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painting very old siding

Peke
11 years ago

The house we are remodeling has the ugliest siding. It is brittle and has small cracks and holes in it where rocks have hit it from the lawnmower. It looks like it used to be a reddish brown/gray color. On the north side of the house it is the original color, but on the other 3 sides it is 3 different colors due to fading in the sun.

We can't afford to replace the siding with something else. Can we paint it? I don't know what to do with the cracks and holes though. I assume we would have to prime it first, but I am not sure what kind of paint to choose.

Our daughter wants to have an outdoor wedding here (we live on waterfront lake property) in October so we need to start planning how to de-ugly this place...as much as possible.

Thanks, Peke

Comments (6)

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    11 years ago

    What is the siding made of????

  • Peke
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Well shoot, I forgot to mention that....

    Vinyl siding. It sort of has a texture like look with reddish brown over gray. Hard to explain. It's like it was supposed to look like a barn, I guess.....very ugly.

    Peke

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    11 years ago

    You need to clean it well( one way or the other), let it dry and paint it with a QUALITY exterior paint. I like Timeless by PPG.You do not need to prime in this case.

  • Peke
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Clean it with pressure sprayer or a brush? The second story might be a little hard to reach. I can't figure out how to reach it to wash, much less to paint. Thanks,
    Peke

  • painter325
    11 years ago

    You can paint your vinyl. It will be cheaper than replacing it, but there's a few things you should know about painting vinyl because it's a tad different than painting other types of siding like aluminum and wood. The siding should be pressure washed, pointing the water flow downwards to prevent water from going behind the vinyl.

    You don't have to prime vinyl siding, but if it's really old and damaged, primer certainly isn't a bad idea. Buy a quality acrylic exterior paint that can be applied to vinyl. Read the label. I would personally go with Sherwin Williams SuperPaint. Duration and Resilience are even better, but cost more.

    All three of those paints have what's called VinylSafe technology, which means you can paint a darker color over siding of a lighter color without the vinyl buckling in sunlight. If you pick another paint brand, make sure the paint includes a similar technology that will prevent buckling with darker paint colors, or simply pick a paint color that's lighter than the color of the vinyl and you'll be fine.

    Rent an airless sprayer and spray the siding. It's easy and you'll finish the job in half the time it would take doing it with a brush and roller. You'll need to cover the windows with plastic before spraying, and throw drop cloths over the bushes.

  • Peke
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Sounds good. I guess we need to rent a bucket truck to reach the highest part of the 2 story. Where we live there aren't any rental places. I think we can get a rental sprayer in a town a half hour away, but not a bucket truck.

    My next trip to the big city (2 hours one way) I will go to Sherwin Williams to check out the Vinyl Safe paint. We are going to go with a lighter color.
    Thanks, Peke