Which came first: the house paint or the new roof? + recommendations for painters & roofers in PN

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Which came first: the house paint or the new roof? + recommendations for painters & roofers in PN

jonathan18

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#190952 18-Jan-2016 09:28

Hey there,

We've been on planning on getting a new roof (colour steel) put on this year, and we've now also decided to pay to get the house painted (we want to change the colour, and don't have the time to do the whole thing ourselves).

So we're wondering what is the best order to do this in - new roof or paint the house first? I had wondered if we got the guttering taken off first, get the house painted, then the roof replaced (on the basis it'll be easier to paint the eaves without guttering), but what's the usual/best way of doing this?

Also, it would be great to know if anyone has recommendations for good-value (but quality) roofers and painters in Palmerston North.

Finally - regarding roofing, is it necessary to pay additional sums for thicker colour steel if one doesn't live in a windy and/or coastal environment?

Thanks for any advice.

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#1473521 18-Jan-2016 09:47

I would replace the roof last - avoids the chance of getting any over-paint when they are doing the top ridges on your nice new colour steel, also avoids them denting the colour steel if anyone decides to go on the roof while putting the guttering back up for any reason.

Linuxluver

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#1473522 18-Jan-2016 09:48

I painted / repaired the roof first, then took the gutters off and painted the wood behind them...and then painted the house. Generally, I work top down. It helps avoid damage to lower areas by working higher up later. You buy the best roof you can afford. The better it is, the longer it will last......either you or the next person. I've been the "victim" of a lot of short term cost savings by others. Much of it illegal. It costs more in the end.

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timmmay

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#1473525 18-Jan-2016 09:51

I was advised not to bother with thicker iron. Can't help with the other stuff, not sure the order matters much.

Jaxson

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#1473530 18-Jan-2016 09:57

Hi Jonathan,

Can't specifically help but thought I'd write some thoughts...

We replaced the roofing iron on our Feilding house around 5 or so years ago, but were extremely lucky that my father inlaw and brother inlaw are handy and worked in useful industries. We did the bulk of it over one weekend and I spent many evenings adding the final screws to finish it. If you are going with roofing iron, then you attach this with Tex screws, which you simply drill in. Our house at the time was from the 1920's and the roof was fully sarked (had weather boards right up it) so attaching the new iron was really easy, and you could screw in anywhere to attach. Depending on your existing house construction, a re roof can be quite easy, or more fiddly. If it's iron now though, and you're replacing like for like essentially, then it should be fairly easy.

Anyhow, Palmerston is one of the countries most inland cities, and away from geothermal activity, so I'd say it's safe to use non thicker iron. For us we knew we wouldn't be in the house in twenty years time or so anyway, so the additional thickness is helping some other owner down the line. So in Palmy I think it may depend on how charitable you feel like being for the next owner?...

As for the order, I'd do the roof now. That's more important weather sealing wise, and you'd want to get that done in summer.

Painting in hot weather is yuck anyway, the paint goes thick and needs to be watered down often. Once again the complexity of the painting job depends on how much prep work is required. If you are repairing weather boards etc, then there is a lot of work that doesn't actually involve paint.

Changing colour shouldn't be too difficult, unless you're going from one extreme to another. Two coats is usually enough to transform a house. Weather boards are fiddly, but brushing is probably still the most appropriate way. Spraying is more suited to flat panel type exteriors, and can be risky if it's windy, which obviously Palmerston North never is...

Both of these jobs will no doubt have a health and safety/working at heights component nowadays. I'd be very interested to see what your quotes are like, and if they break that component down specifically. If you have to fully scaffold your house etc, then there may be opportunities to use this for painting at the same time?

Anyhow, all the best. Sorry I haven't been very specific.

DaMuzzMan67

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#1473534 18-Jan-2016 10:03

I would paint the house and then have the roof go on. However, I would do them at the same time while you still have the scaffolding around for the roof install as it will make painting the eaves and other high places easier. Sometimes roofers only put in fall protection instead of scaffolding, so it depends on your layout whether it is 2 stories or you just need a portable scaffolding for the painting of the house first.

The roof install - I just had mine done. The process - Roof off, most of the iron back on but not on the sides or eaves (gives you a few days to paint underneath), Finish Roof, install new gutters. I used Coloursteel roof and gutters (pre-painted the same colour).

For roofers - If you have any that say they don't need to install fall protection - Avoid - they are probably a cowboy.

jonathan18

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#1473618 18-Jan-2016 11:11

Thanks for all the replies, however clearly no consensus yet as to which order is best!

What does make sense to me, though, is the suggestion of trying to synchronise the work so scaffolding (if useful for both) only has to go up once.

