Living by the ocean is a privilege, but comes with its own complications when it comes to choosing exterior paint.
If you don’t use the right exterior paint on your coastal home, the exterior paint can fade, chip and peel due to the constant exposure to salt water and sea air.
To protect your home from sea-spray, it is essential that you invest in a high quality exterior paint.
In this article, I will explore the best exterior paint for your coastal home.
Keep reading to find out more.
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Best Exterior Paint For Coastal Homes
OUR TOP PICK
The Microblend Exterior Paint and Primer is a professional quality, low VOC, low odor paint and primer with a silky smooth, luxurious finish.
Every bucket is tested with a spectrophotometer ensuring incredibly consistent color, bucket to bucket, order to order for perfectly matched buckets and easy touch-ups.
This proprietary formula has added UV blockers, dries hard, resists stains and burnishing, while remaining washable and scrubbable for easy cleaning.
Pros
- UV protection - Exterior formulas feature additional UV protection to ensure the color remains for longer without fading.
- Low VOC - This means that you can use this paint and primer around your property without worrying about breathing in harmful chemicals.
- 300+ colors - There are a variety of different colors to choose from in flat, satin, eggshell, semi-gloss and gloss sheens.
Cons
- One customer noted that this particular exterior paint took a long time to arrive in the mail.
EDITORS CHOICE
The Rust-Oleum Zinsser 31.5 fl oz. PermaWhite Exterior Semi-Gloss paint is guaranteed to prevent the growth of mold and mildew on the painted film for 5 years.
This paint is designed to resist cracking, fading, peeling and blistering for 15 years.
Once applied, this paint resists dirt and moisture on film coating to keep the exterior of your home looking fresher for longer.
Pros
- Mold and mildew resistant - Product contains a mildewcide to prevent the growth of mold and mildew on the paint film and is guaranteed for 5 years.
- Self-priming - This exterior paint is self-priming meaning that it requires no sanding prior to application.
- Easy to clean and maintain - This paint is easy to clean up with soap and water.
Cons
- One customer claimed that this particular exterior paint arrived damaged.
BEST VALUE
The Prestige Paints Exterior Paint and Primer in One is an exterior latex paint and primer in one is a high end paint intended to be used on exterior surfaces.
This paint features a high hiding formula that provides excellent coverage with smooth application.
When it comes to cleaning the exterior of your home, you can use warm water and soap to clean this exterior paint for your convenience.
Pros
- Paint and primer in one - As this formula contains a primer, you only need to carry out one step and there’s no need to buy an additional primer.
- Quick-drying - This paint and primer dries in 1 to 2 hours, meaning you don’t need to wait long to reapply another layer and to finish the job.
- Low VOC - Paint the exterior of your home with confidence knowing that you won’t be breathing in lots of harmful chemicals.
Cons
- A few users noted that the color pay-off of this particular exterior paint was less than they were expecting, which meant that they needed another layer.
RUNNER UP
The RUST-OLEUM 03101 Exterior Mildew Performance Paint is designed to resist dirt and moisture to keep your home looking fresher for longer.
This mildew paint is specifically designed to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
This paint is designed to prevent paint from peeling in the future, making it perfect for the exterior of your coastal home.
Pros
- Easy to clean up - This latex paint is incredibly easy to clean up with soap and warm water.
- Fade resistant - Acrylic paint is excellent for resisting fading or damage caused by exposure to the sun, making it perfect for homes located in hot regions by the ocean.
- Self-priming - There’s no need to worry about priming when it comes to using this exterior paint.
Cons
- One customer claimed that this particular exterior paint leaked during transportation.
RUNNER UP
The Rust-Oleum 3104 Zinsser 1-Qt. PermaWhite Exterior Satin paint is quick-drying and can be reapplied in 2 hours.
This paint allows you to enhance and protect moisture-prone areas on the exterior of your coastal home.
There’s no need to prep surfaces, as this self-priming paint sticks to exterior surfaces without sanding.
Pros
- Mold and mildew resistant - This paint is mildew resistant, meaning that you don’t have to worry about mold or mildew appearing on the exterior of your home or property.
- Great coverage - The coverage of this paint is excellent in two coats, leaving you with a durable and professional finish.
- Easy to clean up - After using this paint, you only need soap and warm water for the clean up process.
Cons
- A few users noted that they didn’t like the packaging of this particular exterior paint.
Buyer’s Guide
There are a few things to consider when purchasing exterior paint for coastal homes, but it primarily comes down to coverage, safety, and durability.
When painting the exterior of your home, you will also want to consider the dry time for the exterior paint that you choose.
Not only is it important to pick a dry day that isn’t forecast to rain, but you will also want to ensure that the dry time isn’t going to eat into the time it takes you to complete the project.
Read the following factors before going ahead with your purchase.
Coverage
When purchasing exterior paint, you will also need to consider the coverage.
The coverage refers to the surface area that can be covered per liter of paint.
This is important to bear in mind as it allows you to plan and calculate how much paint you'll need to buy.
To paint the entire exterior of your coastal home, it is likely that you will need several cans of paint depending on the size of the cans you’re looking at.
The greater the coverage, the less layers of exterior paint you’ll need to use on the outside of your home.
Bearing this in mind, the better the coverage, the better value the exterior paint is and the more money you can save in the process of decorating.
Durability
It’s also important to consider the durability of an exterior paint, as it needs to be able to withstand harsh weather conditions and exposure to sea air and water.
A good indication of whether a product is durable or not is to check the product reviews section.
In this section, users can leave honest feedback, whether good or bad on the exterior paint in question.
Alongside this, the product reviews section can also provide you with a better understanding of a company’s customer service.
