What paint for 200yr old house
Gregory Reissner
Hi
I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
of the original siding as possible. All kinds of paint on the
house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
historical society wants the house to be white.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Greg Reissner
76142.1600@compuserve
Philip Bonner
D. Van Ess <da...@u.washington.edu> wrote in article
<56drf7$b...@nntp5.u.washington.edu>...
> In article <55qjmg$7oi$2...@mhade.production.compuserve.com>,
> Gregory Reissner <76142...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
> >Hi
> >
> >I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
> >of the original siding as possible. All kinds of paint on the
> >house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
> >I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
> >sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
> >historical society wants the house to be white.
> >
> Is the historical society going to come out and scrape it?
> (Is guess being from the west coast I will never understand this
> sort of thing.)
>
> Dave Van Ess
We have home owners associations out west in So. CA. Make sure you buy a
color coordinated basketball hoop to hang off the garage - if you ae
allowwed to hang one one in the first place. The only difference is
there's nothing historical being preserved in this case just endless
monotonous miles of earth tone brown stucco suburbia sprawl..
Brent Beal
da...@u.washington.edu (D. Van Ess) wrote:
>In article <55qjmg$7oi$2...@mhade.production.compuserve.com>,
>Gregory Reissner <76142...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>>Hi
>>
>>I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
>>of the original siding as possible.
It never seems quite fair for a person to pay taxes on something and
then have someone else tell them what they can or can not do with it.
If the historical people want to be accurate, you should take a paint
chip (3" x 3" should be a good size) to a reputable paint store and
ask them if they can determine the original paint color. Better yet,
go to a paint store and ask them how to go about determining the
original color. If they can't help you, contact THIS OLD HOUSE through
their web site and talk with them about it.
James Foster x2912
Gregory Reissner wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
> house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
> I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
> sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
> historical society wants the house to be white.
I just _loved_ the "This Old House" where they were redoing a house
in one "Historical Society Gestapo Controlled Zones." They did
painstaking research to find out as much about the original details
and paint as possible. Labs did paint chip analysis and computer
color matching. I think turned out to be something like yellow ochre
on the siding, dark green for shutters and trim, and one other color.
The "historical society" said, "Yuck! Paint it white!" While I
understand
some of their purpose, I see no value in them if they refuse a perfectly
valid proposal.
Anyway, wrt your real question, has a lead analysis been done? My guess
is that you've got some, if not a lot, of lead paint layers in there,
and
local regulations will probably dictate (again) how you can remove them.
Pressure washing and sandblasting are the quickest, but hard on the wood
and not usually allowed of lead is involved. Scraping with a heat
generator
(I've had good luck with the ones that use a heating element and are
about
as wide as the old shiplap siding - hot air guns don't work nearly as
well)
is not real bad, but will take a lot of time. It's pretty easy on the
wood
and you get strips of removed paint that are easy to control and dispose
of.
Good luck!
James W. Baker
> Gregory Reissner <76142...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
> >
> >I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
> >of the original siding as possible. All kinds of paint on the
> >house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
> >I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
> >sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
> >historical society wants the house to be white.
> >
temperature will get back up to normal range for a couple more days). I
toyed with taking the siding to bare wood by using a paint shaver that
was advertised in Old House Journal. I wanted to limit sanding because
of the lead paint dust it would generate. Since some of the clapboards
were cupping slightly I determined that a paint shaver would have to
take off a lot of wood to get paint out of the cupped areas. Some of
the boards were already weathered pretty thin anyway. After talking
with several painters, looking at local historical houses, and reading
some back issues of OHJ magazine I decided to hand scrape the loose
paint and leave whatever was adhering well.
My wife selected a Benjamin Moore tan body color, ivory (sailcloth) trim
color, and a burgundy detail, door, and porch floor color (with little
help from me since I am red-green color deficient). I tinted an oil
based primer and added Pentrol for additional protection for the bare
areas then followed that with a latex topcoat. I only did one layer of
topcoat, but since it is a premium quality primer and paint I think it
should hold up pretty well - we'll see I guess.
I decided against power washing. 2/3 of the siding was already peeling
or bare and I figured I was going to be hitting it all with the scraper
anyway. Plus I was concerned about driving water thorugh and under the
clapboards then having to deal with getting the insides dry. I think if
the existing paint job was mostly intact and you had good scaffolding so
the water would be directed down and not up then power washing may be
o.k.
White can be good, it is very popular. Historically though there were
many color combinations used even 200 years ago. Old House Journal had a
good article on historical paint colors in a recent issue. It was
surprising how many colors were on some of the old hand painted color
charts. You may find it useful to carefully and cautiously sand down
through the layers of paint to see what may have been used originally.
Hopefully the historical society won't be too hard nosed if you can
demonstrate your intention to remain somewhat true to the period, but
something other than white.
Hope this helps,
Jim
James W. Baker
> Gregory Reissner <76142...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
> >
> >I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
> >of the original siding as possible. All kinds of paint on the
> >house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
> >I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
> >sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
> >historical society wants the house to be white.
