The old coat of solid stain that has weathered makes a good prime coat if it's clean, dull & dry and is a sound coat, meaning not peeling or compromised in some other way. Duration is a house paint, whereas the other is a stain. The chief difference is the dry film thickness and sheen. the thin dry film makes the stain follow the contours of the wood and can give you a more authentic or maybe even rustic look, depending on the wood. It will almost always be flat, with no shine at all. The thicker coat will more fill in the grain of the wood and probably have an eggshell or higher shine, maybe even to a satin or semi-gloss. It most likely will not be available flat. A thinner coat means shorter life, the trade-off reflected in the price. A properly applied thicker coat of duration can be expected to last a good long while, but I wouldn't use anyone's "lifetime". If the wood has roughness or character to it, that you want to exploit for a certain look, I'd put stain on it. If the wood is smooth, almost shiny the way it is, I'd use house paint.

Well your home is going to be totally lovely! I like Dover White on a home exterior and in a shady spot. I used it just in the covered entry of my home and it looked so nice... It is just an all around good reliable color, in my opinion. The balance of my house was a more creamy white... and the way I got that color was to send a painter over to check out the color on a house a few streets over! My painter loved the Dover White and convinced a few of his other clients to use it. There's just something about that color...

For those of you with SW Extra White on your house - just confirming Extra White is a bright white, correct? I have seen a sample and it seems to have a bit of a blue/grey undertone. On a house exterior does it just read white? or white with slight grey/blue? Look forward to hearing back on this. Thank you!

Lori A. Sawaya, I can't thank you enough for your time. I really truly appreciate it and your knowledge is Way Beyond mine. So thank you. Unfortunately, we have already met with the painter 3 times and we did view large samples up against the Alabaster. She suggested Pure White. I was torn between High Reflective white and Extra White. To be fair, she has given me ample time to make my decision but I just came across all this new color information too late in the game. I'm really down to deciding between one of the Sherwin-Williams whites. I spoke with her and she said the extra white has already been purchased. I already changed on her once because I first decided on High Reflective White. She let me change because she had another project that she said she could use it on for....someone who was painting their she shed and just wanted it any color white. She said she could be willing to swap out for that, but that's all she can do for me now. If she has to go get new paint for me again, I would have to pay for both colors even though I would only be using the one. I truly appreciate all of your time that you have taken to answer this question for me. Unfortunately, this time I waited too long and I'm just going to have to try to decide between the High reflective and the Extra White at this time.