Plywood specimens finished with various house paints were examined outdoors for 5.5 years at four geographic locations and to an artificial laboratory test cycle. The performance of the paints during both outdoor and laboratory exposures indicates that certain all-acrylic latex paints decreased both the rate and degree of face-checking relative to paints which used an organic solvent-thinned primer and acrylic or vinyl-acrylic latex topcoat. Although some all-acrylic latex systems performed better than others, this generic type of finish appears to offer advantages over paints with a solvent-thinned primer and a latex topcoat. Certain stain-blocking acrylic latex systems appeared to be especially effective in reducing face-cracking.