Choosing the right paint for your home can make or break the vitality and longevity of your paint job. Use the wrong paint and you'll find yourself having to redo the entire project 2-3 years down the road.
But choose correctly and you can have a premier and top-notch paint job that can last 10-15 years.
So how do you know what type of paint to buy?
Talk to an Expert
This could go without saying, but we strongly recommend you get an expert opinion regarding what type of paint to buy. We are privy to Sherwin Williams, as they have been our go-to paint supplier for many years. They produce incredible paint and have some of the foremost experts in the industry.
So if you plan to embark on this journey without hiring an overland park painting contractor and plan to do it on your own, speaking with an expert at Sherwin Williams is a must. They can tell you just about everything we're going to layout in this article.
Determine the Surface of your Exteriors
Are you painting wood, vinyl, concrete, stucco, plywood, etc...? Different paints go on different surfaces, so it's imperative for you to figure out the exact type of surface that you'll be painting on. And if your project requires you to paint on dual or multiple surfaces, it will be best to order multiple types of paint.
In order to determine the exact paint for your surface, click to view this tool. Select the type of surface and you'll see what types of paint you should buy.
Pick the color that best suits your taste - Get a Sample!
Choosing a color can be one of the hardest parts of an exterior painting project. The amount of times you may change your mind is most likely going to be more than you'd initially think. However, once you do arrive on a color that you like, we recommend going with at least 3-4 other options to at least test out and see if you like them.
Be sure to get samples of all the colors you are thinking - and actually paint them onto the surface of your home. Find a unseen corner or a small hideaway where you can see it both in the shade and in the sun. This will really give you a good idea as to what it's ultimately going to look like.
Bonus tip: Get your trim color as well and match it right up against your body color. This will give you the best view of what the overall project is going to look like.
What kind of longevity do you want?
Lastly, once you've spoken to an expert, determined the type of surface and you've chosen a color, it's now time to pick the level of paint you desire.
The amount of choices can be a bit overwhelming, but the gist of it is, how long do you want it to last? Cheap paint will start chipping and fading within 2-3 years, whereas, more expensive and premium type paints can last for many years.
More expensive paint can also help to hide imperfections on the exterior, and it overall will just look nicer and higher quality. It's weather-resistant and helps to keep the home looking fantastic even while the sun beats down on it year in and year out. Cheap paint will fade quickly.
See this chart of the different types of paint that SQ offers:
We just had a client use the most expensive type of paint Sherwin Williams provides - Emerald - with the sole purpose of not wanting to paint his house again for another decade. We recommended this to him based on his desire.
Now, if you knew you wanted to update your home every 2-3 years with a new color and a new paint job, you may be perfectly okay with going for a lesser valued item that is cheaper in price. But know that you may likely experience some pealing and fading in some places of the house in even less than a couple of years.
The ultimate decision of deciding the level of paint quality that you want is perfectly correlated to when you plan to paint your home again. If you are like most homeowners who update their colors every 5-6 years, we'd recommend going with Sherwin Williams' Duration for the best value buy. However, if you want your home to look the absolute best that it possibly can, we'd recommend spending the extra money to go with Emerald.
Conclusion: Go with what is best for you, not what someone is trying to sell you
Ultimately, you need to make the best decision for your house and for your budget. Don't let someone else tell you what you should or should not do - but do trust the experts to give you information in order to make your own decision.
A good paint contractor will know exactly what type of paint to go with and will help direct you.
Bonus tip: Hire a home painting company in Overland Park that has a special agreement with Sherwin Williams that can pass their discount on to you.
SW offers discounted pricing for high-volume painters, and it's often a GREAT idea to find one of these contractors who can get you more expensive paint at the same cost as cheap paint. If you try to buy the paint yourself through SW, you'll pay much much more than if you went through a contractor. Our agreement with SW gives us the ability to give our customers incredible and steep discounts on their exterior home paint.