Really need some advice on starting an exterior painting job on a 1915 bungalow. The clown before me did not prep the house before he painted it 8 years ago and now we have substantial blistering and peeling. There are sound parts of the home and I absolutely dread the thought of sanding the entire exterior. Any thoughts?
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I think you need to hand sand the entire exterior. Just kidding! See if you can find evidence of prior peeling. This may be a continuing problem due to various causes such as moisture, flat grain siding, poor adhesion of earlier coats of paint etc. These will need to be corrected or anticipated. (Meaning you may have a house that just wont hold paint well.)
It is very difficult to remove all the paint from a house so I would not do more than necessary unless extensive peeling is occurring. If so, then you may be forced to remove most of the old paint. This can basically ruin the siding if done wrong, so don't try it unless you are sure it's needed. Ever see a house with circular grinder marks, belt sander marks, or rusty nails because the galvanize was sanded off? That's not pretty to me.
I would clean, scrape, sand to feather edges, prime bare spots with alkyd primer, prime the entire house with alkyd or latex primer, then two more coats of paint.
Sequence would be:
Power wash(?)
Hand scrape
Prime
Two top coats?
Sound right?
Power washing siding is not usually a good idea. It is better to scrub with a brush (you can get them with a pole) using detergent or tsp - with a small amount of bleach in the water. Rinse well and let the siding dry out well. If you scrape wet or damp siding it will be easily damaged. For the same reasons it is bad to pressure blast water at water softened siding. It will erode the siding and get water where it doesn't belong, as well as making a big mess. It will usually not be as clean as a good scrubbing anyway. Pros like to use power washers because they are fast and work OK when correctly used. Another thing power washers should not be used for is stripping loose paint. It will go everywhere and may contain lead. So its better to scrape loose paint onto a tarp and dispose of it properly.
Do not use any alkyd primer unless the wood is fully dried out- not just dry looking- or you will see problems later. Also let caulk dry fully before painting or it does peculiar things, and the paint will usually crack as the caulk dries. I have never had luck getting latex primer to stick to bare wood. I have had good results with latex over pint however.
BTW I'm not a pro, but I have painted a bit over the years. Ive tried the shortcuts and I can tell you why they dont work too.
One last thing. Don't be tempted to vinyl side your house. Yeck.