If a customer has had a bad experience with a company’s customer service, whether that be with shipping or they couldn’t get hold of the customer service team to fix their problem, then it is likely that they will let you know in the product reviews section.
Although problems occur in businesses every day that are often outside of a company’s control, how they rectify said issues will reveal a lot about whether you want to invest and support them as a customer.
Always make sure that you do your own research and ensure that you’re happy with the reviews before going ahead with your purchase.
Safety
A super important factor to bear in mind when using exterior paint for your coastal home is your safety while you carry out this project.
Although you’ll be painting outside of your property where the ventilation is much better, you shouldn’t underestimate toxic materials and still need to be cautious when using them.
Even when painting the exterior of your home, there’s no getting away from the fact that VOCs can dangerous to breathe in when it comes to painting and the cleaning up process.
VOCs can vary depending on the exterior paint that you opt for.
That being said, you should try to opt for one that is low VOCs and low odor, as they are perceived to be safer.
Typically speaking, latex paints and primers tend to be low odor and low-VOC.
In addition to this, the clean-up process tends to be more convenient as they are water-based and can easily be cleaned with soap and water in comparison.
This is much quicker when compared to their oil-based counterparts, as you will require paint thinners with high levels of VOCs to sufficiently clean your brushes.
To ensure that you’re safe while working with paint, you should invest in some protective gear as you carry out this project.
For instance, respirators are essential for your safety when it comes to painting and priming your coastal home.
You should also consider wearing a respirator when it comes to cleaning jobs that involve high-VOC paints, primers, and cleaning solutions to clean brushes.
If you don’t wear or invest in the proper protective gear when working with VOCs, you could end up feeling very unwell.
Symptoms such as dizziness, irritation of the eyes and nose, and headaches are incredibly common when you’re working with these potent chemicals, which can not only leave you feeling ill but will also slow down the progress of your project as a result of this.
Type Of Paint Finish
It’s important to consider the type of paint finish that you’re going to be using before painting the exterior of your coastal home.
When you own a coastal home, you will need to ensure that the exterior paint that you choose is able to withstand harsh weather conditions and UV radiation.
While you might think that the paint finish is just for aesthetic purposes, you’d be wrong in thinking so!
The paint finish can significantly affect how long the paint lasts on exterior surfaces, so it’s essential to get right.
Below are some of the paint finishes you can expect to see when searching for exterior paint.
Eggshell paint finish - Eggshell paint offers your home protection from harsh weather conditions and seasonal weather changes.
Eggshell paint is one of the most popular finishes available on the market today, and looks beautiful on a variety of different exterior surfaces.
High-gloss paint finish - A high-gloss paint offers durability and is great for adding richness to paint color.
However, this type of finish shouldn’t be used to finish your entire home as it can magnify certain imperfections that you won’t necessarily want to highlight.
As a result, it should instead be used to accentuate certain features.
Semi-gloss paint finish - A semi-gloss paint is durable and offers visible shine on home exteriors.
It is great for enduring excess moisture and harsh weather conditions, and it is also an ideal option for surfaces that require frequent cleaning.
Flat paint finish - Flat paint has been used for years to disguise imperfections on the exterior of your home.
That being said, the popularity of flat paint has declined over the years.
This simply comes down to the fact that it is matte, porous, and can be susceptible to fading and mildew growth developing over the years.
Satin paint finish - Satin paint is highly durable.
Not only does it resist peeling incredibly well, but it also helps to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
However, you should be aware that satin paint can enhance imperfections.
Whichever exterior paint finish you choose, make sure that you do your research and that you’re happy with the results before going ahead.
After all, your choice is going to be on show on the exterior of your coastal home for everyone to see!
Drying Time
When choosing an exterior paint for your coastal home, you will also need to consider the drying time.
Painting the exterior of your home isn’t a small job.
The drying time will not only contribute to how convenient repainting the exterior of your property is but also how efficiently you’ll be able to finish the job.
Being aware of the drying time will help you to estimate how long the job is going to take.
When you consider the number of layers of exterior paint you will need to apply to your coastal home, the drying time can lengthen the job significantly if you’re not aware of it.
This might not be a problem for someone who is retired or isn’t taking time off work to complete this painting project.
However, if you’re on a tight timescale, the drying time can significantly hold up the process if you aren’t aware of it.
If you accidentally pick a paint with a longer drying time, then you will need to accommodate this drying time of each layer into the time it will take for you to finish painting the exterior of your home.
Type Of Surface
When purchasing exterior paint for your coastal home, you will need to consider the type of surface that you are painting.
Many exterior paints are designed and marketed for a variety of different surfaces.
Some surfaces are more porous than others.
In addition to this, if the exterior of your home is dark in color, and you’re trying to paint it a lighter color, this can also affect how much paint you need to finish repainting your home.
You will always need to take the surface of your home into mind and go from there when choosing a paint.
You will also need to ensure that you opt for paint that is suitable for exterior surfaces.
While some paints are designed for interior and exterior use, generally speaking, you will want a heavy-duty paint that is able to withstand harsh weather conditions.
Not only will this prolong the time between the next time you need to paint the exterior of your home, but it will also ensure that the paint is up to the job.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Coats Of Exterior Paint Do I Need?
The answer to this question will largely depend on the quality and coverage of the exterior paint that you choose.
When it comes to a high quality paint with good coverage and color pay off, you shouldn’t need more than 2 coats of paint.
However, this can vary significantly depending on the quality of the exterior paint that you are using.
You will also need to consider the surface that you are painting. For instance, darker colored surfaces will, by nature, require more paint to cover.
This is the same for exterior surfaces that are more porous, as the surface can soak up more of the paint which can affect the color pay off.
Last update on 2025-03-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API