Exterior painting of a split level (how much, vinyl, color, cleaning)

[kibblesandbits]

My hubby and I are first-time homebuyers, and the types of houses that are in our price range are 70's style split levels. You know, the ones with the brick and vinyl siding.

Anyhow, I recently saw some pics of split levels before and after that had been painted all one color, including the brick. They looked incredible! I wonder if anyone has done this, and how expensive it is to paint the entire exterior of your average sized split level house. I'm interested to hear how you felt the painting improved the aesthetics of your split level.

[DLK55]

We have a late sixties split level and it was $300 for 10 gallons of paint(Two coats) plus brushes, rollers, etc. I believe the exterior of our house was right around 2,000 square feet after subtracting the area of doors and windows, but ours was aluminum siding though. For vinyl, an exterior latex with urethane would be a good choice. An acrylic latex would work for the brick. Vinyl siding is fairly susceptible to expanding and contracting so you wouldn't want to choose a shade much if any darker than its current shade.

Mind you, painting a house can be quite the task. Prep work is as important as the paint or how well you apply it. You need to give the siding a good cleaning, including removing all traces of dirt, mold or mildew.

In our case, it was worth it. Our siding was to the point where the color had worn off and it just didn't look very good in some places. It was white and had always been white and many of our neighbors remarked how much nicer it made it look.

It was months ago but my wife always pulls up and into the driveway slower now, looking at the house. She's been here since '73(We met 10 years ago) and it's like a new house to her, even after all that time so I'm glad I did it. It was even worth turning my arm and shoulder into a limp, overcooked noodle. (After the first day, I literally could not throw a single peanut 15 feet to a squirrel.)