Exterior painting

Muahahaha

So finally going to tackle painting the outside of the house in the next few weeks, a job I've never done before so looking for some tips and tricks.

The previous owner was pretty useless at maintenance and now the side of the house that gets the prevailing wind and rain is in bad condition with lots of patches where the paint has flaked off. Im wondering how to deal with this in preparation for painting, should I chip away at as much of the loose stuff as I can get off first, would powerwashing help in this regard, etc. I dont want to put two coats on it and then can see those old patches anyway.

Also trying to choose what brand to go with. Dulux Weathershild seems to be everywhere but open to other options. B&Q have their own brand (GoodHome) that claims 20 years protection and something called 'self cleaning' paint. What exactly is this, clever marketing or is there something in it and worth using? Is it realistic to get 20 years out of the job, sounds like spiel to me but have no experience of what to expect.

And are there any additives for outdoor paint, think I heard before about some kind of powder that mixed in gives it a better or smoother finish. Also do people water it down by 20% or leave it and just paint straight on.

TheBoyConor

Hire a good decent commercial type power washer and blast off as much of the paint as you can.

I wouldn't overthink the choice of paint to use either. They are all pretty much the same stuff, save for their marketing claims. It is all only plumás anyway. At the end of the day they are all made of the same stuff. No paint is going to last 20 years and still look good.

Just follow the manufacturers instructions and don't go experimenting with powders or watering down or any other interference.

heffo500

I did the same job over the past two weeks.

I used the pressure washer to clean down the walls.

I then used a wire brush and scraper to remove any flaking paint that I could.

I was painting pebbledash so needed to do it all by brush,but maybe you could roll it?

Make sure to put dust sheets down where you are working as the paint splashes back when rolling, also to save yourself cleaning; I would suggest wearing disposable overalls.

I have trestles and scaffolding boards which made painting a lot quicker rather than climbing up and down an extension ladder.

If you have lichen, moss, algae and similar vegetation on the walls you should wash that area with a Fungicidal Wash.

If you can buy some of the Orange Swarfega as this make removing the paint from your hands easier, I wore gloves as you can get welts on your hands from using the brushes all day.

I got away with putting my roller & brush in a bucket of water overnight rather than washing out every day.

TheBoyConor

No. You need to use a proper commercial pressure washer from a plant hire place. Not the mickey mouse ones you get in Woodies. Then you won't need to be fiddling about scratching at the walls with wire brushes and the like and spending a wet week at the job.
And hire a proper paint spraying machine from a plant hire place too. then you can get the vast majority of the area painted in no time and only use brushes for cutting in around the joinery.

If you have got to get high then maybe hire a MEWP to get you up there rather than ladders or scaffold.

Basically, hire out the proper gear to get the job done fast and with the minimum of hassle. A bit of money spent on the right tools for the job will let you get it all done in maybe 2 days rather than pricking and scratching around at it for a week or more.

Muahahaha

TheBoyConor wrote: »

I wouldn't overthink the choice of paint to use either. They are all pretty much the same stuff, save for their marketing claims. It is all only plumás anyway. At the end of the day they are all made of the same stuff. No paint is going to last 20 years and still look good.

Just follow the manufacturers instructions and don't go experimenting with powders or watering down or any other interference.

Thanks Conor. Any opinion on this 'self-cleaning' paint, is it worth paying the extra or just a marketing gimmick?

Also is two coats the norm for doing exterior or is there any value in going for three

TheBoyConor

Gimmick. i wouldn't have any meas in a claim like that. If the price is not too much extra you could try it but I wouldn't go paying a premium for it. It is all just marketing plumás. Shít will eventually stick to a painted wall nomatter what you paint it with.

Number of coats depends on what u are painting over. If the underlying paint is the same colour and in relatively good nick then 2 will be plenty. If it is patchy or a different colour then you might need 3. It is just a case of try 2 coats and see how that looks and then decide if you need a third.

krissovo

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks Conor. Any opinion on this 'self-cleaning' paint, is it worth paying the extra or just a marketing gimmick?

