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This fifth-generation, Indiana-based pro’s breadand-butter projects are residential repaints; however, he also sees his share of commercial exterior work.

Many home exteriors Reynolds works with in this section of the Midwest are constructed with roughsawn cedar wood or Hardie plank siding materials. If the surface has been previously painted, he uses Sherwin-Williams SUPERPAINT Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint in a satin sheen. He likes the product because it comes with the same lifetime limited warranty included with the manufacturer’s premium Emerald and Duration products, but the cost for SUPERPAINT is lower.

“From a marketing standpoint, my customers like knowing they have a lifetime limited warranty on the paint product I’m using, and it also helps me keep the cost down for them,” he said.

Reynolds also says there are a couple of keys to getting the best performance out of SUPERPAINT. For example, he only uses it if the surface was previously painted, and he always sprays then backrolls all his jobs. He turns to Sherwin-Williams Duration Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint if the surface has not been previously painted. He also likes it in situations where the customer wants a darker color, or if the surface is worn and has excessive peeling.

“If I have a customer going with a darker color, I recommend Duration because it does have better retention and it resists excessive fading better,” he said. “Duration is twice as thick, too; it’s 7 mils versus 4 mils with SUPERPAINT.”

For commercial projects, he often works with brick or cement-block surfaces. For these, he likes Sherwin-Williams LOXON XP Waterproofing Masonry Coating, which offers the benefit of using one coat for a primer and a second coat for a topcoat. “It’s a high-quality product, and the painter benefits from not having to do primer plus-two.”

“[Sherwin-Williams LOXON XP Waterproofing Masonry Coating] is a high-quality product, and the painter benefits from not having to do primer plus-two.” —LUKE REYNOLDS, ALL IN PAINTING

2 Nichole Rosen

This Idaho-based pro says residential repaints make up the majority of her workload, but she has also recently ventured into residential new construction and small commercial projects such as retail stores. Rosen works with a lot of wood-siding surfaces and prefers Sherwin-Williams Duration Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint for its durability and easy application. She also likes the satin sheen, which she says has a matte look and provides extra protection from the elements when compared to a flat.

“I just really love Duration. It goes on really smooth and sprays well … it’s the consistency of the product. I use more satin than flat just because we get such crazy weather, and the durability and the washability is excellent,” she said.

Surprisingly for her location, this pro also sees her share of stucco surfaces. For a recent commercial theater renovation project whose surfaces were primarily stucco, she turned to Sherwin-Williams SUPERPAINT Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint in a flat sheen. “It covers really well. It back-rolls easily and it’s a better price point when you’re putting 100 gallons on a building,” she added.

For a premium option, Rosen suggests the manufacturer’s EMERALD Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint in satin, and for aluminum siding projects she likes their Pro Industrial DTM Acrylic Primer/Finish . With the assistance of a carefully chosen primer, she will sometimes use Duration on metals, too. For painting brick, she starts with their LOXON Concrete & Masonry Primer/Sealer and follows that up with Emerald Rain Refresh Exterior Acrylic Latex Paint for the topcoat.

3 Brooke Cambridge

This Massachusetts-based pro has been in business for 16 years. Her company tackles both commercial and residential work but the workload skews much more toward residential. Wood clapboard and cedar shake siding are the most common exterior surfaces Cambridge paints.

Her workhorse coating is Benjamin Moore Regal Select Exterior High Build Paint. She prefers to use a low-luster sheen on the building’s body surfaces and soft gloss on the trim. Whether she’s rolling or spraying, Cambridge always back-brushes and sees the most optimal results when she pairs it with an oil-based primer base coat.

“Regal Select is a solid product; we’ve never really had any issues with it failing,” she said. “It’s also not finicky. We don’t need to be constantly thinning it out or adjusting it. We can throw it in a sprayer and it lays out uniformly and smooth, and delivers a thicker mil than most.”

Cambridge likes the manufacturer’s Aura Exterior Paint when she needs something with heavy pigment to block out another color.

“With Aura, you will find maximum coverage with fewer coats than using another product. In the end, it’s a money-saver; even though the paint costs more, our customers are saving on labor,” she noted.

For metals, including steel, she has found success by using Benjamin Moore Super Spec HP DTM. “It’s more durable and just holds up longer, especially with the extreme weather we experience in New England.”

