I have a porch and some of the siding is plywood. I’d just a soon keep it but the paint on it looks awful like painted plywood always seems to. Is there some paint/primer combination I can use to keep the plywood or should I just give in and side it with wood?
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Thanks, Mischa
Skim-coating with joint compound covers texture, renews old drywall and plaster, and leaves smooth surfaces ready to paint.
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There is a plywood called MDO (medium density overlay) that is made to be painted (has a phenolic resin-impregnated paper surface) for future reference, but since you have what you have, I can't give you any real good advice. I would think you need something to hide the grain and that would make the hard and soft grain not absorb paint differently. I think pimented shellac as a base coat would help a lot--a couple coats of that and then a good top coat (or two).
I was also thinking that something thick like varnish to hide grain, but I think that enamel is basically varnish with pigment added, so you might try an enamel over an undercoat that is made especially as a primer for enamel. (Called, surprisingly, "enamel undercoat.") I'm sure there'll be more and better advice coming!
Most plywood can be satisfactorily painted. As with any other wood surface, though, poor results are achieved with poor preparation and poor materials.
Raw (and clean/dry!) wood should first be primed with a good exterior primer (I prefer alkyd), then painted within a few days with a good satin or semi-gloss exterior paint (latex or acrylic).
Even with good preparation and materials, though, poor results may occur if the plywood is not exterior (or at the very least "exposure" 1 or 2) plywood), or if there is moisture "driving" from the inside.
Also, difficulties will arise if the surface has already been painted without primer -- scrape off what you can, prime, paint, then do it again in a year or two when more flakes off, until the entire surface has been primed.
Strip, sand, and then prime with alkyd primer and an alkyd colour coat. I'd use high-gloss, but that's up to you. An alkyd high-gloss paint tends to 'film-sheet' very well if applied at the right temperature, and that will help hide the plywood grain you object to.
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