Painting the house

[morfa]

So I've got some scaffolding up and did have a guy who was supposed to come in and paint the house. But he's been on other jobs and I'm seriously thinking that I could just do it myself. I'm generally fairly handy and done a lot of internal painting. I guess the principals are the same, get dust sheets on everything, decent brush, cut in properly and then roller the rest?

Sandex seem to be the recommended brand of paint. Or should I try something else? Happy to pay for genuine quality.

Any other tips?

 

[RossJarvis]

Like everything, it depends. Are you doing the woodwork too? Are you painting a smooth surface, brickwork, rendered, etc, etc.

With all painting jobs preparation is the most important thing, plus whilst you've got scaffolding up it's worth looking at everything else you can get to, fascias, gutters tiles, satellite dish.

I'd check the surfaces you're going to be painting, are they flakey, cracked, loose, etc. You want to get the surface as stable and sorted as possible. Unless the property is newish, I'd guess there are all sorts of nightmares waiting to be sorted before you even think of putting paint on.

Additionally I think spraying is the way many people are going these days.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Dulux Weathershield - oil based. Go to one of the professional outlets and haggle a price - I find them OK if I've a reasonable order. The mutt's. Expensive, but superb stuff, ideal for this time of year as it is touch dry in 10 - 15 minutes - you don't get caught out by the cold and rain. Arm yourself with clingfilm and polythene bags so you can cover/wrap your kettle, brushes, trays and rollers immediately you finish with them (temporarily).

 

[skipdiver]

I find the easiest way to paint my house is to ring my brother, as he's a painter and decorator. Seriously though, he tends to stay away from outsides after September as there is always the chance that the weather will spoil the finish and he says it's just not worth it. He did my bare pebble dashed outside with Sandtex when i moved in. I helped him and the rollers were massive and weighed a ton when loaded with paint. Not good for my arthritic wrists and he covered about four times the area i did in the same amount of time. I hate painting with a passion and would rather have pointy sticks poked in my eye than do that job again.

As it happens, i'm getting 20 sheets of OSB delivered this afternoon and have to paint them all white before i fit them. I'd rather spend the afternoon at the dentist. Did i mention i hate painting?

 

[Eric The Viking]

I'm doing ours presently. I'll be on it until Autumn 2017, I expect (no exaggeration). Almost finished the front, which is the most fiddly, but the rest has more area, and access is difficult.

A hairy paint roller will help if the surface is flat. Start at the top and work downwards so drips don't ruin what's underneath. Roll slowly! I nowadays cut in with a fitch around windows, and one of these for the tricky bits (actually most of the place!). Having a short extension is probably more useful than a long one.

Rafezetter (of this parish) taught me an excellent trick, using oxy-powder intended for washing machines, as a brush cleaner - it's wonderful. AND... if the paintwork is in poor condition, do use something like this stabilizer first, as it makes a huge difference to the finish quality.

I jetwash first, but it doesn't get the loose stuff off well enough, so the only solution is wire brush and something like a tack lifter to crack off anything that's peeling.

I'm forced to use Dulux weathershield as it's readily available here and can be mixed to colour (it is water-based, incidentally - I think they all are now). Sandtex is better but more expensive. Best of all is Snowcem (Steve Maskery has used it recently). It comes in powder form and you mix it with water. It's very, very tough.

My striker bush doesn't drip much, but the roller does. Much depends on the surface beneath, but a good condition jetwash should remove dried drips from concrete etc. These days I don't bother with a dust sheet outside as it's too much bother.

My uncle, who's been a property guy all his life (now 80+) says this time of year is very good for painting as you get optimal drying conditions as long as the weather is good enough. I think he's right. He also swears by Sandtex, and I came to the same view independently. Dulux is heavily advertised, but thinner - I need three coats where two of Sandtex would easily do. good for Dulux, but not my wallet.

Gotta go - up on the scaffold myself in 1/2 hour or so... :-(

E.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Oil based Weathershield is easily available, and a far better paint than water based or Sandtex (imo). The only reason I repainted my last house after sixteen years was for a change of colour - there was nothing wrong with it. Green to white in two coats. You are not hamstrung by heavy rollers either (the rollers don't absorb water), or constrained by the weather - if you knew for certain it would lash down in a half an hour, you could still be painting in ten minutes time. You wouldn't choose to maybe, but you could.

