DIY Exterior Painting

[Orikal]

Didn't want to hijack Red's thread.

We're planning on painting the exterior of our small (918 sf) home the last week of this month. There is a fair amount of scraping/power washing that will have to take place, since the previous owner failed to do so prior to putting the most recent coat of paint on.

My question is: from a cost perspective, it's quite a bit less expensive to DIY (about 1/4 the cost of a contractor). However, perhaps the labor-intensive nature of the work outweighs the cost savings? Especially since this will be our first time handling such a project. We do have some experienced friends and family willing to assist us for the first weekend, but after that we're on our own.

I'd like to hear anyone's suggestions/warnings/tips that have tackled exterior painting themselves.

[RedScare]

Didn't want to hijack Red's thread.

We're planning on painting the exterior of our small (918 sf) home the last week of this month. There is a fair amount of scraping/power washing that will have to take place, since the previous owner failed to do so prior to putting the most recent coat of paint on.

My question is: from a cost perspective, it's quite a bit less expensive to DIY (about 1/4 the cost of a contractor). However, perhaps the labor-intensive nature of the work outweighs the cost savings? Especially since this will be our first time handling such a project. We do have some experienced friends and family willing to assist us for the first weekend, but after that we're on our own.

I'd like to hear anyone's suggestions/warnings/tips that have tackled exterior painting themselves.

Wouldn't have minded if you did. As for the DIY, I couldn't bring myself to do the scraping myself. I'll do a lot of things, but THAT did not appeal to me. That being said, here's a few things to consider.

My contractor power washed with a 3000 psi washer. Don't get the nozzle too close, as it will gouge the wood. Initially, I was prepared to pay a premium for a total scrape and sand job, but the contractor talked me out of it. You can easily gouged the wood trying to get every bit of paint off. Additionally, the paint that stays after power washing, scraping and sanding is not going anywhere. Once the scraping is done, feather the edges, and it will not be noticeable. Use a very good primer over the bare wood, and you should not get a repeat of the peeling.

Make sure loose boards are renailed. Replace rotten ones. Caulk gaps in the siding. Use paint tarps to catch peeled paint that falls to the ground. The prep work by my contractor took 3 days, with anywhere from 1 to 5 workers. Painting the body of the house went quickly. However, the trim work bogged down, taking 2 days.

Hope this helps.

[jgs1419]

The benefits of doing it yourself is that you can afford to use premium paint that will last longer versus the builder grade lines used by most painters.

Red's comments on prep work can't be emphasized enough. If you want the full grind, you can rent a tool specifically for removing paint from wood siding. It looks like a 6" grinder with some gadgets hanging off it. It is a labor saver over hand scraping but you do run the risk of overzealousness (i.e. gouging).

There have been several very good articles on paint preparation for DIYers in Fine Homebuilding and Family Handyman in the last year. I would recommend going to the library and getting copies of the articles. The Family Handyman version had some very good pointers on cutting in the trim and prep strategies that are very important.

One other recommendation, use "Big Stretch" caulk. It is more expensive than most latex caulks but the stuff is bullet proof.