DIY house painting?

[Rob-L]

Sidd Chopra (cho...@bryant.unx.sas.com) wrote:

: The job entails changing the color from mustard yellow to periwinkle
: blue...

Usually, two coats are required to kill yellow. But you might want to
consider using a primer as your first coat, and tint that. Lately, I've
been suggesting Zinsser's 1-2-3 waterbased primer. It's about $18/gal
where I live. It can be tinted toward your finish coat color (or gray),
where it will both prime and help kill the yellow. Better than spot priming.

[Jon Shemitz]

In article <DLEGG...@unx.sas.com>,
Sidd Chopra <cho...@bryant.unx.sas.com> wrote:
>I'm thinking of repainting my house. I got some estimates, but I must
>admit I'm not that impressed with the prices.
>
>What are the problems you face when you do it yourself?
>
>I considered a couple of senarios:
> 1. hire a power washer and get a power roller.
> 2. have a painting party and buy hand rollers and brushes.
> 3. bag it and hire a professional.

>
>The job entails changing the color from mustard yellow to periwinkle

>blue and applying another white coat over the trim. The house is a
>1500sqft ranch.

Having recently hand scraped peeling paint off the trim on the house we bought
eleven months ago (now *that's* hard to believe!) I'll enthusiastically agree
with all the people who recommend the power washer. I gather, after the fact,
that the washer would have taken the peeling paint off a lot faster and easier,
and would have gotten all the spiderwebs off, too. Next time, I'll use a power
washer.

I would also agree with the people who recommend sprayers over rollers. That's
what the pros use these days, and it turns house painting into a masking job.
Once the windows &c are protected, the actual painting takes virtually no time.

But! You still have to do that trim by hand. Two coats, and maybe prime.
You'll get a crick in your neck, paint on your clothes, and if you wear glasses
they'll keep fogging under the goggles.

Yeah, it's cheaper to do it yourself. Yeah, if you want it done right, you'd
better do it yourself. But standing on a ladder smearing paint around is sort
of like driving: It's boring, but it's dangerous, and if you don't pay
attention, you're in trouble. Not high on my list of favorite DIY chores;
high on my list of Next Time, Maybe I *Will* Pay Someone Else To Do It.b
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[John Glasscock]

Having painted houses to put myself through school and reading tons of
material and talking with pros, a power washer is a good idea AFTER
handscraping loose paint. Power wash with a weak solution of
tri-sodium phosphate (TSP) (cover any plants that you don't want
damaged). You absolutely must have the mechanical action of removing
loose paint with a hand scraper, and then you need to rough up the
surface of the old paint in order to get good adhesion of the new
paint. TSP helps in this regard, too. I'd be extremely wary of
painting latex over oil, but paint manufacturers are continuing to
devise new formulations to address this problem.

Spraying a house is problematic if you have neighbors within 300
meters/yards because of wind and overspray. You could be liable for
repainting your neighbors' houses. Also, I find that masking eats up
any time saved by spraying and that backrolling is usially required
anyway.

Rather than hanging from a ladder and reaching around, use two
extension ladders, ladder jacks, and planks to build a mini-scaffold.
Much safer, faster, less tiring, and more convenient. Easily rentable
at an affordable cost.

The hiding characteristics of paint are in negative correlation with
paint quality. Titanium oxide is what provides the high quality,
durable finish, but these particles are much smaller than the brittle,
flaky compounds used for hiding. Of course, titanium oxide is more
expensive, but considering that the labor in a paint job is 6 to 10
times the paint cost, you are way ahead to paint with the highest
quality paint and do it less often. Tinted primer would be necessary
to cover the yellow, and you may need a total of 3 coats to completely
cover the old color. A good primer will also greatly help adhesion
when going from oil to latex.

Bear in mind that flaking and peeling may be indications of moisture
coming from the inside of the house, through poor insulation and
vapor/moisture barriers, or from leaks in the roof or siding. Such a
problem seriously undermines the structural integrity of your house
over time.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this addresses some of your
concerns.

John Glasscock
mailto:jgla...@indiana.edu