Exterior House Painting Questions

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#2157194 9-Jan-2019 17:43

alasta:
mdf:
alasta:

Out of interest, how does the cost of re-staining cedar compare with the cost of re-painting weatherboards? I'm guessing it's much cheaper due to needing less preparation, although it needs to be done more often which is a huge pain if it requires scaffolding every time.

Yes, exactly right. Less prep but required more often.

Any idea of which works out cheaper over the long term? Is staining easy to DIY?

Usually paint, but it does depend on environmental conditions and whether you're DIYing it. Harsh conditions (salt and UV) may mean that you need to paint every 8-10 years and stain (on the sunny side) every 3-4. Mild conditions may let your paint go close to 20 years, but you will need to stain on the sunny sides at least every 6-8. Some variation in there too for colour and paint/stain type.

Paint and stain basically cost the same and coverage is similar, though there are some complexities about numbers of required coats and stain actually takes longer to apply than the equivalent amount of paint. But labour is the big factor so focussing on that: If you have to stain twice as often, you need to be able to (pay someone to) do it in half the time. That's not totally unrealistic as there is very little prep required for staining other in the worst cases. But is unlikely to stack up if you have to stain three times as often.

You stain for the look, not cost. I like the stained look and have just stained the new shadowclad on my garage. IMHO, it's a crime to paint cedar weatherboards.

blakamin

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#2157196 9-Jan-2019 17:45

jonathan18:

rb99:

Just wondering why spraying would mean reduced durability ?

Sprayed paint, I have been told, goes on thinner and less evenly than brush-applied paint, especially around tricky areas (despite it using more paint); there's certainly not unanimity on the superiority of brush vs spray, but I was happy to trust the advice I received (including from a friend who was a former house painter).

I also wasn't keen on the idea of drift, which is basically inevitable. They roof guy sprayed our roof and clearly did a poor job of prep, eg there's overspray on the porch's clearlite .

It might go on thinner, but the finished product should be extremely even (better than a brush since there's no strokes) and same thickness.

Obviously though, most house painters cant spray to save their lives, while some others are damn good at it.

You just have to pick the right person for the job.

Obviously your roof painter was crap too as he should've masked everything. So that's not "overspray", thats a crap painter.

As for "drift", that's overspray, and can be controlled quite reasonably with an airless system, if used properly.

mdf

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#2157197 9-Jan-2019 17:47

And missed the other part of your query.

Is staining easy to DIY? Depends (again. Sorry). You have to be careful with stain, since you can't just paint over any mistakes. If things like "paint with a wet edge" and "lap marks" mean something to you you will be fine. Quite a bit of other stuff to take into account that is well off topic but PM me or start a new thread.

alasta

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#2157235 9-Jan-2019 19:49

Thanks mdf for the really helpful advice.

Technofreak

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#2157264 9-Jan-2019 21:44

We have a split level house, three levels with half a level between each level, effectively making part of the house two story.

I replaced the spouting a few years ago, so bought my own scaffolding, 50 mm pipe and clamps plus planks. From memory all up it cost about $800. It gives me a enough height to easily reach the second story. From memory you don't need a certificate to erect it so long as the height of the scaffolding is less than 5 metres.

Since then I've used the scaffolding to paint the house. The preparation takes the time, clean/scrape/sand off the flaking paint, prime and undercoat where necessary then apply a couple of coats of top coat.

The cost of buying your own scaffolding isn't that expensive, which means if you so desire you can do the painting yourself over a time frame that works for you and for the cost of the paint, some brushes and brush cleaner, scrapers and sandpaper.

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#2157344 10-Jan-2019 09:48

blakamin:

Obviously your roof painter was crap too as he should've masked everything. So that's not "overspray", thats a crap painter.

Totally agree; and this just reinforces my earlier point - go with someone that you've had positive recommendations from others and ideally seen the quality of their work, as opposed to selecting someone out of the phone book or solely on their price. Unlike the house painters we used, we didn't follow this advice!

The roof guy was ok at roof repair, but clearly useless at the painting - we should have had him do the repairing and rescrewing and had the painters who did the rest of the house also paint the roof. (The house painters were so unimpressed by the job the roofer did the owner even rang him up to tell him and explain what he did wrong! The git was supposed to fix it but never did...)

mdf

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#2157346 10-Jan-2019 09:57

jonathan18:

<snip> go with someone that you've had positive recommendations from others and ideally seen the quality of their work, as opposed to selecting someone out of the phone book or solely on their price. Unlike the house painters we used, we didn't follow this advice! </snip>

+1 to this bit in particular. Ask painters for references of other houses they've painted locally, then go and have a look. One of the great things about exterior paint jobs is you can often see what it looks like just from a walk past. IME though if you knock on the door and ask, the owners are usually more than happy to let you have an up close nosey and point out the good and bad parts of the paint job.

The exterior of a house will never be perfect, and it doesn't matter _too_ much since you don't see it nearly as much as the interior. A drip mark is pretty much invisible from a couple of meters, so one under the eaves of a two storey house with no view from the windows is pretty unimportant. That said, it is worthwhile pointing out to your painter your high traffic areas (e.g. front door, back door) and asking them to take particular care in those places.

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#2157753 10-Jan-2019 20:22

Technofreak:

We have a split level house, three levels with half a level between each level, effectively making part of the house two story.

