DIY House Paint?

[jyl]

Tell me about DIY painting your own house EXTERIOR.

Who's done it? What's involved? How do you safely do the upper floors?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by jyl

How do you safely do the upper floors?

by writing a check!

I considered painting our old house, but I never did. I thought this looked like a great way to get the top floor, ladder jacks.

[porsche4life]

Just pay someone. At least around here they work way too cheap. By the time you rent an airless, ladders, scaffolds, etc it won’t save you that much money

[red-beard]

I did a 4 (3.5 from street level) story apartment building, including scraping the paint. I rented a 48 foot ladder. I secured the ladder through an open window.

I wanted to use a man lift but it would not fit with the front stairs. Since the building was brick, I had to scrape every inch of the place with a special pain scraper. I would be fine with doing it again. You just don't look down, just straight ahead.

For the painting, I used a battery operated pressure paint roller with a 1/2 gallon tank. It was a manual system, you switched on the paint when needed, and off when you didn't.

[vonsmog]

When I owned this place the village forced me to paint the house, so I got a bunch of guys from my hockey team together with alot of beer and pizza and we painted the whole house, trim and all in one day. We used scaffolding and ladders for the high stuff.

[Baz]

Did mine back in 2000 and 19 years later still looking good. Mine is only a 1 story mostly block house with some wood siding.

Prep work involved pressure washing first and then a scrapper/scapula to remove anything else I could scrape off. Then I applied a primer by hand (roller/brush).

I used two different types of primer - one for masonry and one for wood.

Then I covered all the windows with a clear plastic self adhesive film that came on a roll to mask stuff off.

Then using a paint sprayer that ran off a gas engine compressor I applied two coats of Elastomeric paint - 24 gallons total.

I sprayed the second coat after waiting 24 hours for the first coat to set up good, but I think you could go in sooner if you wanted.

Once the prep work was done the actually spraying was fairly easy and straight forward.

This is an example of the paint machine I used:


Most professional painting contractors I know nowadays use electric spray machines more like this one:



Even though the north side of my house is an overhang (it sits on a dune ridge) and could be considered 2 story, most of it is 1 story. If I had a conventional 2 story house, I would probably hire someone to do it as I'm not too hip on spending time up on a ladder more than necessary.

The manager at the paint store was a friend of mine who I had done some favors for due to my position as a store manager myself at a fertilizer supply business so I got a very good deal on the paint, which factored into my decision as well. Elastomeric isn't cheap paint, but I can attest to how well it holds up to the elements - and in particular my proximity to the coast.

In fact, I'm prepping my front concrete steps right now for an Elastomeric paint application.

I'm using a product known as a gripper to help prime some areas where the old paint had flaked off some.

Will post pics later....good luck however you wish to proceed!

[stomachmonkey]

Friends, beer, food.

[RANDY P]

Call dipso.

rjp

[herr_oberst]

After I finished painting my two story Old Portland house, I decided that I would never do it again without something like this for the gable ends: (or else I would interview the pros and open up the checkbook)



Moving that damn ladder all day for days on end on uneven ground was a sisyphean grind.
(It doesn't help that I have a very well developed sense of self-preservation and thus had a white-knuckled death-grip on the ladder when I was 30 feet up in the air that really extended the time it took to finish)

(PS, I don't think I ever completed every line of the punch list, either. Once the carcass was painted, all the trim was it's own journey, and I worked pretty much all summer and into the fall to get it "done", but I did it on my own, )

[Zeke]

I started out in the trades as a union painter and soon went out on my own. It takes more gear than you think to paint an exterior, especially a 2-story. You don't say what kind of construction nor the condition. If there is a lot of wood, plan on spending quite a bit of time doing preparation.

Preparation. This is where the hired guys tend to fall off (not literally). Having good power tools will help in the right hands and make a terrible mess in inexperienced hands. The faster one can go, the more damage one can do. IOW, if everything was sanded by hand there would be minimal imperfections in the finish coats. No one has that kind of time unless it's a labor of love.

The idea is to get the surfaces clean, smooth where they should be, and free of any loose paint or mold that has sneaked under a layer of paint. I recommend priming everything but cementuous surfaces in relatively good condition that have been washed. Power washing is good, again in the right hands. I use PW on a limited basis and certainly never on wood.

There are many tricks and techniques to prep a house and I hate to sound like a parrot, but in the inexperienced hand, the results may not stand the test of time. This is a whole 'nother discussion and there's not room here. If you have any particular questions, say like the use of bondo as a filler, PM my and I'll run it down for you. For the moment, and if you encounter any soft wood due to rot, etc., use a search for "wood fiber consolidation."

