Taking Great Paints to Fix Exterior Can Save Money : Improvement: The experts advise that quality and the choice of colors are what is important for the long run.

House painting is the scourge of many a homeowner. This expensive and labor-intensive chore is both a necessity and a nicety. A well-painted house is protected from the ravages of the elements and is the expression of the owner’s personal taste with color and contrast.

To make sure that next exterior painting project will cause the family to beam with house pride, pay attention to the details of paint quality and color choice.

Ask a house-painting pro for the one bit of advice every homeowner should know before painting the house and the answer will probably be, “Buy the best-quality paint that you can afford.”

Good advice, but is it easier to dish out than to follow? With so many different brands, finishes and colors to choose from, just walking into the paint department of a home-improvement or retail store can make the eyes glaze over.

Fortunately, determining paint quality isn’t difficult. The difference between paints is in the ingredients, explains Walter Gozdon, the technical director of the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute.

The expensive brands contain high-quality ingredients that make them more costly to produce. Inexpensive brands contain low-quality filler materials that reduce production costs. That’s why price is a fairly accurate indicator of quality.

Most folks will pay around $20 per gallon for a top-of-the-line exterior house paint. The extra cost may buy an extra five years of protection--that’s five more years before painting again.

House paints are made up of three main ingredients: a solvent (also called the vehicle or carrier), pigments and a binder, says Gozdon.

The solvent in latex paints is water, and that allows for soap and water cleanup.

Pigments give paint its color and hiding power. The best paints contain high-quality pigments that can hide a contrasting color with a single coat. A low-quality paint could take two or three coats to achieve the same degree of coverage.

The final ingredient, the binder, causes paint to adhere. High-grade latex paints contain an acrylic binder for good adhesion. Alkyd paints have a petroleum-based binder that requires mineral spirits or turpentine for cleanup. The other important house-paint decision is color. The old standby of plain white is taking a back seat to other colors these days.

“We’re seeing people move away from white as a primary house color,” says Shari Hiller, manager of color marketing for Dutch Boy Paints. “But we’re also seeing a move away from darker colors to a softer palette.”

Hiller notes the trend is also toward bold accent colors on the front door. “That’s a neat place to express creativity. Warmer colors are welcoming, while cooler colors make a sophisticated statement,” she says.

Colors for traditionally styled homes are a specialized area. For a period house, such as a Victorian or reproduction Colonial, most paint companies have special color cards that highlight color schemes designed to complement a particular architectural style, explains Hiller.

Consider more than personal preference when choosing colors for a home.

Some colors tend to hold up better than others over time. Bright reds and yellows are prone to fading. They also have less hiding power than most other colors. Deep greens, browns and blues hide well and resist fading.

A high-gloss finish often will lose its sheen after a few years’ exposure to direct sunlight, and this can make the color appear to change or fade. Satin (or eggshell) and flat finishes have little or no gloss, so they appear to hold their colors better.

Flat finishes help obscure rough, weathered surfaces, too. Glossy finishes make these flaws more noticeable, but many people still prefer the look of a glossy finish. Satin finishes are a popular compromise.