Paint With Confidence
Exterior Common Issues & Solutions
Text & image courtesy of the Rohm & Haas Paint Quality Institute
Poor Gloss Retention
Deterioration of the paint film, resulting in excessive or rapid loss of luster of the top coat.
Possible Cause
- Use of an interior paint outdoors.
- Use of a lower quality paint.
- Use of a gloss alkyd or oil-based paint in areas of direct sunshine.
Solution
Direct sunshine can degrade the binder and pigment of a paint, causing it to chalk and lose its gloss. While all types of paint will lose some degree of luster over time, lower quality paints will generally lose gloss much earlier than better grades. The binder in top quality acrylic latex paint is especially resistant to UV radiation, while oil and alkyd binders actually absorb the radiation, causing the binders to break down. Surface preparation for a coating showing poor gloss retention should be similar to that used with chalking surfaces (see Chalking).
