Prepping House For Exterior Paint By Others

[jyl]

Another house project coming up.

It is past time to get my house exterior painted. It is the previously-mentioned (air circulator thread) 1911 Four-Square, with narrow cedar siding. It was last painted about 24 years ago. About 15% of the exterior has paint is in bad shape: peeling, chipping, checking, siding loose or gouged or very rough, nails protruding. The rest is okay.

I have two bids so far: $17,000 and $21,000. The second bid is from a company that painted my neighbor’s house. I’ve gone over and inspected the results: it’s fine. The only thing that bothers me a little is some places at eye-level where the outline of the old chipped or cracked paint is visible, as if they didn’t adequately fill and feather the bare spots with the painted spots after scraping off the loose paint. That will bug me. Otherwise, I’d be content with that result on my house, and can get on their schedule for September.

(I’m not willing to pay for the top-tier paint jobs where they remove every bit of the old paint down to bare wood. My other neighbor had that done, the painters were working on his house for months, it looks !great! but cost $60,000 . . . )

So I am thinking of spending a few evenings a week for the next few months prepping the worst areas that are at eye level (up to about 12’, where flaws will bug me the most). Scraping, re-nailing, filling, sanding, caulking. The idea being that the painters can then focus their prep on the higher-up parts that I’m too chicken to climb up to.

I did a test patch yesterday. Looks like I can do 4 sq ft in a hour or two.

So, my questions are:

1. Is this a dumb idea? Should I just leave it all up to the pros?

2. Any tips for doing this work? The prep process ?seems? rather straightforward, but are there pitfalls and subtleties that are easy to miss?

3. In general, any thoughts on having an old house like this painted?

[john70t]

Originally Posted by jyl

About 15% of the exterior has paint is in bad shape: peeling, chipping, checking, siding loose or gouged or very rough, nails protruding. The rest is okay.

Check the roof/gutters/insulation if in one area. Yikes.

[Mark Howard]

The finished product is only as good as the prep work. Unless you have done it well before, or do it routinely, I’d leave it to the pros, especially in the damaged areas. Would suck to spend ~$21k and not like the result. Just my $.02.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Mark Howard

The finished product is only as good as the prep work. Unless you have done it well before, or do it routinely, I’d leave it to the pros, especially in the damaged areas. Would suck to spend ~$21k and not like the result. Just my $.02.

the problem with that being a former painting contractor is that many painters take too many short cuts. When I bid a job it was at least half labor for prep. Once the prep is done including wood repair and priming, the work goes fast.

But lots of prep means a higher bid and you know how people are.

Also, houses and house paint are not like cars. It is super difficult to feather house paint. Best to just remove it.

[rwest]

I would have a good talk with the contractor and get it in writing what is expected on the areas you really care about.

The difference between a pro and a competent DIYer is the pro is trying to maximize profit. You can take your time because you work for cheap. Talk with the painter and see what they would do, so you don’t cause more work for them or do something that would look worse.

[Bill Douglas]

If it was last painted 24 years ago I think all the paint needs to come off. I know you don't want to but you the the chance of a big fail with the new paint.

[chrismorse]

Originally Posted by rwest

I would have a good talk with the contractor and get it in writing what is expected on the areas you really care about.
How many coats? What brand of paint, primer, caulking, warranty specifics

The difference between a pro and a competent DIYer is the pro is trying to maximize profit. You can take your time because you work for cheap. Talk with the painter and see what they would do, so you don’t cause more work for them or do something that would look worse.

I've been a general contractor for 35 years, dealt with a lot of subs.
Before you meet with a painting contractor, do a walk around the house, noting areas of concern and what you plan to do and what you want the painters to do, print it up and give the painting contractor a copy, THEN, do the walk around with him, revising his and your list as needed. Ask his advice on methods and materials for your work.
Be very specific about who is ding what - this will help him to generate his bid.
Talk to him about how he will handle uncovered rot and subsequent repairs/costs.

For your repairs, i would recommend a good oil based primer for the raw wood, like an Alkyd primer. This is a high build primer that sands well, dries slowly gets a good grip on the wood.

For the caulking. (prime the area first), i would recommend a high quality primer like Weathermaster. This comes in many colors, is highly elastic AND bonds very well.

It is likely that a house of this age will have some Lead based paint on some or all of it. Take a few samples from different areas of the house and take them to a local lab, so they can tell you if any of the samples contain Lead. Dealing with lead takes a lot of precautions, (read: time, money, Protective measures, collection and disposal of the chips and dust). This is a topic that needs to be discussed with the painter before the work.

