Painting the House Exterior



A lot of people paint the house exterior to add to curb appeal when selling. The main other and real reason should be to prevent longer term more expensive repairs and repaints. 

Most professional painters will tell you the key to a good paint job is preparation of the surface to be painted. 

Its only when preparing to repaint and the close attention involved that a lot of the repairs are found. 

Finding repairs early such as rotten timber, rusting metal, cracked plaster means repairs are smaller, easier, and far less expensive to fix. 

The savings can be massive, small cracks in the plaster in the monolithic cladding if not fixed early can lead to water entering the timber framework.

If untreated timber (early 1900’s - early 2000’s) was used, rot and mould can destroy the timber in just a few years - eg 3-7 years. 

This all happens out of sight. Repairs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars can result. As soon as even very small cracks appear - clean out the cracks, seal with sealant and paint with the appropriate flexible paint systems. 

Even when no cracks are apparent a repaint of the whole exterior of a monolithic home every 3-4 years is a great insurance against future problems. 

Iron roofs will rust, and concrete roofs will lose their surface finish, absorb water, and become very heavy. Heavy concrete tiles crack and put a lot of stress on the roof framing. 

Regular maintenance and painting not only make the roof look good it saves a lot of money over the years. 

Wooden weatherboards will rot if not well maintained with paint (or stain for cedar). 

Washing the house exterior with a low pressure (not high-pressure water blasting) will extend the life of the paint system by several years.

The build-up of dirt, moss, lichen, and mould holds water and more which rapidly breaks down the paint protective covering. 

Timber weatherboards should be repainted every 10 years or so after careful preparation such as water blasting and sanding. 

Filling with sealant or replacing any damaged areas before applying two coats of good quality paint. Well looked after weatherboards will last for hundreds of years. 

We already have examples of 150-year-old homes in great condition. One final point. As the major expense in painting is the preparation, use only top-quality paint.

The difference may be only a few hundred dollars on a $10,000 full repaint but gives you 3-4 more years of useful life. Paint not only makes the house look good, but it also protects your investment too.