"satin" exterior paint for residential home???

[bob tilton]

before i go visit the paint store figured i could get some solid advice here first. we plan to paint the ext of our house within the next month. color is picked out and i always figured i would use a flat. then HOA supervisor mentioned the beauty of "low gloss" what is the proper term for exterior paints with a "sheen"? any advantages to going with something other than flat? personal preferences and why? tia!

[rcecale]

Personally, I prefer a semi-gloss paint. The higher the "gloss-factor", the easier it is to clean. Satin or flat may have a 'warm' look to them, but they do tend to hold onto any dirt they pick up.

Randy

[onewhippedpuppy]

If you want to add a little pop to your house, paint the trim with gloss. I prefer satin for the body of the house, it has enough gloss to make it clean easier and make it more attractive, but it's not like a mirror in the sun either.

[speeder]

Any high quality exterior paint should be washable, (and in reality how often do most people wash it anyways), , so i would go with whatever you like the looks of and goes w/ the surface(s) that you are painting.

Stucco, for instance, would not look right w/ a shine to most people. Wood siding can go either way, depends on the style of house. I always think in terms of maintaining it down the road, flat is always the easiest to paint over in terms of prep required.

How about a picture of your house? Then we could really weigh in.

[bob tilton]

thanks for the feedback guys! sounds like maybe flat for the main part and semi-gloss for the trim would be a good compromise.
it's a single story vertical wood sided house. it is currently getting re-roofed right now from wood shake to 40 year elk composite in a light to med grey. we plan to paint the house grey with off white trim and dark cranberry red door.
so 3 silver cars residing in a grey house - how bland is that? this coming from a guy who spends part of every day color correcting digital images for print.
i plan to spray the first coat and roll the second coat. does that sound like a good plan?

[fireant911]

Bob,
I just went and picked up 15 gallons of paint yesterday - once things dry out here I am going to paint my home. My wife and I were in the same exact boat as you - we already knew the color but the finish type was uncertain. What we did was to purchase a quart container initially of the paint and painted a corner section of our home (the exterior paint and the trim paint) - after 15 minutes we quickly knew what finish we wanted (we opted for the satin exterior and semi-gloss trim).

[onewhippedpuppy]

Why not spray both coats Bob? A friend of mine's dad owns a painting company, they spray everything, then go back and trim it out. Buy good paint too, it's very much a get what you pay for kind of product. Sherwin Williams Duration is awesome stuff, very pricey though.

[Jims5543]

May I suggest this:

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Shop_Tools-Wagner_Paint_Crew_Paint_Sprayer/display_~reviews





Wagner paint crew, it made painting the house fun. I do not have a large house its a regular 3/2/2. The prep took about 3 hours the actual painting took another 2 hours. Make sure you cover your screening really well. Do not underestimate overspray. I had to replace some screening after I was done.

It was the best $200 I have ever spent.

[vash]

bob! got to kelly moore. they have a new paint that is sorta like satin. i painted my house with it, and it looks great. sorry i cant remember the name, but i still have cans of it in my garage. they said it was really pressure washer friendly.

i hired out a painter. best $2700 i ever spent. EVER! he sanded down 40% of my home down to wood, and did primer, then two coats. the thing i learned from the pro, is this. you have to treat the spray gun only as a method of transportation for the paint. it is the mechanical "work" the hand brushing that makes the paint stick, well. so it was written in my contract that the painters were going to do this. spray, and follow imediately with wet brushes to work it in. all three coats.

oh, and water wash first.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Unless your house has deep grooves or very porous stucco, there is no need to back brush after you spray - unless you cannot spray well enough to ensure a uniform appearance. Paint adheres with a mechanical bond and a chemical bond. Mechanical bond being any small to microscopic grooves in the surface. Most of the adhesion is by chemical bonding.

Do not spray your house when it is too hot. The paint will dry prematurely and affect the chemical bonding.

[rcecale]

Originally posted by speeder
Any high quality exterior paint should be washable, (and in reality how often do most people wash it anyways),

Each spring and fall, with my 24' Giraffe. I mix a solution of water and bleach and have at it. Just have to be careful not to get too close to the paint!!!



Randy

[fireant911]

Originally posted by gr8fl4porsche
Unless your house has deep grooves or very porous stucco, there is no need to back brush after you spray - unless you cannot spray well enough to ensure a uniform appearance. Paint adheres with a mechanical bond and a chemical bond. Mechanical bond being any small to microscopic grooves in the surface. Most of the adhesion is by chemical bonding.

Do not spray your house when it is too hot. The paint will dry prematurely and affect the chemical bonding.

Randy,
That is a very interesting statement. I have often heard the 'necessity' of brushing in the paint for maximum adhesion but there was never any backup regarding the scientific 'whys' of this. A local neighbor painted his house with a sprayer a couple of years back and I recently went to see how well it had aged and it looked as if it was just applied yesterday. I then started looking for a airless paint sprayer for my upcoming painting project. I now am armed with the sprayer, a high quality paint, and eagerness to get started but the unrelenting rain just will not let it happen. How much time (ie., days) should one let the house dry after a rather long wet spell? What is the optimal humidity range to apply hose paint? What temperature is considered too hot for painting (the paint instructions regard 50F-90F as the range though other factors can greatly affect this)?

[gr8fl4porsche]

Lots of painters backbrush or backroll because they can not spray well enough to make it look beautiful. It is a skill not everyone can master no matter how many times they do it. Its all in the technique. Practice on some big sheets of cardboard.

Drying time is not based on days but rather moisture content.
If you do not have access to a moisture meter - then wait 2x as long as you think you should.

The warmer it gets - the harder its going to be to keep a wet edge. Depends on temp, humidity and exposure to sunlight. Try to paint in the shade, in average humidity and when its below 90. Watch your overspray - in the right conditions it can travel wet for a very long way.