4 Ray Rahni

This New York City-based pro has been in business for more than two decades. With most of his work being residential repaints, cedar wood shake and shingle siding are some of the most common surfaces with which his teams work. If the surface has been previously treated with a transparent or semitransparent stain, his crews take on the time-consuming process of stripping it down to bare wood before applying waterborne Sansin SDF Topcoat

“The previous oil stain gets broken down by UV rays and you have discoloration and mildew, so you have to neutralize it for tannin bleed,” he explained. “The waterborne Sansin stain will keep its color, it’s easy to apply, so it withstands the UV rays and resists mildew. The biggest benefit is that in four or five years when it’s time to recoat, you can apply a new coat right over it. You don’t have to do all that work again.”

If the cedar boards were previously coated with a solid stain, Rahni uses Benjamin Moore ARBORCOAT Exterior Stain For solid-color trim, he turns to the manufacturer’s Aura Exterior Paint. He also uses it on exterior wood doors, aluminum siding and Hardie plank siding.

“Because of Aura’s Color Lock technology, it doesn’t fade. I can use a flat, and Aura retains color really well,” he added. Rahni’s crews spray and back-brush all exterior surfaces, too. “These are very rough substrates, so you want to work the coating into the wood. That’s why it has to be brushed.”

Smaller sections of exterior jobs often include railings or the occasional section of stucco. For steel railings, Rahni turns to Sherwin-Williams Pro Industrial Pro-Cryl Universal Acrylic Primer and Pro Industrial DTM Acrylic Paint. For stucco, he uses their LOXON XP Waterproofing Masonry Coating -

JASON LUNN is a 3M application engineering specialist for consumer safety products. He oversees the training and educational aspect of a wide variety of safety products, including respirators. Here, he tackles a question painting professionals may have about cartridges and filters for reusable respirators.

Q:How do I know which reusable respirator cartridge or filter to select for a job?

A:In order to make the right decision, you’ll first need to conduct a hazard assessment to determine what you are being exposed to and in what concentrations. To do so, you have a couple of options: you can either hire an Industrial Hygienist, or have one done for free through OSHA’s consultation services. The hazard assessment will help you determine if you are being exposed to gases, vapors, particulates, or a combination of those. Regardless of who does your assessment though, basic information about both cartridges and filters will help you understand what they are and why you should use certain ones.

Here’s a brief overview: Cartridges are designed to help filter out certain gases and vapors, while filters help filter out particulates.

For the painting professional, solvents in paints or from cleaning solutions can evaporate as ‘organic vapors.’ Particulates include dust from sanding and buffing, and mists from spraying. Let’s first tackle the question of how filters help protect you from potentially harmful particulates.

Filter ratings use letters and numbers to help determine what type of filtration they can provide. There are three letters (N, R and P), and three numbers (95, 99 and 100). The letters speak to a filter’s ability to help protect against oil-based particulates. N stands for ‘not resistant,’ R for ‘resistant’ and P for ‘proof.’ If you have an N-rated filter, for example, it is not resistant to oil-based particulates, but works well for things like dust, debris and most painting applications. R- and P-rated filters may be used for both oily and non-oily aerosols.

Filter ratings also include a number, which is the filtration efficiency per the government certification test. A 95-level filter is typically used to filter most types of dust as well as the aerosolized mist associated with paint spraying. A 100-class filter is required by OSHA for substance-specific hazards such as lead and asbestos.

Cartridges can help protect against many types of gases and vapors. Organic vapors typically can be found in products like paints, thinner, solvent-based epoxy and urethanes. Cartridges approved for filtering organic vapors have a black label. Cartridges approved for filtering both organic vapors and acid gases have a yellow label.

When spraying solvent-based paints, you will need both a particulate filter and an organic vapor cartridge. The particle filter is sometimes called a ‘pre-filter’ because it sits on top of the cartridge and helps filter out the particulates before the air moves into the cartridge. They are often made with non-woven strands of material that have been electrostatically charged to help attract and capture particles as air is pulled through the filter when you inhale. The air then passes into the chemical cartridge, which is filled with carbon granules that may also have been chemically treated to help absorb specific gases from the air. As you can see, these are two completely different filtration technologies, which is why it’s important to use both a filter and a cartridge when your hazard assessment calls for both.

Keep in mind, if your airborne hazard consists only of particulates (for example, from sanding drywall), you can use a standalone particulate filter that attaches directly to the facepiece. On the other hand, if your exposure only consists of organic vapors (such as rolling and brushing paint, where you don’t have the spray mist), an organic vapor cartridge can be used by itself.

Last, but not least, the right filter and cartridge choices are wasted if the respirator is not assembled correctly, does not fit properly, is worn over a beard, etc. So, make sure to read and follow all user instructions for your specific respirator.

To learn more, visit the 3M Center for Respiratory Protection or to find product, visit 3M.com/RespiratorsReusable