Paint question

[dayna]

We need to paint our house. T1-11 siding.

It's been painted one time from the builder, the house is 4 years old.

Paint suggestions? There are so many brands and types. What's a good paint and brand for us to consider?

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[Carey]

First question...need to because the paint is failing or the color is not right?
the reason I am asking is that 4 years is an awfully short time if the paint is failing...I would be extra vigilant to make sure the prep work covers any failure to prep that the builder may have done....


If is is a color change thing, Clean the work first (many forget this step & wonder why the paint doesn't stay on!)
next - what TYPE of paint was used before - Oil, latex, acrylic or stain (oil or latex or acrylic)? This will start out your search for the perfect 2nd coat (some paints do not like the other type underneath...) If you are not sure, usually a paint chip will help the experts determine...

As to brand, A good quality paint/stain is the best - here I would also be aware that some paint & stains sit around more than a little bit...so check the date codes...& container for any signs of advanced age...

Of course, with HILO in the Benjamin Moore "Paint what Matters" contest ..... esp. if Hilo places a new coat of paint, how could I not include them???? (plus I really do use their products...our last house interior had their "Aqua Pearl" -our realtor commented that the paint looked new when we sold - 18years after applying it!) but have also used Behr, Thompsons, Sherwin Williams & DutchBoy....so I am not a whole lot of help on brand loyalty...

[Jay Bondesen]

Painting can mean changing a color or putting on a protective coating. Good quality paint is expensive because it has a high solids content and a good quality resin. A good initial paint job on new t-111 is probably two coats, usually sprayed on, and back-rolled in with a roller right behind the sprayer. The label will say how many square feet each gallon should cover and it could be 200 to 300 square feet per gallon. So a good paint job might need a gallon or more per 100 sq. ft. and then repainting in several years depending. Or go another coat to last longer and just clean. Acrylics are usually about 50% solids so a gallon will give you .008 of an inch of finish on 100 sq. ft. If in the sun, it will lose around .002 each year to oxidation. Most stores have good paint available but some folks, and contractors, use less paint or cheaper paint to save some money.

Jay

[dayna]

The paint job on our house is just not very good. I think it was done quickly, with little attention to detail.

I'm going to stay with the same colors, I like them fine.

I was going to use a brush, as I don't want to use a sprayer.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[Carey]

Dayna, if you are not sure of the type of paint or stain (I mentions stain, as many of the solid color stains are more like paint than the old soak in stains..) was used on the house, definitely have a chip checked out...as you want to make sure that the previous & future product types adhere well (as I mentioned, some do not play as well together... & can cause problems down the line)

I use mainly use brush &/or pads with some roller work, but am more speckled with rollers...but I do like a smooth interior wall that has been roller-ed... so will paint smooth walls with a roller...but that is just me...

There are some really good pad/brushes for the rough T1-11 siding (have also used them to apply semi-color stain on our last home that was cedar board on board, using a lighter color to "weather" a very dark color - using a brush gave the grain nice detail)

Along with good paint, good brushes help make the job go smoothly...a good quality brush will pretty much eliminate paint streaking & can hold a nice smooth line...where as a cheap brush will streak, cause running & drips & cause feathering on a smooth line.

[ourdoc]

Whatever paint you use, you would be wise to make sure you add a mold inhibitor before applying. Also on T1-11 a sprayer will give far better coverage and in 1/10 the time a brush takes. Keep in mind if you want the brush look, its easy to spray then brush for the finish but does take more time.

As far as the type, I believe what Carey was trying to say is, you can put oil based or water based over old water based paint, but you cannot put water based over old oil base without sanding and primer first as it will want to slide or peel off.

[dayna]

Is it normal for builder grade paint to be oil based? I figure they used whatever was cheapest.

Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming!

And no, I will not be using a sprayer. I have many and varied reasons. None of it is the look aspect.

Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com

[unknownjulie]

The people next door to me painted their house with latex assuming the same thing, and it peeled off, because it was oil, or maybe even old lead based paint. Total disaster. I wouldn't assume anything. I paid extra to buy the "primer and paint all in one paint" at the HD before me moved here and it worked great. I dont think I remember the brands but I just dumped a bunch of shades of beige together that were "returns" and used it, and it worked out really well, and was very inexpensive. I think I even mixed in shellacs. But the main thing is not to try and mix oil with latex. And that is all I know in my very limited experience.

[ericlp]

I painted my t1-11 with behr from HD.

http://www.behr.com/Behr/home#

To me the premium exterior paint is the best. But that is my own opinion.

Consumer Reports is available free at public libraries, or Google "exterior paints" reviews.

1) California Fresh coat Velvet Flat at $35/gallon
2) Behr Premium Plus Flat at $19/gallon
3) Valspar Duramax Stain at $35/gal
4) Behr Premium Plus Semi-Gloss at $25/gal
5) Valspar Duramax Flat @ $33/gal
6) Olympic Premium Flat @ $19/gal
7) Olympic Premium Semigloss @ $22/gal
8) Olympic Premium Satin @ $21/gal


I normally go with a semi-gloss but a I got a killer deal on paint in home depot that someone returned for 20 bucks for a 5 gallon bucket of "FLAT" paint... I couldn't pass it up.

[unknownjulie]

yes, it was behr that I used I think. It was really really good. Yes, get the semigloss, but I think what I did was mix a flat and a shellac or something, thereby approximating a bit of semigloss look. I think the shellac was possibly even some other brand, but it was mostly behr and came out looking very professional, but I practically spent nothing. I mixed it up in 5 gallon HD buckets. JUst save a gallon for future touchups since you wont be using an "official color" if you do it this way.
If you hire someone else to do your painting. BEWARE. I hired a guy to put a stain/paint on my back deck and he tried to hide what he had done, but I figured it out. He bought a different grade of stain than he had agreed to (and I paid for)- and then he also diluted it with paintthinner or something as well. Do it yourself, or stand right over the people and verify exactly what is going on. My "painterguy" put the diluted stain in a bucket with the proper label on it. I think he bought one can of the "agreed upon stain/paint" and then bought the inferior stuff and mixed it. Just absolutely infuriating because how can I "really prove" this is what he did? I only realized because I saw him doing something from a distance that looked weird, and then when I looked at several different cans, they all had different looking liquids in them. It was not uniform, which means that things were being mixed. At this point he was almost done with the job and I just wanted him to leave, so I just let him finish and be on his merry way, but I paid him and he didnt do what we had agreed upon. The stain/paint was chipping off within months, but we were in the middle of moving and I didnt really have time to follow after him and try and address it, and also, I didnt want some dishonest person coming to my house again!