How can homeowners use LRV to choose paint colors?
Most important for the do-it-yourselfer at home, is to refer to color specifications for the variety of products used to enhance or cover the exterior. For example vinyl siding. Painting vinyl siding with a color that has too low of an LRV, that absorbs too much light and energy and thus retains too much heat, could result in warped siding. There are paint manufacturers that have developed special formulations for painting heat-sensitive exterior surfaces and they offer diverse color choices. However, if you do not use one of those specially formulated products, you are limited to a paint color that is within the same LRV range as the original color of the exterior product in order to prevent warping and voiding any warranties. Moving to interior color planning, LRV provides a reference as to how light or dark a color could look and feel once up on all the walls in a room. Keeping in mind that LRV runs on a scale of 0% to 100%, 50% would be a mid-tone paint color. Fifty percent LRV is