It's a good idea to do the house in sections whereas a pro would tackle the whole thing at once doing a process at a time all around then beginning the next process back at the starting point. That's when there is a crew to set up ladders and planks and then keep moving same day by day. You should just plant yourself on a gable, porch, side, wherever and do all you can while you're there.

Buy the best paints. You can get a deal on your own if you talk to a paint supply manager and tell him you will buy and rent everything from his store. Then give him the particulars and ask for recommendations for each primer and paint. You should get a minimum of 30% off vs. the housewife that walks in and buys a quart after taking up 45 minutes of the store's time. That's for the paint. The store makes the money selling the supplies, so if you are totally loyal, they could give you the paint. Act like a pro and you will be treated as a pro. The HD and Lowes don't give a rat's ass however they do carry good paint if you happen to catch a smokin' sale.

And a funny thing: start at the back and finish out front. You don't know how many have petered out and have a good looking front side while the back didn't get a lick.

[Jim Richards]

Here you go, John. No need to thank me.

[speeder]

I've lost count of how many stories I've heard of people falling off of ladders trying to save a few bucks cleaning their own gutters or painting. Hire someone who knows what they are doing is my advice.

I've also seen educated people whose time should have been more valuable spend an entire summer painting the outside of a medium-sized house that would have taken me a week or two when I was a painter, (with workers). You are one of the smarter guys here, Jyl. Use your brain to make $$ and pay dumber guys like me to paint your house.

[MBAtarga]

I painted almost 100% of the exterior of our house two houses ago - when I was in my 30's. I actually used a 32' and a 28' extension ladder about 2 feet apart. I'd climb up one and using a brush and roller paint the siding I could reach from it, then actually stepped over to the other ladder (without climbing down) and painted as far as I could reach from it. It saved a lot of time going down one then back up the adjacent ladder. I did pay a painter to come and paint the fireplace box above the roof line. It took a 40' ladder to do that.

I'm almost 30 years older now -and wouldn't consider doing it again. That's also why our current house is 4 sides brick.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by red-beard

You just don't look down, just straight ahead.

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

- when I was in my 30's.

+1

In Houston, painted the two tone front of house peak above the second floor on a tudor.

Each time I went up, I had a discussion with myself about climbing down at least half way before jumping if I got nailed by wasps. Not sure how that would have worked if it had happened.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Bob Kontak

+1

In Houston, painted the two tone front of house peak above the second floor on a tudor.

Each time I went up, I had a discussion with myself about climbing down at least half way before jumping if I got nailed by wasps. Not sure how that would have worked if it had happened.

You can slide down a ladder w tennis shoes and gloves on if necessary. I've never done it but I've climbed down ladders while they were falling a couple times. I lived on ladders for years and they don't scare me. A person who is not used to being on one could really get hurt, though.

[brp914]

Everyone wants to personalize their newly bought house. So my new neighbors moved in and hired a painter. Something went wrong and the place ended up black. Maybe he wanted to use the second story to smoke salmon in the Summer. They were panicked and went on Nextdoor seeking advice. It was painted a second time, this time grey. Not much better. Grey for interior can look nice, but grey exterior stucco looks like unfinished construction - in a 20 year old neighborhood of earth-tone houses. It looked better before.

[ckelly78z]

We painted our Victorian using a rented scaffolding working one one section at a time working our way up until at the roof, tear it down/move it, and start in another section. Not work for the old, and weak, and absolutely un doable using an extension ladder working in one little spot at a time.

[RWebb]

I built my own scaffolding using 4x4's - 2nd from the top Benjie, with Aura in difficult (high sun) areas -- still in great shape after 20 years.

Sent you a pm.


I'll just add that prep. is critical.


All the top chemists working for decades can create amazing paint, but it has to stick to the substrate to work well.

Sure, hire a top pro... but how do you find one that really is a top notch guy (and make sure he hasn't picked up a drug or EtOh habit between when he was recommended and now?)

DIY meticulously because you own the house. Exceptions if you know a solid guy yourself, or you are old or disabled. Otherwise...

[Baz]

FYI: this is the "Gripper" primer product I mentioned in my post. Really helps out when going over previously painted surfaces where adhesion may be an issue.

[RKDinOKC]

Nope. Started a couple of times. Decided my time was better spent doing other things and hired professionals or at least they did it for a living.