I would recommend that you ask him to leave you with an extra gallon of the paints used, so you can do later touch-ups and know exactly which color, brand and sheen were used.

good luck,
chris

[Baz]

I did mine in 2000 and like yours, it's due for another go around.

My house is single story 2 bedroom 2 bath so not too bad, but the north end is 2 stories up because it's an addition that was added to the main structure that sits up on a dune ridge. The good news is it's mostly windows on that addition, so not a lot to paint.

When I did it back in 2000, I hand prepped everything using a scrapper and power washer. Then I hand primered it - brush & roller.

Then I used a power sprayer and hit it with 2 coats of Elastomeric. Ended up using 23 gallons.

I intend to do all the work again this time around but will try to do only one side at a time.

Ultimately, when I sell this place, it will be bought by someone for it's location and they will take the house down, so I'm not sweating that everything comes out perfect.

It was white when I bought it and I re-painted it taupe (a shade of tan called Beechwood). This photo was taken shortly after it was re-painted.....

[jyl]

Thanks everyone.

I decided to experiment on this part.



I’m trying out different levels of scraping, filling, sanding, etc. Some places I’ll be really thorough, other places not so much. I’ll prime it with the primer the painter recommends, and use it to test paint colors, set my expectations for how good or not it can look, and to see how much effort I’m really up for.

This took about four hours.

[look 171]

I think its time to power wash and get an electric paint remover to save you a lot of scraping and, more then anything else, swearing.

[jyl]

What paint method is recommended? Spray, spray and backroll, spray first coat and roll second coat, brush? One painter says both coats will be done in the same day, is that good?

Oil based primers are better, is that right? One painter says everything will be primered, other says “bare wood” will be primered.

Are certain paint brands or grades better than others? One painter says will use “Benjamin Moore Regal”, another says “Sherwin Williams Latitude”.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by look 171

I think its time to power wash and get an electric paint remover to save you a lot of scraping and, more then anything else, swearing.

What is an “electric paint remover”? My ears are perked up. Is it some kind of sander, or heat gun? I think I want one :-)

I did use a heat gun in part of the experiment. Very effective but not especially fast.

[look 171]

I think they can rented at rental yards or maybe even home depot.

[jyl]

I have now done some reading about these. Have you used one?

[jyl]

I got the Paintshaver. Here’s what a couple passes per siding board does. I’m testing it on the garage, learning to not take off too much wood. The bare wood is rough and needs to be sanded and/or skim coated.



Here’s the tool, connected to my HEPA vacuum. Almost all of the paint chips are captured by the vacuum.

These are expensive ($1000+) but I got mine for $227 on eBay :-)

My neighbors are anxious about lead paint and don’t understand that I’m sanding bare wood and spackle, so I have to wet sand by hand :-(

[Zeke]

If you don't sand in the wind and put plastic down few feet out, you're in full compliance. I hold the cert. PPE is for you, not for them.

[Bill Douglas]

Nice job you are doing. I'm all for as much prop as possible.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by jyl

What is an “electric paint remover”? My ears are perked up.

That was my reaction when I read the post too. Very cool. looks like it's essentially an angle grinder with a specialized routing blade and "fence". Very cool!

Wow, $1000!

Still, that looks like it beats the heck out of other options.

[Por_sha911]

Couple thoughts:
-if you do the prep and then something goes wrong, the painter will blame the prep
-on the other side, if you point out all the flaws, the painter may think you will be too picky and jack up the price for anticipated aggravation.

Pick your risk. Have a conversation with whoever you get bids from.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Couple thoughts:
-if you do the prep and then something goes wrong, the painter will blame the prep
-on the other side, if you point out all the flaws, the painter may think you will be too picky and jack up the price for anticipated aggravation.

Pick your risk. Have a conversation with whoever you get bids from.

It is a dilemma. The paint jobs I've seen (that I can afford) all show inadequate prep. Most frequently, places where loose paint was scraped off but the edges not feathered or skim coated, leaving an obvious outline in the finished paint job. I figure if I do the paint scraping/removal and skim coating on the places I'll notice the most (eye-level, from foundation to about 10') then the painter can do any further prep and use the primer and paint of his choice. (I'm only planning to myself prime a small area, just to check how smooth my prep looks). I'll make it clear that the prep above 10' is all the painter's responsibility.

If there's a problem below 10', even if the painter wiggles out of responsibility, I can re-spray those parts. If the house were single-story, I'd paint it myself. What I can't (won't, am too scared to) do is go 25' up on a ladder.