Dunn-Edwards Evershield on Phoenix Stucco: 12 to 14 Years in a Light Color

I use Evershield on most of the houses I paint. In this climate the sun is what kills a paint job, and how long it lasts has a lot to do with the color - lighter colors stay cooler, darker colors heat up faster. I have seen Evershield hold twelve to fourteen years in a light color, and I have seen darker colors showing fade in seven or eight. That is still longer than anything else I have put on a house in twenty years of painting the valley.

It runs about $15 a gallon more than Acri-Hues, which works out to $400 to $800 more in material on an average house. I think that is very worth it when you consider it adds three or four years of life to the paint job. Two coats minimum on all stucco. Three if we are going from a very dark color to a very light one, or if the stucco has gone so long without paint that it has turned absorbent - old stucco drinks paint.

We back-roll it. That means one man is spraying and a second man is behind him with a roller, working the paint into the stucco before it dries. It takes a second set of hands and it takes longer, and it is the difference between paint sitting on a wall and paint worked into it.

On sheen, that comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer the look of flat, some prefer something with a little more shine. I personally like the Velvet sheen. And in my opinion, using the same sheen on the entire house - stucco, trim and doors - has a much better look than flat on one part of the house and something shinier like satin on another.