Exterior paint recommendations?

[mammabooh]

We have a 2-story house, big bank barn, and 2-story shop to paint. All are 100 years old and have many layers of paint on them. Our plan right now is to power wash, scrape, power wash again, and then paint.

I'd like to hear what kind of paint you love and what kind you hate.

Thanks so much!

[clovis]

Well, first and foremost, I would avoid using a power washer. It could cause too much damage to the wood, either by the power of the washer, as well as leaving too much water/moisture in the wood itself.

If not allowed to completely dry, you will have paint failure or mildew.

I would opt for hand scraping the entire surface, removing what is loose, and sanding any grayed wood where the paint failed long ago.

I don't think you would be saving that much time power washing versus hand scraping.

I like Sherwin Williams SuperPaint. I also like SW Durations, but it is pricey!!!

I am sure I will see 500 people say they always power wash before painting, and have done so for years with no problems. This is my professional opinion.

Clove

[cchapman84]

Another option to hand scraping is to use an angle grinder with a wire brush on it to scrape paint. Goes a bit quicker than hand scraping. Just make sure the wire brush isn't too stiff, or it could damage your siding (best to test it out in a corner on the back side of the barn or something). But I agree about the pressure washing. You're likely to have mildew problems later.

[galee]

I also would not power wash old wood surface--use scraper and fine metal bristle brush then prime with any good ( Ben moore is my choice) primer and paint. You also may want to consider staining with the new color stains--penetrates wood and lasts longer than paint; but wouldn't be good for going over old paint layers. Just my opinion.

[mammabooh]

Thanks for the ideas...keep 'em coming!

[cfabe]

I will agree if you powerwash you risk siding damage and have to let it dry out very well ( a week or two depending on temp/sunlight). I've painted two houses. My mom's place, I used cheap Behr paint, power washed and did not wait long enough, generally did not enough prep work. The paint job did not last long. It needed to be repained agian in a few years.

More Recently, I painted my own house which was aluminum sided. I power washed this, and painted a couple days later. I don't think the wait after power washing is as important with aluminum siding. I used Sherwin Williams SuperPaint with an additive called EmulsaBond and it worked very well. This was only a couple years ago and I've now sold the house so I can't make any lifetime claims but the paint covered well and smoothed out well.

In both cases I painted with a Graco Magnum DX airless sprayer which cost in the $200-300 range at home depot. I would reccomend this machine, it's worked very well.

[pcdreams]

We repainted our garage last summer. It was built in the 30-40 I'd guess. Paint was pealing badly and gone in some areas.

I scraped what was loose and power washed the rest. Allowed about 2 wks to dry in the 90+ weather.

Then I picked up a couple gallons of oil based primer and 2 gallons of oil based paint. Holding up well so far. I got this paint at Lowes and it was American tradition I believe.

Wouldn't recommend this paint for floor surface though. Actually I haven't found anything that works good for that.

[Stephen in SOKY]

Lexington Barn & Fence paint. I prefer oil base.

[Txsteader]

My dh will only use by Behr.

[Cabin Fever]

You've gotten plenty of advice regarding preparation. What I recommend is that you consider using a solid color stain. Solid color stain will go over the old paint as well as the bare wood surface. The benefit is that it won't peel where it is placed over bare wood. The old paint that is "stained over" may still peel in the future...it will peel no matter what you put over it....but at least the stain over the bare wood won't peel.

[Beltane]

We're currently scraping and priming at this point. We are using Sherwin Williams primer and plan to use the paint as well. (I think we decided to use the one down from Durations). We're trying to salvage as many clapboards as we can so scraping seems to be the way to go - get quite a few of those tungsten-carbide blades! Lead paint - ick!!! Our home and barn were built between 1770 and 1780. Good luck! Painting an old house isn't for the faint of heart!

[mammabooh]

Hubby came home today and saw the progress I have made (or lack thereof!) and was wondering about getting it blasted with corncobs. The wood is very solid...no rotten spots at all. Any opinions on that? I doubt that it would happen, but if we could get it down to bare wood, I'd love to stain the whole thing. I told Hubby at supper tonight that I would be willing to stain it often if we didn't have to scrape it ever again. Thoughts?

[BethW]

We painted our oak barn in March and used Valspar barn and fence paint from TSC. It's a latex paint but fortified with linseed oil. It went on well and looks great. Time will tell on the lifespan, though!

As for our 1843 clapboard house, it's painted with Porter paint. The previous owner had lived in the house nearly thirty years and he said after trying many paints, he felt Porter was the best. It seems to be holding up beautifully.

There are many good paints out there, and everyone has his favorite. Just remember, a paint is only as good as the prep job

[Wolf mom]

Consumer reports recommends Behr as a Best Buy. I am painting the outside of my house with it now & really like it.

I use it on the inside & it wears, cleans well & goes on smooth.

[naturewoman]

I had a log house to scrape paint off of, and old peeling and chipping caulk between the logs, and eventually had it sand blasted, which did not remove the solid paint, just the loose stuff. But the first time I did it by hand and I bought a power stripper. It's a hand tool that has a reciprocating blade that does the scraping. It works great (if you are careful) on flat wood. Much trickier on rounded log faces. So if you have flat siding, check into renting or buying a power stripper. The vibration and noise can be hard to take for too long, but it does strip the loose stuff off a lot faster than by doing it by hand. You do need to be careful not to gouge the wood with it, and soft wood would not hold up well.

[clovis]

Originally Posted by BethW

There are many good paints out there, and everyone has his favorite. Just remember, a paint is only as good as the prep job

This is 100% true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could not have said it better myself!!!!

There are lots of good paints out there, whether it be Porter, Sherwin, Ben Moore, MAB, etc. Buy a good paint from one of these companies.

I personally believe that buying a home center brand paint is NOT worth the savings. Behr is decent, as is American Traditions, but I don't think it is the quality of the above mentioned paints.

Of course, Sherwin and the others sell CHEAP lines too. Just stay away from the cheap lines.

You can save yourself some money buy price shopping each store against each other, but make sure you know which line compares to each other.

Save a little more buying in 5 gallon quantities.

***The Duration brand by Sherwin is supposed to be the top paint on the market, and supposedly, you don't have to prime. Just scrape, sand and apply Duration.

Alot of buying paint and painting is figuring what your time is worth, and often, how you value your property. Buy a cheap trashy paint, and you will be repainting in a few years with all the same work you are doing right now. Pay a little more for your paint, prep it right and apply it correctly, you will have years and years and years of quality!!!!! A house with a good quality job will show, and will add to your property value.

While you are at it, buy some really good brushes, like Wooster. A good brush is an investment, and not an expense.

I ALWAYS buy Wooster paint tools ONLY. They are made for the pro painting industry. Costs a bit more, but in terms of quality, they are 2nd to none!!!

I could write a book..............hope I haven't bored you.

Clove

[mammabooh]

Originally Posted by clovis

While you are at it, buy some really good brushes, like Wooster. A good brush is an investment, and not an expense.

I ALWAYS buy Wooster paint tools ONLY. They are made for the pro painting industry. Costs a bit more, but in terms of quality, they are 2nd to none!!!

I could write a book..............hope I haven't bored you.

Clove

Yep, we like Wooster brushes too. We have a good friend who is a professional interior painter and he gets them for us...they don't like to sell them to the general public at our local Sherwin Williams store. Wooster Brush Company is only about 15 minutes from me, but I haven't been able to find them sold locally...how odd is that?!?!?

And, no, you haven't bored me at all. I'm tickled that you've taken the time to answer!