# Forum Home Renovation Painting  Exterior paint brand

## Barky

Thank you for reading this. 
I've moved on a little since my previous enquiry. I have cleaned and filled the dings in the blue pre-primed beams, I still need to treat the posts, and rolled on a coat of Accent oil based primer. Now I need to order the paint. 
I had intended to order Taubmans Endure Exterior acrylic paint because it has a 15 year guarantee but the choice of exterior paints is bewildering. 
What paint can other forum members recommend for a harsh climate?

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## Ken-67

Taubmans is a good, reliable paint company. There is also Wattyl Solaguard, or Dulux Weathershield. Both these products don't require primers or undercoats in most cases. I think they are currently offering a 10 year guarantee, but they have been tried and tested over many years. This is not to say that Taubmans won't go the 15 year distance. Most paint companies have pretty severe testin conditions befeore they put a new product on the market.

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## goldie1

Have been using  Wattyl solarguard since the 70s good gear

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## strangerep

> Thank you for reading this.
> I have cleaned and filled the dings in the blue pre-primed beams, I still
> need to treat the posts, and rolled on a coat of Accent oil based primer.

  You said you're in a harsh climate, so I'd go for a second coat of oil-based
primer first. (For superior results, leave several days between coats, and
then maybe a week before putting the acryllic on top.)   

> Now I need to order the paint. 
> I had intended to order Taubmans Endure Exterior acrylic paint because it has
> a 15 year guarantee but the choice of exterior paints is bewildering. 
> What paint can other forum members recommend for a harsh climate?

  I've been using Dulux Weathershield gloss for many years, but recently
started using Taubman's Endure exterior instead. It's too early to tell
whether Endure is indeed better than Weathershield in the long term. But
here's some of points of difference which are obvious immediately: 
Weathershield gloss retains a slightly sticky feeling indefinitely. This can
be seen by painting 2 pieces of timber, letting them dry for a long time, and then placing one
on top of the other for a while. A weak bond develops between the two surfaces, so that when
you separate the pieces they seem to stick. The longer they were in contact, the more
they seem to stick. When prised apart, the surfaces appear damaged as a result. 
In contrast, although Endure feels sticky in a similar for several days, it
then seems to go through a second stage of curing, and gradually feels less
sticky. Repeating the test above using Endure, the pieces still stick to each
other a bit, but when prised apart the surface is not damaged. I take this as
evidence that Endure does indeed give a tough surface -- though it will take many
years to find out whether it lasts as long as Weathershield. (I also interpret Endure's
 behaviour to mean that subsequent coats of Endure should be applied before the
second-stage cure has occurred.) 
Endure is also much thicker out of the can than Weathershield. Both need
thinning before use, imho, but Endure needs a lot more thinning than
Weathershield. (I only use water as thinner for exterior applications rather
than Floetrol, and apply a minimum of 3 coats as compensation.) 
Also be aware that dark colours fade disappointing quickly. (If you read the 
fine print on the paint guarantees, they don't promise that the colour will 
stay nice for X years, but only talk about cracking, peeling, etc, when 
applied to a sound substrate.) I'm currently doing an experiment with a dark 
colour in Endure, so we'll see in a few years whether it fades slower than
Weathershield. 
BTW, tints ain't always tints. The stuff they use in an official Taubman's
paint store is different than the cheaper tints in (say) Bunnings. 
Oh, and for a harsh climate, put VC175 antimould additive in all your paint
(including the undercoats).  The Flood Company Australia » Anti-Mould Products » VC175 
at about 2 teaspoonfuls per liter of paint. It retards mould growth a lot.

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## Barky

Thanks* strangerep* for your detailed reply. 
   I dropped into the local hardware store today and was offered a sizable discount on Cabot's Timbercolour. A quick Google search hasn't turned up anything negative and I think I'll take up the offer. Has anyone had a negative experience with Timberrcolour?

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## Blocker

Barky,
Aussie paint manufacturers make some of the best quality exterior acrylics available.These paints remain flexible during extremes of hot and cold over many years and generally perform well regardless of brand(Taubmans Endure,Haymes Solashield,Dulux Weathershield,Wattyl Solagard)
I wouldnt specify Cabots Timbercolour for walls as this is more suitable as a walk on decking paint and lacks some of the flexibility required for large vertical areas.
Ultimately the life of a coating is governed more by elevation (sun or shade)and colour(light or dark).
As far as tint quality,90% of outlets would use the paint makers recommended system to ensure consistant results,and the big retailers get their tint machine free from the paint factory and also are heavily subsidised so would be unlikely to not use the manufacturers system.
Regards,
Blocker.

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## chalkyt

Hi Barky
Your request has produced some interesting information. FYI I am at the opposite end of the "harsh environment" scale (i.e Snowy Mountains... cold, hot, windy and sometimes fabulous). I've used Solarguard and Weathershield (light colours) more or less interchangeably and don't see much difference although after five years there are some areas where a re-coat might be a good idea. I haven't found the Accent paint to be as good. I think like all things "what you pays for is what you gets".

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## strangerep

> As far as tint quality,90% of outlets would use the paint makers recommended system to ensure consistant results,and the big retailers get their tint machine free from the paint factory and also are heavily subsidised so would be unlikely to not use the manufacturers system.

  I would have thought so too, but recent experience suggests this is not always the full story... 
Take the Dulux colour "Flower Center". Dulux have separate "interior" and "exterior" formulas for this colour so of course I always chose the exterior variant when using Weathershield. Then I decided to experiment with Taubman's Endure and went to Bunnings to get a can. But the Bunnings database for tinting Endure said "interior only" for that colour. 
Disappointed, I almost abandoned the experiment. But then I went to a Bristol trade outlet which also sells Endure and asked them to check their database. It said "interior or exterior", so I bought a small quantity from them to test. I guess we'll see in a few years whether it's really "exterior". 
Blocker, your forum info says you're a paint dealer? For my curiosity, what does your tint database say about the Dulux colour "Flower Center" when tinting other brands of paint? Do they all have an "exterior" variant of that colour? 
Cheers.

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## Barky

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply, 
I can buy  Weathershield and Solagard locally and I've decided in the end to take that route. I will check on the suitability of the tint.

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## Blocker

Strangerep,
Even though Bristol and Taubmans are part of the same company(PPG) they use a slightly different method of making some exterior yellows.This has nothing to do with the quality of the product and is more a carryover from when they were stand alone companies.
Dulux,Haymes and Bristol use a colour fast yellow to make this type of colour but Wattyl and Taubmans have'nt done so.
Over the years when a customer requires an "Interior Only" colour for outside we will reformulate into a colour fast formula to match the sample in store,but this is not likely to happen in a corporate hardware store when the staff have limited experience "thinking outside the square".
Thanks,
Blocker

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## strangerep

Blocker,
Thanks very much for the info.

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