> >
I'm just finishing exterior painting on my 130 yr old house (if the
temperature will get back up to normal range for a couple more days). I
toyed with taking the siding to bare wood by using a paint shaver that
was advertised in Old House Journal. I wanted to limit sanding because
of the lead paint dust it would generate. Since some of the clapboards
were cupping slightly I determined that a paint shaver would have to
take off a lot of wood to get paint out of the cupped areas. Some of
the boards were already weathered pretty thin anyway. After talking
with several painters, looking at local historical houses, and reading
some back issues of OHJ magazine I decided to hand scrape the loose
paint and leave whatever was adhering well.
My wife selected a Benjamin Moore tan body color, ivory (sailcloth) trim
color, and a burgundy detail, door, and porch floor color (with little
help from me since I am red-green color deficient). I tinted an oil
based primer and added Penatrol for additional protection for the bare
areas then followed that with a latex topcoat. I only did one layer of
topcoat, but since it is a premium quality primer and paint I think it
should hold up pretty well - we'll see I guess.
I decided against power washing. 2/3 of the siding was already peeling
or bare and I figured I was going to be hitting it all with the scraper
anyway. Plus I was concerned about driving water through and under the
D. Van Ess
In article <55qjmg$7oi$2...@mhade.production.compuserve.com>,
Gregory Reissner <76142...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>Hi
>
>of the original siding as possible. All kinds of paint on the
>house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
>I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
>sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
>historical society wants the house to be white.
>
Joseph L. Womack
>> In article <55qjmg$7oi$2...@mhade.production.compuserve.com>,
>> Gregory Reissner <76142...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>> >Hi
>> >
>> >I'm in the process of residing a 200yr old house leaving as much
>> >of the original siding as possible. All kinds of paint on the
>> >house now. Putting a transparent white primer on the cedar that
>> >I'm replacing. Looking for suggestions on what to do; power wash,
>> >sand, hand scrape, ????? What kind of paint to use? The
>> >historical society wants the house to be white.
>> >
I live in a 138 yr old antebellum farmhouse and I've been where you
are. Briefly: Scrape the paint, don't sandblast. If you have any old
white paint, be aware of the dangers of Lead poisioning. All the cats
will die. After they walk through the paint dust, they lick their
paws. Brush, don't spray the paint...goes on thicker and lasts much
longer. Use any good quality paint. Use any good quality oil-based
primer. Use any color you like, unless you are using that 3% money
available through the state historical association...then you have to
dance to their tune. A lot changes if you know what kind of paint is
on the house. Latex paint doesn't adhere well to oil based paint but
does adhere well to oil based primer. A good hand scraped, hand
brushed paint job will last 10+ yrs. The only reason to spray paint a
house is so the painter can carry his butt and get on to the next job
quicker. Ask the local historical or preservation society people for a
recommendation Re: Painter. Talk to other folks in your area. Best of
luck.
Joe
Fundamentalist Part-Time
In article <32916010...@newshost.prysm.net>,
Joseph L. Womack <jlwo...@prysm.net> wrote:
[good advice snipped]
>does adhere well to oil based primer. A good hand scraped, hand
>brushed paint job will last 10+ yrs. The only reason to spray paint a
>house is so the painter can carry his butt and get on to the next job
>quicker. Ask the local historical or preservation society people for a
>recommendation Re: Painter. Talk to other folks in your area. Best of
>luck.
Well, as a painter, I must take exception to the sentence
about spraying. It's a way of getting paint on the house faster
than other wise possible. Generally, when I spray, another fellow
follows up with a brush. Just as much paint gets on the house,
and it gets worked into the surface just as well. The cost savings
is generally passed on to the consumer, since the painter doesn't
have to work as long to do the same work. Of course, not all
spray jobs are the same -- but spraying is not an evil in and of
itself. Not all buildings need spraying, but many jobs benefit
from the technology. Just try doing a four-storey horizontal-
siding-clad apartment building without an airless.
--DPerk
Joseph L. Womack
>
> Well, as a painter, I must take exception to the sentence
>about spraying. It's a way of getting paint on the house faster
>than other wise possible. Generally, when I spray, another fellow
>follows up with a brush. Just as much paint gets on the house,
>and it gets worked into the surface just as well. The cost savings
>is generally passed on to the consumer, since the painter doesn't
>have to work as long to do the same work. Of course, not all
>spray jobs are the same -- but spraying is not an evil in and of
>itself. Not all buildings need spraying, but many jobs benefit
>from the technology. Just try doing a four-storey horizontal-
>siding-clad apartment building without an airless.
>
>--DPerk
No offense intended, but if received...well that's another story.
The consumer (not painter) consensus in or area disagrees. The pres.
of the local historical society won't allow any spray painting on his
projects. Says he's been there, done that & not going back. Several
builders agree. All feel brushed jobs hold up better than spray jobs.
The question was re: a house, not a 4 story apartment. Regards,
Joe