I replaced the spouting a few years ago, so bought my own scaffolding, 50 mm pipe and clamps plus planks. From memory all up it cost about $800. It gives me a enough height to easily reach the second story. From memory you don't need a certificate to erect it so long as the height of the scaffolding is less than 5 metres.

Since then I've used the scaffolding to paint the house. The preparation takes the time, clean/scrape/sand off the flaking paint, prime and undercoat where necessary then apply a couple of coats of top coat.

The cost of buying your own scaffolding isn't that expensive, which means if you so desire you can do the painting yourself over a time frame that works for you and for the cost of the paint, some brushes and brush cleaner, scrapers and sandpaper.

where do you buy and store scaffolding?

mattwnz

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#2157760 10-Jan-2019 21:05

networkn:

Egads. That's frightening. Was thinking 15K!

The top level of our home is smaller than the bottom so there is roof wider at the lower level. I am unsure how that affects scaffolding or how I know what kind of scaffolding to get. We got estimates 2 years ago that ranged in pricing but we can't recall recall what was estimated. The painters recommended getting our own scaffolding as they charge a hefty premium for it.

Just to clean a roof I was quoted 3k on a single level house, and don't think they would need scaff for that. Was you guess of 15k including paint? I would think you would be looking at around 20-30k to paint cladding ona second level that high, and if itt needs a lot of scaf, but I think a lot depends on accessibility.

You also want to make sure they are using good paint and not just cheap trade stuff, as you don't want it cracking and pealing after 3 years.

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#2157761 10-Jan-2019 21:12

mattwnz:

networkn:

Egads. That's frightening. Was thinking 15K!

The top level of our home is smaller than the bottom so there is roof wider at the lower level. I am unsure how that affects scaffolding or how I know what kind of scaffolding to get. We got estimates 2 years ago that ranged in pricing but we can't recall recall what was estimated. The painters recommended getting our own scaffolding as they charge a hefty premium for it.

Just to clean a roof I was quoted 3k on a single level house, and don't think they would need scaff for that. Was you guess of 15k including paint? I would think you would be looking at around 20-30k to paint cladding ona second level that high, and if itt needs a lot of scaf, but I think a lot depends on accessibility.

We got quoted $1200 and that was two stories, so I think they didn't want the work or something, $3k seems insane.

I'll get some quotes and see how I go.

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#2157789 10-Jan-2019 22:17

mattwnz:

Just to clean a roof I was quoted 3k on a single level house, and don't think they would need scaff for that

The safety requirements differ based on roof pitch. The steeper the roof then the more likely scaffolding and safety harnesses are required. AFAIK, it is independent of the number of levels.

Technofreak

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#2157798 10-Jan-2019 22:57

Batman:
Technofreak:

We have a split level house, three levels with half a level between each level, effectively making part of the house two story.

I replaced the spouting a few years ago, so bought my own scaffolding, 50 mm pipe and clamps plus planks. From memory all up it cost about $800. It gives me a enough height to easily reach the second story. From memory you don't need a certificate to erect it so long as the height of the scaffolding is less than 5 metres.

Since then I've used the scaffolding to paint the house. The preparation takes the time, clean/scrape/sand off the flaking paint, prime and undercoat where necessary then apply a couple of coats of top coat.

The cost of buying your own scaffolding isn't that expensive, which means if you so desire you can do the painting yourself over a time frame that works for you and for the cost of the paint, some brushes and brush cleaner, scrapers and sandpaper.

where do you buy and store scaffolding?

I bought mine on Trademe. The tubing dosent taken up much room when it's disassembled, it stacks into a small area, the clamps go into a couple of 20 litre paint containers, and the planks stack away quite easily.

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#2157898 11-Jan-2019 08:41

networkn:

BlueShift:

We had our top floor done a year or two back, after the new regs came in. As our top storey is set back and we have a steep roof, scaffolding is very tricky, but necessary if you want to live. I had a couple of scaffolders look at it and their quotes were eyewatering. I got some quotes from painters, and the ones we went with used abseil gear, and got the whole top floor done inside two days for a very reasonable sum that I can't remember now, it was less than the quote from one of the scaffolders (just for scaffolding) though.

Are you in Auckland, would you mind sending me the details for the people you used?

I'm in Hamilton, we used the local Paint & Prep Pro franchisee.

BlueShift

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#2157902 11-Jan-2019 08:46

networkn:

rb99:

DIY and knock a 0 off the bill ?

Sounds great, except I have NO DIY skills and learning and doing myself would be very time consuming I'd imagine.

Especially the H&S side of things. A woman I worked with was painting her villa, fell off the top of her porch, landed square on her feet, basically turned her ankle bones to paste. Took 6 months of surgery and recovery before she could even come back to work part-time on light duties. She left not long after, as her job as a librarian meant too much standing time for her.

Hence me getting a pro in to paint my second floor.

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#2159625 12-Jan-2019 12:10

I've been up on the roof painting some of the house over xmas. If you have reasonable balance and core strength and think about your body position and movement you'll probably be fine. If you're easily distracted might be better to get a pro in.
Not sure how we will get the sides of the house done yet as the ground is quite sloped and covered in bark and weeds but I'm not keen to pay $10k+ for a pro

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