Self cleaning, the term is a gimmick but we have it and does resist getting dirty especially the sides of the house that gets lots of sun and lashed with the rain. After 10 years its starting to look a little grubby in places (house is white) and these are where its sheltered from rain like under the sills and at the bottom 12 inches.

krissovo

Here is the example of my house, the front gets very little direct rain or sunlight and has litchen growing and the bottom is noticeably dirty. It has not been touched in 10 years and checking at the weekend it does powerwash off.



The rear of the house gets vertical rain and lots of sunshine, its much cleaner.

Muahahaha

krissovo wrote: »

Self cleaning, the term is a gimmick but we have it and does resist getting dirty especially the sides of the house that gets lots of sun and lashed with the rain. After 10 years its starting to look a little grubby in places (house is white) and these are where its sheltered from rain like under the sills and at the bottom 12 inches.

Thanks for the pics krissovo. Yeah when I heard the term self cleaning I was thinking marketing gimmick. Though its not all that much more expensive, about 15% so I think I'll go for it anyway as it might be better than getting ladders out again to wash it in a few years. But I wont expect miracles from it.

Muahahaha

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Number of coats depends on what u are painting over. If the underlying paint is the same colour and in relatively good nick then 2 will be plenty. If it is patchy or a different colour then you might need 3. It is just a case of try 2 coats and see how that looks and then decide if you need a third.

Cheers, Im going from a light cream to white so hopefully will get away with two coats,if not it'll be back to the shop for a third.

Wondering does anyone know if B&Q have any discounts linked to insurance policies/banks. I know you can get 10% of on a Tuesday if you're over 65 Ive another good while before that happens.

dok_golf

Go to a proper paint shop. They will advise you on the best paint. There is good reason why you never see professional painter buying paint in B&Q. Fleetwood Weather Clad is an excellent paint. If you are painting over a flaking wall, power wash the bejaysus out of it. Add Owatrol EB into the 1st coat and a normal coat for the 2nd.

martinr5232

Muahahaha wrote:

So finally going to tackle painting the outside of the house in the next few weeks, a job I've never done before so looking for some tips and tricks.

I painted mine 10 years ago just like yours mine was flaking bad.

I powerwashed it back to the sand and cement ya need to get in close to get all the flaking paint off. Its a horrible messy job but its worth doing it right now instead of having to do it again in a few years.

After i washed it i put a coat of primer/stabalising fluid on it then two coats of dulux weathershield.
I painted it again this summer only because i had some building work done if it wasnt for that id say i would have got easily another five years out of it.

My advice for what its worth is stay away from the b&q/woodies own brand paint "buy cheap buy twice" never has there been a truer saying than when it comes to paint.

Best of luck i dont envy you :-)

waxmelts2000

I have been following a few online who have used carlowpainthub to get paint, rollers etc , all the jobs I Have seen look great maybe worth a phone call . I have not painted a house but my concrete garden walls were painted white a few weeks ago used dulux weathershield , very happy with the quality of paint

TheBoyConor

You could try Pat McDonnell paints

Juwwi

martinr5232 wrote: »

After i washed it i put a coat of primer/stabalising fluid on it

Ho OP this is very important advice .

Rub your hand on a bit of the flaking wall it will probably be chalky .

Paint won't stick to a chalky wall it will flake again in a year or 2 .

Johnstones do a good one

https://www.johnstonestrade.com/product/stabilising-solution

redarmyblues

If there are areas where there is particular degradation of paint you will be probably need to use a stabiliser on that area. Smooth Sandtex or Dulux WS are very popular in the trade.

Sorry I missed the post above and agree with it, I had to do the same exterior twice in a year.

Scrape off the worst parts of the peeling paint, mark the areas with a scraper so you don't end up scraping the whole house

Use a hoover rather than a power washer to remove any chalky deposits on the exposed areas. A power washer might damage the bits you need to stabilize.

apply the stabilising solution.

