Old Canaan Building Materials

The shift from oil-based to latex exterior paint happened over the course of thirty years, and the result is visible on almost every painted house in New England: chalking paint, peeling at substrates, finishes that look good for three years and fail at seven. Oil-based paint builds a harder, denser film. It penetrates wood grain rather than sitting on top of it. On a traditional wood building, correctly applied, it outlasts latex by a significant margin.

Oil-based exterior paint has a depth of color and a sheen that latex does not replicate. The film is slightly harder, slightly glossier at equivalent sheens, and the colors have a richness that comes from the oil-resin vehicle rather than the acrylic binders of latex. A house painted in oil-based paint has a specific look — not high-gloss, but not the flat, slightly chalky look of latex either.

Traditional oil-based exterior paints use linseed oil, alkyd resins, or modified oil-alkyd vehicles as the binder, with pigment suspended in a solvent carrier. Modern alkyd exterior paints are the correct contemporary equivalent. Benjamin Moore Moorwood, Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, and Fine Paints of Europe Hollandlac Brilliant are among the oil-based and oil-modified products appropriate for traditional New England exterior work.

Oil-based exterior paint requires longer dry times between coats, proper ventilation during application, and solvent for cleanup. It is not as flexible as latex at low temperatures and should not be applied when temperatures will drop below 50°F within 24 hours. It builds a harder film that holds up to washing and abrasion better than latex.

Traditional New England wood buildings were built to be painted with oil-based paint and the wood profiles, the paint adhesion characteristics, and the maintenance cycles were all calibrated to that expectation. For a traditional building where the paint quality matters, oil-based alkyd is the correct specification.

From paint dealers that carry professional-grade products. Fine Paints of Europe (Woodstock, Vermont) distributes through specialty dealers and is the correct source for the highest-quality oil-based exterior paint for traditional New England work.