exterior paint ?
 

i have never had to buy exterior paint. and while this sounds easy enough. i don't want to buy the wrong stuff. i am going to be painting treated lumber.
i also assume i need primer ? what kind ?

Never a good idea to paint treated lumber, it just will not stay stuck.
What is it your trying to paint? Deck, lattis ect.
For anything but deck boards I'd suggest using soild stain instead.

ok. stain should be fine. should i put anything over the stain ?

now. how about exterior paint for regular wood ?

In my humble opinion, Sherwin-Williams SuperPaint is the best overall paint for exteriors. It's nothing fancy but it is one heckuva workhorse paint. It's easy to apply, is reasonably priced, & 2 coats gives you years of protection. Other paint companies make great paint including Benjamin Moore........but for the money, I like my SuperPaint.

ok, let me be more clear on my question. there are : accent base, light base, medium base, etc. then flat, semi flat, gloss, etc. what is the difference in how they perform ? this may sound silly, but idk what purpose each of these has. i have some wood trim on the outside of my house that needs some paint.

thanx a ton.

Bases are for when a paint is to be tinted.
If your looking for something simple like white the you just buy white paint.

For outside painting I would go no lower then a semi gloss paint, the more gloss the easer it will be to clean.
The sheen has nothing to do with how long it will last, only how shiny the surface will be.

What exactly are you painting?

NO white ! i HATE white ! ( my house is mostly white :(:laughing: ).
i am thinking a darkish brown.

this will be for new wood around windows and whatever else needed.

I think dark maroon can also be good.

Fix'n it-

You don't need to worry about accent base/light base, etc. When you pick your colors, the base is decided for you.

For the sheen, look at it just like inside your home. Typically, there is less sheen on walls & more sheen on trim; i.e., satin for the walls (could be called "low lustre" for exterior), and semi-gloss for the trim (could be called "soft gloss" for exterior).

An earlier post sugested that the least sheen you should get is semi-gloss for water exposure outside. There is some correlation in sheen/gloss and water protection for interior paints, but not for exterior paints. All exterior paints work in rain, and none are designed for being under water, so pick based on what you think looks good.

If you're still not sure what you want, try going into a paint store with a picture (and maybe even some basic measurements) of you project. They will be happy to help you pick everything you need for the details of your specific job.

thanx, pucks. thats the type of answer i was looking for.