Best Exterior White Paint To Transform Your House On A Budget

Did you know that you can save a lot of money by painting the exterior of your house yourself? 

It may sound like a job that’s best left to the professionals but giving your house a coat of exterior white paint, or any other colour for that matter is easier than you probably think. 

If like us you have a million other projects you should be focussing on, painting your house exterior probably isn’t a priority but did you know that a clean and tidy exterior can increase your property value by up to 25%?

Painting the front of our house only took a couple of hours to do but makes such a huge impact and, even though there are still a lot of problems to sort out, has increased the curb appeal of our home a lot.

I’m not sure how you would describe the colour of the render on the front of the house before painting it but it doesn’t exactly look clean and inviting, does it? And, after replacing the rotten decorative timber on the front gable over the bay window it sticks out even more than before.

How do you paint the exterior of a house?

Before you can paint the outside of your house take a step back and look at the overall condition and materials of what you want to paint. It’s important that all surfaces are sound, clean and dry before you get out your paintbrush.

How to prepare your walls for painting

Fill any cracks in your render with some filler, wipe down the surface to remove any dirt or cobwebs and remove any bits of old flaky paint. If your house is very dirty, you could consider using a pressure washer to clean it but be very careful and use the lowest settings as too much pressure can damage your render or bricks!

Tools and supplies you’ll need to paint the outside of your house

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Using the right products is vital when painting the exterior of your house. 

You only need very basic tools but when it comes to the paint don’t take any shortcuts. You have to use paint that’s breathable so that it won’t end up flaking and causing damage to your home.

To clean & prepare the exterior wall for painting: 

• Brush 
• Bucket of water & sponge or a pressure washer
• Filler
• Filling knife

To paint exterior walls: 

• Paintbrush – ideally a masonry paintbrush
• Roller & roller cage (see below for our recommendations on which pile is best)
• Masonry paint – this is the exterior white paint that we use and recommend
• Masking tape (optional)
• Ladder

What is the best exterior white paint? 

As I just mentioned, using the right kind of paint for the exterior of your house is very important. To paint render, pebbledash or most kinds of brick you will have to use a masonry paint that’s breathable and allows moisture out of your house. 

Masonry paint is available in smooth and textured finishes. The smooth finish looks and feels like emulsion and is the finish that we used. 

The textured paint is a lot grainier and looks like someone has thrown a handful of sand into it. The textured finish is ideal if your walls aren’t in perfect condition and you want to kind imperfections like small cracks (fill them first though!).

We used this exterior white paint which we highly recommend. It’s breathable, covered very well and is dirt and mould-resistant. And, best of all, 5 years later it still looked sparkly white and clean. We love the bright brilliant white finish but if exterior white house paint isn’t right for you, it’s also available in lots of other colours.

Paint the outside of your house

Now that all of the preparation is out of the way, painting the exterior of a house is easy and straightforward. 

Set up your ladder so that it’s secure and start painting just as you would if you were painting a room. If you are painting larger surfaces or high up it’s worth investing in some scaffolding. Hiring scaffolding for a week is surprisingly affordable and will make painting a house exterior much easier and safer!

Start by cutting in around all of the edges with a masonry paintbrush and then fill in the rest with a medium pile roller (or a long pile roller if your walls are very textured). When the first coat of paint has dried, apply a second coat for the best coverage and protection. 

The more textured your walls are, the more time-consuming it will be to paint them and the more paint you will use. You will have to wiggle the paint into all of the grooves so the surface you’re covering is actually much larger. 

We always recommend the same paintbrushes which we’ve been using for years but when painting the exterior of a house with rendered or pebbledash walls don’t waste your money on a high-quality brush as the rough texture will damage the bristles over time. Get yourself an affordable masonry brush to do all of the cutting. 

And here’s the before and after of our freshly painted white render.

It’s amazing what a difference a bit of paint and a few hours of work can make!

There’s obviously still a huge amount of work to do. The garden wall and gateposts are falling down and need rebuilding, the porch needs to be replaced and we still need to paint the large gable end, too.

It’s a long list but it’s starting to look better already!

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