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Get it Right the First Time: How to Choose the Best Paint and Coatings for All Your Exterior Projects

Professional painting contractors all have their everyday go-to products, but sometimes a situation calls for you to step outside your comfort zone to get the best results for your customer.

For this article, we sat down with paint pros and the experts at Sherwin-Williams to get their insights about the best coatings for five different situations that you may encounter on your next exterior job, from severely weathered siding to dealing with moisture and temperature extremes to best overall performance.

Quality counts!

A note to begin: better ingredients mean better performance. Higher quality exterior paint is specifically formulated to provide color and gloss retention, mildew resistance and the flexibility to withstand expansion and contraction due to weather.
 The type of paint you’ll use depends on the kind of surface to be painted – wood, aluminum, vinyl, stucco or masonry – and the type of finish you want.

When painting vinyl siding, for example, look for products that offer VinylSafe® paint colors, which allow you the freedom to choose from 100 color options, including a limited selection of darker colors formulated to resist warping or buckling when applied to a sound, stable vinyl substrate.

There are many quality exterior topcoat paints to choose from, depending on the project budget and substrate and environmental conditions. Here are five with high approval ratings:

Best overall performance

Emerald® Exterior Acrylic Latex and Emerald® Rain Refresh™ Exterior Acrylic Latex offer best-in-class overall performance in exterior paints. Emerald’s exclusive cross-linking 100 percent acrylic technology provides exceptional durability and hide, and offers extreme resistance to blistering, peeling, chalking, and dirt pickup.

“I noticed the crew moved faster as a direct result of the improved coverage and ease of application while using Emerald,” said Karl Zierfuss after his company Zierfuss Painting & Restoration completed the repaint of a 200-year-old town hall in Maryland. “That provided a big savings on our labor costs.”

Emerald Rain Refresh Exterior Acrylic Latex is an ultra-durable coating formulated to shed dirt upon rain or water contact, minimizing maintenance. The secret is Self-Cleaning Technology™, an advanced coatings innovation from Sherwin-Williams that enables dirt and debris to wash away from the coated surface upon contact with rain or a water source. In addition, Emerald Rain Refresh can be tinted in VinylSafe paint colors.

Best choice for moisture resistance and temperature extremes

Mother Nature can wreak havoc on exterior paint jobs, causing weather delays and limiting the painting season when temperatures are too extreme for standard exterior coatings.

Latitude™ Exterior Acrylic with ClimateFlex Technology™ helps keep projects on schedule with advanced technology that resists early moisture and maintains high performance standards despite temperature extremes.

This paint develops early moisture resistance in as little as 30 minutes, so you can paint with confidence even when rain or heavy dew is forecast.

Latitude applies smoothly even when air, surface and material temperatures are as low as 35°F (1.67°C) or as high as 120°F (49°C).

To keep the finish looking fresh, Latitude’s durable finish protects against peeling, cracking and dirt pickup in extreme climates. Outstanding hide, coverage and block resistance make it easy to achieve a nearly flawless finish.

PRO TIP: Latitude allows you to stay on the job up to three hours longer* and is one of Sherwin-Williams PRO+ductivity Solutions designed to help contractors save time, complete jobs quickly, and save money to generate more profit. Learn more about other PRO+ductivity Solutions and how you can unlock the PRO+ App advantage.

*Based on Sherwin-William Advisory Board Research panel (n=360) professional painters surveyed estimate they have stopped painting between two and three hours early due to the impact of high temperatures.

Best choice for severely weathered siding

Rejuvenate™ Siding Restoration Coating is a high build coating ideal for application to sound, marginally prepared, alligatored, and peeling siding and trim. Its SmoothFill Technology™ gives aged and weathered siding a uniform appearance, offering dependable bonding and a smoother finish compared to applying a traditional paint and primer over less-than-perfect surfaces.

“This product absolutely saves time,” says Delaware painting contractor Mack Irwin. “After we applied the first coat of Rejuvenate to the entire structure, trim and the windows, we started to see a surface improvement. I was impressed with how Rejuvenate enabled us to hide the appearance of chipped paint. The rough surfaces were nearly gone.”

Best choice for exterior wood staining

When a job calls for a rich, beautiful appearance, top-quality performance, and time and material savings, WoodScapes® Exterior Stains are the ideal choice for pros who want to give their customers’ properties a rich, beautiful appearance that stands the test of time.

New for 2023, WoodScapes® Rain Refresh™ Exterior House Stain offers yet another excellent exterior wood finishing option. It is formulated with Self-Cleaning Technology™ so dirt and debris wash away from the coated surface upon contact with rain or a water source.

Designed for easy application, this WoodScapes stain has great adhesion and resistance to peeling. The outstanding hide, coverage and block resistance make it easy for you to achieve a nearly flawless finish. That means better coverage in fewer coats to get you onto your next project more quickly.

Like all WoodScapes products, WoodScapes Rain Refresh is specifically formulated to block tannin bleed. Your homeowners benefit from a more consistent finish over time, while you can worry less when painting.

WoodScapes was the exterior stain that Rick Convery, owner of Rick Convery Painting, Inc., relied on when restoring the 124-year-old Martha’s Vineyard Museum building in Massachusetts. “It’s easy to apply, with great coverage and a beautiful finish.”

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This article was published in the Summer 2023 issue of PPC magazine. ©2023 Randall Reilly. Get more information about products that will help you increase your productivity and efficiency in the PPC magazine archive.