel to the exterior of your house.
Mustard - Mustard is highly popular for its versatility. It is muted enough not to stick out like a sore thumb, but is colorful enough not to be drab.
White - A deep white can look clean and elegant. It works equally well on large and small houses.

To help you find exterior paint color inspiration, Behr, one of the major paint manufacturers, has a color studio tool on its website. Using the Behr Color Studio, you can explore different color palettes and preview how different colors look in combination.