Way OT - House External painting prep

[Doug Littlejohn]

I have to repaint the whole outside of my 2 story 3500 sqft house this spring/summer/fall.

Anyone have any good tips, ideas and/or tools to really help the job?? The paint is in pretty bad shape, peeling down to bare wood in many places. Plus, there are sveral layers.

I do plan on priming and then probably two coats. I have good pressure washer but nothing really suited (yet) to power assisting removal of the old paint.

TIY !!

[Dennis Peacock]

Woo-Wee!!!! You have your hands full..!!!! That my friend is now easy task. I have used pressure washers, wire brushes, scrapers, putty knives and the such. The best person to answer your question is:

<B>Jason Roehl</B>

He's the Pro-Painter in this bunch and could provide you with the best advice. All I can say is that it's a LOT of work and slow going for one person. I HATE it.....

[Chris Padilla]

One thing I've heard is that pressure washers are bad to use. They can often force water into areas that wouldn't normally get water in them and if you paint over it, well, the water can ruin the paint job when it eventually comes back out or worse, stays in and does other damage.

If you use a pressure washer, I've heard that you should wait a week or two before painting to make sure everything is thoroughly dry.

[Bruce Page]

Doug,
I was recently faced with this same dilemma! My solution was to call ABC Seamless (a national company I believe) and had metal siding installed on all painted surfaces plus all the gutters replaced. Other that two doorjambs, I will never have to paint again. Whooo Hoooo!!

[Tyler Howell]

Anyone have any good tips, ideas and/or tools to really help the job??

Hey Stop IT !

I thought this was suppose to be a fun forum. Don't be spoiling it with hard work.
It sounds like you haven't done it before, so continue.....This is a right of passage. You must paint your house for the ZEN of it. Please add Spring summer and fall of next year too. And then the two years..... four years from now and so on and so on.
Makita and PC both make power paint scrapers. Used the Makita, works good. A little practice needed. Start in a spot that won't show.
If you live in one of Gods' countries like MN you have to account for the lead paint. A worth while effort for our childrens' future.. Both tools have a DC attachment The Vac should be HEPA in nature.. Power washers will cut into the siding and damage the wood. Practice. Several days drying time is needed.
TOH forum reviewed the methods they used over the years. One was a DIY chemical paint stripper. Check it out.

The best tip I can offer. If in this or any future life, I have to do it again. Build into the budget college painters or some pro outfit. I will go directly to the siding salesman and write a check.

[Bruce Page]

Tyler,

You are absolutely right – everyone should have to do it at least once as a rite of passage!! I’ve done it three time on three different homes, hence the “never needs paint” siding.

BTW, Cool avatar!

[Frank Pellow]

Doug,
I was recently faced with this same dilemma! My solution was to call ABC Seamless (a national company I believe) and had metal siding installed on all painted surfaces plus all the gutters replaced. Other that two doorjambs, I will never have to paint again. Whooo Hoooo!!

Hey I thought this forum was for lovers of wood. Lovers of wood should not be replacing wood siding with metal.

Next year I plan to do the opposite of what you suggest Bruce, and cover some aluminum siding that the builder placed in the top third of the two sides of my mostly brick house with wood siding.

[Frank Pellow]

Doug I have had to do the job that you describe on more than one occasion and have found that there is no shortcut. You must scrape then sand the old paint before painting and you must scrape and sand it well. That part of the job will take longer than the painting.

[Walt Pater]

Sandvik makes some scrapers that are truly head and shoulders above the rest. Definetly worth the extra few bucks.