The exterior of your home is the first impression you give the rest of the world, and a good paint job is critical to giving your home a pleasing and inviting appearance. For some people, the work of painting your own home’s exterior is too much and they hire a handyman or painting contractor to handle the job. For others, although it may take four or five weekends to complete the job, it is totally worth the effort.
Choosing the right paint is a very important process when it comes to completing an exterior painting project. Whether or not your paint weathers the storm is largely up to you and the quality of paint you choose and don’t be fooled; even though most exterior paints have a lifetime guarantee, they will probably last between 8 and 12 years.
River City Referrals customers Ken and Sarah Roland shared an experience they had with exterior painting and I thought it only appropriate to share it with you. “We chose to paint our house ourselves, and got a great deal on a paint closeout. We needed about 20 gallons but in order to get the great deal in the same color we ended up purchasing 10 gallons of “ordinary” latex paint and the other 10 in “high quality” latex paint. We thought we’d just paint the back of our house with the ordinary latex paint, and the front with the high quality latex paint.”
This is not an unusual story and here is what Ken and Sarah observed during their home improvement project. First thing to catch their eye was that the high quality latex paint was much easier to apply and went on more smoothly. Since they were going over a slightly darker color, the high quality paint required only 1 coat while the ordinary latex paint required 2 coats and didn’t hide flaws as well. What they learned in years to come was that the back of the house, where the inferior quality paint was used, was already fading and showing wear.
In the short run, they saved $200 on paint. In the long run, they spent more money and time by having to repaint the back of the house much earlier than planned. What is the lesson here? NEVER buy cheap paint. In the long run it costs you more. Watch for our next post to find out the best paint to purchase in Richmond, VA.