Choosing a housepaint or deck treatment for the long haul.(Product Updates - exterior paints)(Buyers Guide)

With any exterior paint or deck treatment, the most important criterion is longevity. Whether you do the prep and painting yourself or hire a contractor, you want to be sure that this year's fresh look will hold up year in, year out.

Our tests show how well house paints and deck treatments perform over time. We've exposed more than 50 paints from leading national and regional brands to the weather for four years, judging them annually to see how well they continue to keep their color, resist cracking, and keep dirt and mildew at bay. All but 15 brands have been reformulated or discontinued. The Ratings, opposite, give the specifics on the ones that still survive. We conduct similar ongoing tests of deck treatments. See page 46.

* Exterior paints Several good choices

We chose to test three colors--white, because it's by far the most popular house color; blue, which represents colors ranging from navy to sea-foam green; and brown, which represents light to dark earth tones.

Central to the Ratings is our gauge of predicted durability, which tells you how quickly a paint is likely to deteriorate, based on our four-year test. The Ratings also show how well these paints resist fading and a buildup of dirt and mildew. Comments point both to paints that have cracked in appearance and to paints that don't adhere well to chalky surfaces. (The latter trait tells you whether the paint will adhere to a surface that hasn't been cleaned, scraped, or sanded well.)

RECOMMENDATIONS

The best overall choice is California Premium Velvet Acrylic. Despite its name, this brand is available mainly in the Northeast. Among paints available nationwide, consider Glidden Dulux Endurance, Glidden Spred Dura, and Pratt & Lambert Accolade. Ratings scores are based on the performance of two coats of paint over primer. We've tested one-coat performance with primer but have always obtained disappointing results. That second coat makes an enormous difference.