 

[ColeyS1]

Oil based Weathershield is easily available, and a far better paint than water based or Sandtex (imo). The only reason I repainted my last house after sixteen years was for a change of colour - there was nothing wrong with it. Green to white in two coats. You are not hamstrung by heavy rollers either (the rollers don't absorb water), or constrained by the weather - if you knew for certain it would lash down in a half an hour, you could still be painting in ten minutes time. You wouldn't choose to maybe, but you could.

I didn't realise an oil based masonry paint was available. Learn something new everyday

Coley

 

[skipdiver]

Just to quantify my earlier statement that my brother doesn't tend to take on outside work after September. It's because if the weather turns bad, the job can drag out and end up being done piecemeal. If the weather is right and you can start and stop when you like, then it's not so much of an issue.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Oil based Weathershield is easily available, and a far better paint than water based or Sandtex (imo). The only reason I repainted my last house after sixteen years was for a change of colour - there was nothing wrong with it. Green to white in two coats. You are not hamstrung by heavy rollers either (the rollers don't absorb water), or constrained by the weather - if you knew for certain it would lash down in a half an hour, you could still be painting in ten minutes time. You wouldn't choose to maybe, but you could.

I didn't realise an oil based masonry paint was available. Learn something new everyday

Coley

Oh, it's available all right, and boy do they know how to charge for it! Of course, it's justifiable when other things are considered. It was the paint that was used on the original lighthouse adverts, apparently, or so I was told by one of the decorators I used to work with.
https://www.tradepaintdirect.co.uk/dulu ... paint.html
Last I used was about £50inc. for colours (a few years ago, though), my house took fourteen gallons. Put it in perspective, though - the scaffolding was £1,400, so if it lasts fifteen years it's a bargain.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I'm painting over Sandtex, put on 19-20 years ago, but to be fair it really has had it now. The issue though was surface prep last time. had that been done properly (I was ignorant and rather stupid) it would still be pretty sound now.

Thanks for the info Phil - I'll look into the oil-based sort. But I need it to be breathable too.

Stirring it* a bit though, ISTR it was Sandtex that had the lighthouse on the tin...

E.

*sorry I couldn't resist.

 

[morfa]

The worst part about it, is that it's a shared wall. This is an end terrace. My neighbour is a nice guy and happy to have the work done. So I really want it to look good. That's the worry about me doing it. I'll do a rubbish job.

It's a fairly smooth rendering which has never been painted so it seems like I could just paint on to that. I've had a good look at it just now and it's in ok condition, there are a few small white cracks and the main aim is to coat them over. The render there seems solid. I suspect it'll need re-rendering sometime in the future, but that's a while away and I'm going to save up for that. There's no loose anything really on the top of the rendering. A bit of light brushing and it's ready to go really.

I agree totally on the prep front. We've painted every room in the house since we moved in a few years ago. There's three windows to cover over. That shouldn't be too bad. I can leave mine covered for a few days. So just have to cover and recover my neighbours window.

The most annoying thing is that the plastic fascia has just been put over the original wooden fascia. Seems a bit lazy to me. But there we go. It's shared, so it's partly mine and partly my neighbours. His part isn't plastic tho, he just wants it painted again while the scaffolding is up.

With the benefit of hindsight, I do wish I'd just waited till next year. But I'm keen to get it covered incase it gets worse. But I am tempted just to call a halt to it all now. Take the hit and leave it till the Summer. I do kind of wish that at some point someone had said this is a dumb idea...

 

[ColeyS1]

Once you get started I'm sure you'll be fine. Sometimes I get so worked up at the thought of a job it drives me mad. It's only after I've forced myself to do it, I wonder what all the fuss was about.

Coley

 

[RogerS]

Isn't it the wrong time of year to be painting outside ?

 

[Flynnwood]

@ "Isn't it the wrong time of year to be painting outside ?"


Pliolite Masonry paint can be applied down to minus 5 degrees Centigrade and is shower proof in 20 minutes.

http://www.johnstonestrade.com/products ... nry-finish

 

[morfa]

In the end the chap did come and do the job. He did a good job, so my panicing was probably a bit pointless. Actually painting in the cool weather seemed good. The paint certainly dried quickly. He used Sandtex and it's done a good job. However I reckon next time I'll give it a bash myself. So thanks for all the good advice.