It's a 1920s' single-story weatherboard home with a corrugated iron roof (the one same you installed our aerial on, @Jaxson!), but one side is fairly high; I guess once I have some companies around to do quotes they can give me a clear indication as to what level of scaffolding is required for both jobs (and hopefully the best order to do it).

I got a couple of quotes for the roof done a year or so ago, and was shocked at how affordable they were; this makes me worried about whether they'd factored fall protection into the quote, but this time around I'll be sure to get it included and itemised separately.

The brush versus spray preference may have tilted now in favour of spraying even weatherboard houses; a friend said the best balance (time/cost) is to brush the undercoat but spray the top coats, but he'd just had his house painted recently and they sprayed all coats. Will changing the house colour to a lighter one (from a mustardy yellow to an off-white) impact on whether it should be brushed? (assuming the paint's thicker if brushed.)

Roofing-wise, is there much difference between brands of roofing iron? As @DaMuzzMan67 did, we are planning on getting the guttering done in the same pre-painted iron; plastic guttering isn't the nicest look on an old house. I doubt we'll be in the same house in 20 years, so unless it's only a minor increase in price I think we'll stick with standard thickness iron.

Has anyone got firms they can recommend for painting or roofing? I've tried No Cowboys, but that has not a single listing for painting or roofing companies in Palmerston North.

Thanks again.

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richms

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#1473679 18-Jan-2016 12:18

Most places have their own scaffolding now, so are not keen on allowing others access to it. If you go and rent it yourself so that both trades can use it, then it costs more than both bringing their own. At least it did when I looked into the re-roof and then solar on the garage.

I had to work out between the re-roof and the re-clad - decided in the end that reroof first because that is deteriorated to the point where actual damage is happening, the cladding is just stuffed in a couple of parts so 2 panels of hardieflex can be replaced and then left for a few more years.

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Kraven

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#1473742 18-Jan-2016 13:12

We used DM Contracts (www.painterpalmerstonnorth.co.nz) to paint our place, bit of a smaller job than yours though, just soffits, fascias and gables. We found Dean great to deal with and they did a great job.

jonathan18

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#1473795 18-Jan-2016 13:50

Kraven: We used DM Contracts (www.painterpalmerstonnorth.co.nz) to paint our place, bit of a smaller job than yours though, just soffits, fascias and gables. We found Dean great to deal with and they did a great job.

Thanks for the recommendation; did you get quotes from other companies when you selected these guys, and were they cheaper or just seem better?

Earlier today I called the local master painters, who centralise their quoting service (so send requests to three of them to do quotes); I was told not to worry about getting back to them unless I'd not been contacted sometime in the next three or four weeks! If that's how long it takes to get a quote, I can imagine I'll not be looking at being able to get it painted until the end of the year...

BTW, they recommended getting the roof done, then the house painted, then the guttering and downpipes installed. That makes sense to me now, but will require a level of coordination between the two (and possibly issues with scaffolding etc). Most sites seemed to support the roof/paint order (with roofing companies' sites sometimes reversing this, due to the risk of paint ending up on the new roof), with some also proposing the secondary "roof" components (guttering etc) going on after painting.

Kraven

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#1473850 18-Jan-2016 14:32

jonathan18: Thanks for the recommendation; did you get quotes from other companies when you selected these guys, and were they cheaper or just seem better?

Didn't bother getting other quotes as it wasn't a huge job and the price he came back with was ballpark what I had in mind.

jonathan18

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#1474726 19-Jan-2016 15:38

Had the first quote come in already - $25,300 to prep and paint a 160m2 house and garage.

Umm, don't think so.

I've got other companies coming today and Friday to do quotes, so we'll see whether that's typical or (hopefully but unlikely) an outlier (on the high end!).

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richms

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#1474742 19-Jan-2016 16:08

Sounds about right. Scary expensive to do properly. That is why all the reno's just roller the same colour over it so their pathetic not quite going to the edges etc doesnt show up.

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Hoofhaarted

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#1474760 19-Jan-2016 16:34

We did the roof this year.

you HAVE to have a scaffolding up for the roofers, if the painters also need scaffolding etc, it might save some $$ to get them as close together as possible.

billgates

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#1474765 19-Jan-2016 16:49

Scaffolding is not cheap.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Jaxson

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#1474781 19-Jan-2016 18:29

I've painted several single story houses now by hand on a ladder.
Too much money and it might be worth taking time off work ;)

Ideally you can get two companies to share the scaffolding cost, but I doubt either would sign up for that unless they've worked together well previously. It's only going to get tougher again after the new Health and Safety regs coming in April too.

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