How to repaint a house correctly?

Question

We're about to repaint board siding on our house. The paint is flaking and the wood is cracked. We're thinking of going over it with a wire brush before painting to rid any loose paint. Does it need a primer if we're going with the same color? Is there anything else we should do before painting?

Answer 1

Yes need to primer, scrape it, and wire brush it.  You need to chalk up all your cracks, and then you should be ready to paint.

Answer 2

flaking is a condition , caused by moist conditions beaning present , the cracking  is the water  drying out  causing the wood to sh ink....   with that thought in mind , i think perhaps

it time to replace this siding , have you considered ,  

   half stone . half  cedar ..... vinyl siding   even new wooden siding .... you house is going to cost  you time and money to  to get it back to looking  good ,,      it would be faster to  reconsider   new replacement  wood  etc

Answer 3

There is a lot more to it than putting on a new coat, I would suggest having it done professionally for best results. It can be done by an amateur but it will also look that way when your finished, sorry but I've seen it too many times, it requires more work than the average person wants to spend and the professional knows how to do. There will be repair work along with sanding and filling caulking and priming, sand blasting and washing, and more priming. It will take you twice as long and you won't like the results and you will have to look at it everyday. I've seen my neighbors s***w their houses up enough that I paid to have mine done and I don't have any paint on my roof and it has looked good for years, theirs still looks like c**p and they already had to repaint over an already poor job.

Answer 4

Here you can find step by step instructions for your exterior painting project.

Instructions

Step1: walk around the house and where ever the house meet the ground you need to trench 6 inches deep, that would protect the foundation with the new paint.

Step2: Mask (cover) all your windows and doors with plastic and green/red masking tape. make sure you tape nice along the edges.

Step3: Rent a hydro blast (water pressure) machine Can be found in a local home depot, and wash the whole exterior of the house. That will remove any old coats or loose stucco.

Step4: Walk around the house and mark all revealed cracks in the stucco.

Step5: Light sand with an electric sander and paper #80 all the wood work(trims) evenly. Patch the wood work imperfections with a putty knife and bundo material (try to make a smooth finish) and let it dry.

Light sand with an electric sander and paper #120 all the wood work(trims) evenly.

Step6: Primer the wood work with exterior primer. (can be sprayed)

Patch all imperfections in the stucco with a stucco patch ready mix.

Step7: Primer the house with exterior primer. can be rolled or sprayed.

Cut / paint with a brush along the edges.

Paint the house with exterior paint. can be rolled or sprayed.

Good luck and god bless.

Answer 5

Scrape or power wash the house.  If you power wash, allow it to dry a couple of days before moving on.  Then sand the transition areas between where the paint has come off and stayed on.  Truthfully, someone now makes a tool for that but I can't remember the name......Lowes has it and so does Home Depot.  

Caulk and/or repair any damaged areas, cracks, around windows or doors.  If you can, remove the old caulk and use a good quality exterior caulk.  The winter after I re-caulked all the windows and door in our home, the heating bill was reduced by nearly 1/3.......

Then I would prime the entire thing with a good primer/sealer like Zinser Bulls Eye 123.  A sealer will make the old paint stay put and seal up the bare wood for better adhesion of your new paint.  

Lastly, use a good quality exterior grade paint.  Don't slop it on but don't be afraid to put a good coat on either.......there is a happy medium to be had.

Good Luck!  It's going to be quite the project and there really is no way to take short cuts if you want your paint job to last and to improve the efficiency of your home.

Answer 6

I'd power wash the whole thing. If the paint is flaking, a lot will probably come off that way. Then it will need a few days to dry, depending on weather, before you can prime, and if you have flaking paint, you need primer. Then you should go over it again to remove loose paint, with a scraper or whatever you like, maybe some sanding will need to be done. I have found that when paint is loose, washing and letting it dry willl loosen even more paint. Clean out the cracks a bit, fill them with exterior wood filler. Use the best exterior primer you can get your hands on. Don't skimp on the prep or the paint quality, it will be the basis for a good job. This is a big job. Don't be in a rush. Don't be surprised if you spend two days prepping to one painting. You could, of course, replace the siding but that runs into money. The painting will be relatively cheap, if you're doing the labour.