Exterior Repaint — White Home in Cincinnati, OH

It stays cleaner than people fear, but the finish matters more than the color. A quality exterior acrylic in a satin sheen sheds dirt and rinses down, where a flat white holds grime in its texture. What actually discolors a white house in this climate is organic growth on the shaded north side, not road dirt — and that washes off. Budget a rinse every couple of years and a white exterior holds up well here.

Considerably, and that was the point on this house. Stone carries a lot of mid-tone color and texture, so when the siding around it is also mid-tone the two blend and the stone stops registering. Taking the siding and trim to a clean white gives the stone a bright, uniform field to sit against, and it reads as a deliberate feature rather than as part of a busy wall.

Cut back first, then paint. Overgrowth against a wall traps moisture, which is what causes the paint at the base of a house to fail earliest, and it makes proper prep impossible — you cannot wash, scrape or cut a clean line through a shrub. Clearing it also usually reveals a strip of siding in worse condition than the rest, which is better found before the quote than after.