Piss down your masonry paint to prime the damaged areas.

If the existing render is textured then apply textured masonry paint to the damaged area to match in.

Coat up the entire exterior in the smooth masonry paint of your choice.

Pro tip, if you are using a different color on your sills, reveals etc and the exterior is currently textured buy a textured paint for this and also use for the damaged area to save money. I wouldn't use textured paint for the whole house as it's a pain in the hole.

Juwwi

It's a pain but I'd scrape the entire wall rather than just the flaking areas depending on how bad it is , usually there will be places that look fine but it will be hollow under the layer of paint , these areas will bubble when painted or over time with rain .

I'd also put the stabilising solution on the whole wall .

Stabilising solution will also glue down and odd bit of paint that was hard to get off .

It's more work but once it's done right you won't have to worry about it for years and next time will just be a re coat job with no pealing paint hopefully .

On the power washer option ,, will that not likely blast bits of paint everywhere ( into neighbours garden ECT ) and be a pain to clean up as once it's wet it will stick to the ground ?

I can see why power washer would be quicker and probably take off more of the old paint but I'm just wondering about the mess it will make .

martinr5232

Juwwi wrote:

I can see why power washer would be quicker and probably take off more of the old paint but I'm just wondering about the mess it will make .

Its not about being quicker if its peeling you need to get it right back to the sand and cement or it will lift again with the fresh paint.

redarmyblues

Juwwi wrote: »

It's a pain but I'd scrape the entire wall rather than just the flaking areas depending on how bad it

A pain is a bit of an understatement, scraping all the paint of the masonry of a house is a lifetimes project. OP, the rule is take off what wants to come off.

Muahahaha

Thanks for all the tips lads. Seems I definitely need an additive to deal with the areas that are flaking/chalky. A few mentioned in the thread are Owatrol EB, Dulux WS or Smooth Santex. Any reason for going for one over the other or are they all much of a muchness.

Will take advice and go to a proper paint shop. Any ideas of a ball park on what a 3 bed semi typically costs in paint for 2 coats with primer and window sills in a different colour. Im thinking circa 350 but it could be more than that? Im going to measure up tomorrow but reckon it is around 90sqm of wall in total so would need enough to cover that twice.

blueskys

I had that green algae on mine. I used 20 liters of white vinegar in one of those hand pumped sprayers they use for weed killer spray. Spray it on in dry weather and it kills the algae in 48hrs. Then powerwash and paint as above. Good luck.

e.r

+1 for Owatrol EB added into the first coat.
Did my garden walls they were flakey before. No problem since, painted them 3 years ago.

redarmyblues

OP, you don't need primer, you only need to prime the areas were you applied stabiliser with watered down paint. Cost will depend on how rough or smooth the surface is. Use trade paint in stock colors too reduce cost which is start about 35e a bucket, color can be twice that. If you don't like the stock colors, you can add a tester of your choice to mag, brilliant white or whatever and mix through with a drill mixer and call the result Dorset Straw or something.

Depending on the surface and surface area 4-8 buckets should do it and maybe a 5L for the sills, don't know what stabiliser costs.

Muahahaha

redarmyblues wrote: »

OP, you don't need primer, you only need to prime the areas were you applied stabiliser with watered down paint. .

ok is the stabilser like the Owatrol EB mentioned not a primer in itself? Way I was thinking of doing it was after powerwashing and preparing the entire wall was to add 2.5l of the Owatrol to 7.5l of the first coat, paint that all over, then put a second coat down. Is that a good way to go about it? I realise I may need a third coat depending how two of them turn out, like I said the previous owner let it go to sh1t and about 20% of the entire area has flaked off or is close enough to it.

redarmyblues

A lot of terms like primer/sealer/stabiliser can be used interchangeably. When I say prime I mean using some of your masonry paint watered down on the primed/sealed/stabilised surfaces, this will penetrate the render easier than the full fat paint and give the unmixed paint something to adhere to when you first coat it. If you do this you should be fine with two coats.