Outdoor Painting Tips (Concrete & Wood)

[dppcmc]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, but at first glance it appears to be a wealth of knowledge! My wife and I bought our first home a year and a half ago. It's 105 years old, and while in great shape, I've begun to learn a lot about home maintenance and repair. However, one thing that puzzles me is how to properly paint outdoor surfaces to ensure that the paint lasts longer than a year.

After a year and half, the quickie paint job the previous owners (PO) did is starting to look sad. The concrete step paint peels and chips with no trouble at all, and the wood railing is starting to flake. This spring I hope to tackle both myself, but I want to do it right; the PO certainly did not... So on to my questions:

1.) What's the most effective way to remove the old paint? Mere scraping? Is there a solution that can help? I understand the process may be a bit different for the concrete compared to the wood.

2.) How should I go about properly repainting both surfaces? My gut tells me that I must thoroughly clean the surface, apply primer, then paint. Is this correct? How many coats?

Pardon all the questions, but I'm looking for good how-to tips so I can avoid doing this again year after year. I've included pictures below for reference of the current conditions.

Wooden Railing:

Concrete Steps:

Thank you in advance!
Dan

 

[Chris]

Yup, proper prep is what you need. I would start by scraping everything you can and then sand, you can rent a floor sander for the deck which will work quick. One sanded I would wash everything with TSP then prime and paint. If you don't get all the old stuff up that is loose it will just do what it is doing again.

 

[Big Red]

Painting wood outside is a constant affair, even when quality paints and good techniques are used. What I would suggest is to sand the chipping paint with a power sander. Or even a disc on a power drill works well. Then get some quality full color stain, and stain the wood instead of painting it. The outdoor stains hold up really well. You might not have to restain for 10 or more years---and when you do, you'll not have the chipping paint to scrape and sand off. Don't worry about getting ALL the paint off if it's adhered well. Just stain right over it. I did a wood barn like this many years ago--the original color was green and I stained it a dark brown color. It held up for about 20 years before more of the paint underneath started to peel. Just restained it and it looks good, even today.

From what I understand, concrete loses its PH over time and causes failure of the surface. I think there is a product that's spread over it, after grinding the surface, that renews the PH. If you have a concrete supplier in your area, or someone who works on issues like this, they could tell you more. I don't know a lot about this so even some searching on the internet may give you more answers.

 

[DFBonnett]

OP,
In addition to all the above, I've had the best results over the years with bare exterior wood by spot priming using a long oil (slow drying) primer. I follow that with a complete prime with a quality 100% acrylic primer. Top coat with a quality acrylic of your choice. Don't expect the longevity you would get with new construction. Old wood gets porous and will require attention sooner. Good luck.

 

[nealtw]

Later in the summer when the wood is dry may give you better results.

 

[Big Red]

I agree with neal. Never paint or stain outside wood until it's had a long drying spell with no rain.

 

[user 4883]

Beware lead based paint on a house that old.

 

[dppcmc]

Pardon the late reply, but thank you everyone for the great answers! This helped tremendously, especially since I'd never heard of TSP before. Hopefully I can tackle a couple of these projects in a couple months once we see warmer temperatures here in STL. The take away here is that a properly cleaned, prepped, and primed surface is required to help ensure maximum paint life.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[oldognewtrick]

Always remember this when painting.

Clean- paint won't stick to dirt or loose old paint

Dry- paint won't stick to wet surfaces.

Dull- paint doesn't stick well to shinny surfaces.

If you remember this, your paint job will last longer and prep is the most important part of the paint process.

 

[user 4883]

Prep is 99% of the job. I usually hide the paint from the helpers until I've had a chance to inspect the prep work.

 

[PrecisionPainting]

scrape, sand, and prime.

 

[Chris Tuffs]

Wait till a little later in the summer. Give it time for the wood to dry (this will give it better results).

 

[WyrTwister]

I am not a painter and not that great at it .

But , here goes . Go down to a rental store and rent ( or buy one ) a power washer . Try to " knock off " everything that is loose . When I did this , , I found I needed one that had at least 2,000 psi of pressure .

Then , follow the fine advice you have been given in this thread .

MAKE SURE you have good , sage ladders . A paint job by a professional is much cheaper than broken bones ( or broken neck / back ) .

Be safe out there .

Wyr
God bless

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=power+washer

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, but at first glance it appears to be a wealth of knowledge! My wife and I bought our first home a year and a half ago. It's 105 years old, and while in great shape, I've begun to learn a lot about home maintenance and repair. However, one thing that puzzles me is how to properly paint outdoor surfaces to ensure that the paint lasts longer than a year.

After a year and half, the quickie paint job the previous owners (PO) did is starting to look sad. The concrete step paint peels and chips with no trouble at all, and the wood railing is starting to flake. This spring I hope to tackle both myself, but I want to do it right; the PO certainly did not... So on to my questions:

1.) What's the most effective way to remove the old paint? Mere scraping? Is there a solution that can help? I understand the process may be a bit different for the concrete compared to the wood.

2.) How should I go about properly repainting both surfaces? My gut tells me that I must thoroughly clean the surface, apply primer, then paint. Is this correct? How many coats?

Pardon all the questions, but I'm looking for good how-to tips so I can avoid doing this again year after year. I've included pictures below for reference of the current conditions.

Wooden Railing: View attachment 8509

Concrete Steps: View attachment 8508

Thank you in advance!
Dan

 

[mabloodhound]

As Big Red said, get a solid color stain. In my state we can no longer buy any oil based paint or stain but the latex works well. I used the Olympic Navajo Red and it has held up well for 8 years. It will never flake or peel.