There isn't a sorrier sight,in a neighborhood of well maintained homes,than a house badly in need of paint.A chipped,blistering,faded exterior can make even the nicest architectural gem look positively shabby.With the expense of hireing a contractor and the enormious amount of labor in a do-it-yourself project,are just a couple of reasons,why many homeowners pospone these much needed repairs.
The disagreement among pro painters over the relative merits of stain vs. paint,still goes on today,and is enough to confuse the inquireing homeowner.
Stain is a very popular choice for new,rough-sawn sideing.Strain does not peel like paint and, therefore,never needs to scrapeing.There are two types of stain :semi-transparent and solid.Transparent allows more of the grain and texture of the wood to show through;solid is denser,haveing the consistency of very thin paint,which is thicker and has more viscous.
Stain leaves less film on the woods surface,and thus protects it less from sun and moisture than does paint;also,stain lasts about half as long.Stained wood on the sunny side of the house should be given a new coating as regularly as every three to five years.
Acrylic latex-based paint has great color retention,doesn't fad as quickly as stain.Latex dries faster,cleans up with water,and is somewhat easier and more pleasant to work with.
The key to any good paint job is preparation.Preparation involves scrapeing all peeling,blistering paint,and feathering the edges with sandpaper to blend the paint surface with the bare wood.After all scrapeing and sanding the sideing should be washed down with a household cleaner and brushed and thoroughly rinsed off.
You can use a angled 2 1/2 sash brush for the windows and small trim.Use a 3"or4"brush for the wider trim and sideing.Work from the top down,and try to paint entire areas that exist between natural breaks,such as between windows.
Paint the bottom edge of the sideing first,then the face.On the wood shingles,get plenty of paint on the bottom edges to seal the porous end grain.Although there are occasions when you can get by with one coat,most of the time two coats are required
When spot primeing with a dark color,you may want to tint the primer;that is ,darken it by adding a bit of the finish color to it.This will eliminate multiple coats trying to cover the primer.
Wood-sided houses need either paint or stain,both for looks and protection from the effects of the elements.Ultimately ,the homeowner must decide on the basis of an informed judgement.Careful consideration should be given the decision to hire a contractor or to do the job yourself.
