Painting new weatherboard

[Ashwood]

I'm painting a new weatherboard house, and wondering what would be the recommended products & sequence.

I was advised that to prevent the nails from rusting & eventually causing my weatherboards to fall out, filling all nail holes with an exterior filler is critical.

I've also been told different things about what primer to use (on pre-primed weatherboard) - ranging from Zinsser's primer to oil-based undercoats.

Lastly, should I use 2 coats of paint (eg. one of the solar-resistant exterior semi-gloss waterbased paints) or will one coat suffice?

Thanks.

[echnidna]

I'd use Wattyl Solagaurd, no primer needed.
Filling nailholes etc is good practise

[pharmaboy2]

2 coats, self priming, i'd stick with solaguard or dulux weathershield. Method of appication makes the biggest differecne for no. of coats - i just used a sprayer and it definately applied it thick to my weathertex so will leave it at 1 coat.

as for filler, gal nails and keep the paint up to it - ie no slacking off and not painting for 15 years and they will be fine - but filled will look better if they are below the surface. When paint fails, its because its been too long between applications!

[mcchaddy]

Hi Ashwood,

Just painted my house, a mixture of new Pine and Hardwood weather boards. On advice from the painter down the road. I used a 3 in 1 primer sealer first. Then I gap filled all joints and overlaps. Then i putty all the nail holes and any other defects in the timber. Gave it a day to set. When the undercoat is applied the timber pricks up and leaves a rough surface. I gave it a light sand then rubber it down with a damp rag. Then applied 2 coats of Dulux top coat.

The easiest method to apply the paint I found was to cut in with a brush and then use a 100mm utility roller(painter calls them med rollers). Works really well. You can spray them if you want but the first coat should always be brushed/rolled for better adhesion to the timber.

[Ashwood]

Thanks all.

Mcchaddy,
Really thorough process - sounds like hard work. Just wondering, do you know why the sealer was applied before filling/puttying? Also, filling the overlaps - is it for aesthetics or to help insulate the walls better? Lastly, using the roller after cutting in ... means I use the roller sideways ie. from left to right?

More views welcome so I can understand what others do & why.

Cheers, Ashwood

[peter_sm]

I used pre primed weatherboards on my garage, about 80m squared of weatherboards. I punched nails, spot filled them, then sealed all vertical joins. Then I painted two coats exterior paint using 4" brushes and two young teenagers as labourers

[mcchaddy]

Hi Ashwood,

I guess it is a bit of overkill but i know it will last a long while. My painter mate does it this way everytime he paints a weatherboard house. He is very through. The reason undercoat before filler is that the undercoat will fill a lot of the nail holes and gaps before having to putty/filler them. You are correct about the left to right or right to left motion with the roller. Goes on really quick and easy. You can apply a reasonably thick coat as well.

I have an 8x6metre shed and after cutting in with the brush, I had all the boards rolled in about 3 hours. I dont use a roller tray. I pour the undercoat into a plastic bucket then drop a piece of 3mm ply that extends out the top of the bucket. Just dip the roller in the paint and roller the excess off on the ply. Makes it easier to walk along the blank with it. The reason for gap filliing the overlaps is to stop vermon getting into the walls, inside is lined.

If you want photo's only to happy to take some

Cheers

Michael.

[Colin Howkins]

The secret is in the preparation....Mind you I am with Echidna here, in that I along with a lot of other folks believe Solarguard is one of the best formulated paints on the market today.

New weatherboards, be they pine or hardwood still carry a lot of tannins and linctus, which if not properly sealed can bleed out and stain. Oil based primers do this job much better than acrylic primers.

So here is the formula according to yours truly.

1. Sand down the new weatherboards - I use a third sheet orbital sander with 60 grit paper. This gets rid of all the 'nibs' left behing from milling. Getting rid of these gives you much better coverage with your paint. Make sure you brush off all dust
2. One coat of oil based primer, making sure you brush it well in [spray is OK] and get it into all the nailholes. Quite possibly the board were fixed with a nail gun and they more often than not are not galvanized and will rust - another reason to use oil based primer. Most important to let it dry thoroughly 1-2 weeks
3. Putty up all nail holes - normal putty is fine. Do it a few day before you put on final coats
4. Two coats of Solarguard or weathershield

If you are using a light coloured top coat you will dead set get 10 or more years out of it. We recently re painted our house, done 10 years previously, only needed a light sand , wash and 2 coats

Colin Howkins
Graceville Qld

[Ashwood]

Much much appreciated guys. My doubts & questions all cleared up ... and then some!

I think ultimately I will have to do what gives the most long-lasting result but which still meets my time & resource constraints (it's quite a large area, so sanding all parts & filling all overlaps sound too hard at this point). At this moment, thinking aloud and consolidating your suggestions, I may go the route of:

1. Prime using oil based primer, paying attention to nail-holes
2. Fill nail holes (yes, they used nailguns, which I don't quite like as the end-user, although i'm the builders appreciate its time-saving) & obvious gaps/overlaps only using filler
3. Spot sand obvious rough areas only
4. Cut in & roller 2 coats of light coloured Wattyl Solarguard topcoat.

Ashwood

[mcchaddy]

Hi Ashwood,

The gap filling doesn't take very long at all and the end result looks much better. When i painted my old house(2 storey weatherboard). I didn't gap fill the overlaps. Everytime i looked up when I was standing in the yard all i could see were black lines at each overlap where the boards didn't meet properly. It is especially noticable if you are using a light colour for the top coat.

One further thing, make sure the boards are free of all dust. I used a compressor with a air gun to blow all the ddust off then wiped the down with a damp rag just before i was about to paint.

Good luck.

Michael.

[Ashwood]

Thanks Michael,
One never really knows how difficult or easy it is until we do it.
I'll give it a go to gauge that, and go from there. Thanks again.
Ashwood

[pawnhead]

(yes, they used nailguns, which I don't quite like as the end-user, although i'm the builders appreciate its time-saving)

Fixing gun nails usually have a light zinc coating that gives some protection, although not nearly as durable as galvanizing so they should be protected from exposure.
You can get $tainless steel fixing gun nails (or galvanised nails for framing guns but you wouldn't use a framer for weatherboards).

[Make it work]

using 4" brushes and two young teenagers as labourers

Where do you buy them?

[peter_sm]

Younger brother-in-law and his friend. Bored on school holidays with no money, so I gave them two days hard labour with transport and food provided. Fixed their boredom, their money problem, and I think they learnt what working for a dollar means. Price was negotiated and agreed, and I made sure they stuck to their side of the agreement.