Exterior paint costs in Wilmington

Wilmington's old houses were built from heart pine, and the city's historic design standards say that's good news for paint. Old-growth wood is denser than lumber cut today. It swells and shrinks less, so paint lasts longer on it. Before you replace siding or a window that looks rough, the standards suggest repairing it with wood epoxy and repainting.

They give color advice too. Match the house's style, get along with the neighbors, and use no more than four colors, not counting the roof, front door and porch ceiling. Queen Anne houses get an exception. Masonry that was never painted shouldn't be painted now. And the standards warn that buildings painted before 1950 likely carry layers of lead-based paint, while sound paint doesn't need to come off at all.

Away from downtown, the housing is much newer, with about half of it built from 2000 on. On those houses the coast does the damage: salt air, damp summers, and hurricane season rain driven into every lap and joint. Peeling along the bottom edge of siding boards or around window trim usually points to water getting in, and that's worth fixing before the new coat goes on.