Long Island eats cheap exterior paint. Salt air, 70°F summer humidity, UV exposure that doesn’t quit from May through September, and a winter freeze/thaw cycle that finds every micro-crack. The difference between a 4-year repaint cycle and a 12-year repaint cycle comes down to the specific product you put on your house.
We’ve painted on Long Island since 2010 and have revisited enough of our own jobs to have real data. These are the four exterior paints that hold up, and the specific Long Island use case for each.
1. Sherwin-Williams Duration
Our default recommendation for 80% of Long Island exterior jobs. 100% acrylic latex, self-priming over sound previous coats, excellent color retention, real 10–15 year life on siding. The workhorse.
- Best for: Inland homes, most vinyl, Hardie, aluminum siding
- Not ideal for: Raw cedar (needs oil primer first), deep coastal exposure
- Cost: ~$70–$80/gallon
- Sheens: Flat, satin, gloss — satin is our default for siding
2. Sherwin-Williams Emerald Exterior
The step up from Duration. Better flexibility (resists cracking on expansion/contraction cycles), stronger UV stabilizers, higher hide. Roughly 15% more expensive but worth every dollar on south-facing walls and on homes with dark exterior colors.
- Best for: South-facing walls, dark colors, cedar shake after oil-prime, detailed trim
- Cost: ~$85–$95/gallon
- Our go-to on: Colonials with deep navy or forest green body colors, Cape Cod reds
3. Benjamin Moore Aura Exterior
Aura is our coastal specialist. Best-in-class mildew resistance, highest-end resin chemistry, and a proprietary technology that gives it superior color retention on high-UV exposures. We spec Aura on every Long Island coastal home — Great Neck, Kings Point, Huntington Harbor, Centerport, Babylon South Shore, Bay Shore.
- Best for: Coastal homes within 1 mile of the water, deep-color jobs, historic Colonials
- Cost: ~$90–$105/gallon
- Coverage: Excellent — two coats is genuinely two coats (not three)
4. Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint
The budget option that actually works. Not as durable as Duration, but significantly better than anything at Home Depot or Lowe’s contractor grade. We spec SuperPaint on investment properties, rentals, and homes where the owner plans to sell within 5 years.
- Best for: Budget-sensitive exteriors, rentals, pre-sale refreshes
- Cost: ~$55–$65/gallon
- Life: 6–8 years on siding vs 10–15 for Duration
Paints we don’t use on Long Island (and why)
Behr Marquee / Premium Plus
Consumer Reports loves Behr Marquee. Real-world Long Island performance tells us otherwise. Chalks within 3 summers on south faces. The chemistry is engineered for mild climates, not salt air plus humidity plus freeze/thaw.
Box-store “contractor grade” anything
Any paint priced under $35/gallon is a 3-year paint. Full stop. We’ve been called in to strip and repaint too many of these jobs.
Straight acrylic on raw cedar
Not the product’s fault — the application is wrong. Cedar tannins bleed through any waterborne paint within 6–12 months. Always oil-prime cedar first with Zinsser Cover Stain or Sherwin-Williams Exterior Oil Primer. Then switch to breathable acrylic topcoat.
Primers we actually use
- Zinsser Cover Stain: Oil-based, bleed-blocking. Default for cedar, redwood, and water stains.
- Sherwin-Williams Extreme Bond: Adhesion primer over glossy or oil-painted surfaces.
- Zinsser BIN: Shellac-based. For severe water stains, smoke damage, heavy tannin.
- Sherwin-Williams Loxon: Masonry/stucco primer.
Sheens — what goes where
- Flat/low-sheen siding: Hides imperfections. Default for Duration on lap and shake.
- Satin siding: Slight sheen, easier to clean. Default for Aura on coastal homes.
- Satin trim: Standard Long Island trim sheen. Readable lines without plastic look.
- Semi-gloss trim: On period-correct Colonials and Victorians where the traditional finish was higher gloss.
- Gloss doors: Front doors get a gloss for visual pop and wipe-down cleanability.
Our spec sheet by house type
- Levittown Cape (inland, pre-1978): Duration siding satin, Advance doors/trim. EPA RRP protocol.
- Garden City Tudor: Aura Exterior body, hand-brushed Advance trim, oil-primed stucco caps.
- Great Neck Colonial (coastal): Aura Exterior with windward second coat, Aura trim in satin.
- Huntington cedar-shake: Cover Stain oil primer full-coverage, Emerald Exterior topcoat × 2.
- Babylon South Shore ranch: Aura Exterior body, Aura trim, windward second coat, salt-air mildewcide tint add.