Anyone ever paint the exterior of your house?

Summer2011Bride

We are closing on a house July 30 that is lovely and updated on the inside...but an ugly bright yellow with red shutters on the outside. I know it's not the end of the world, but I just can't stand having ugly paint on the outside of the house.

The house is a two-story but H is convinced he and two good friends can do it themselves. Granted, one of these friends worked as a College Pro Painter one summer where he exclusively did exterior painting and the other friend just got done completely renovating a fixer-upper by himself, but I am still concerned about the amount of work needed to do this (power washing, sanding, etc) esp. since much of it needs to be done on a high ladder or on the roof of the garage.

I did some looking online. If we did it ourselves, from the paint to supplies (we'd rent the power washer and paint sprayers) we could probably do it for under $1000. If we hired someone to do it, it would cost over $5000, which we just can't afford right now.

So has anyone had good experience painting their own house, especially a two-story? Or is this one of those things we should save up for a year, I can close my eyes when I pull up to the house to block out the yellow, and just wait until next summer when we can (hopefully) hire someone to do it?

TootsieK

Is it the yellow itself that is so bad or the combination of yellow and red?  Could you make it look better by painting just the shutters -- for example, a deep green or navy blue?

spalko

We painted my husband's parents house a few summers back. They couldn't afford to do any serious re-dos on there home so we stepped in to help out. The siding on the house was that masonite board or composite board, I forgot what its actually called, but it's that thicker board than the vinyl siding you see today. We bought white barn paint from Home Depot, scrapped all the old peeling paint off and got to work. You'd never be able to tell what it looked like prior, not that it was bad but it needed some freshening up, and it didn't take more than a weekend to finish. It cost us maybe $50 for the 5-gallon bucket and scrappers total so it was a very inexpensive project. However, they only carry white and red of the barn paint and I don't believe they can tint it for you so I don't know what color would work to cover up the yellow.

Summer2011Bride

The side of the house is wood, and we were hoping to do either a gray or a taupe. We would probably have to buy exterior paint--we looked at some colors from Valspar. We were then going to do teal/dark green shutters and door.

And yeah, the yellow is pretty bad by itself. The house was built in the 60s and even though the owners upgraded pretty much everything inside the house, the outside still looks very retro because of the color.

At least it sounds like it might be a manageable job, even if we have to spend more on regular outdoor paint.

sugardumpling

i painted the exterior a few years ago.  I used Behr paint and primer exterior paint.  The house is from 1870's and wood sided.   i power washed, scrapped off paint and painted.  It is by no means perfect but looks a lot better than it did.  If you have a couple of extra hands you can tackle this in a weekend.  

 

cmbrown

We started painting ours in the fall.  We have a one story, with many gables.  It was basically just me and DH and maybe one friend here and there.  With working full time, and having a 3 year old... we only got the first coat done.  We need to get working on the second coat, but now we're expecting our second baby.  So basically, if you have time and help, it's not bad at all.  We've spent less then $500 also.

Magdala9

Experience:  Yes.

Good:  No.

I fell off an 8 foot ladder painting the roof trim on my one story house.  I fractured a vertebrae and spend six months out of work, flat on my back.    I won't ever paint my own house again.  Pay $5000 vs lost wages for 6 mos?  I will pay $5000. 

pennstated912

We just painted the exterior of our home and the shutters. We used Behr Exterior paint. It was a pretty painless process considering the outside of our home is half-brick so we just rolled it on (the brick was painted when we first bought the home, which made me super-sad, but we at least got to paint it to a better color. It was originally bright white and the siding to the house was a dark cream, it looked weird).

We don't have the paneled shutters (we have the slates) and they were a PITA the paint, but we brushed on 2 coats of semi-glossed black exterior paint and now they look great! 

vineyard12

We are currently painting our house. We only have the front to do, since the sides and back are cedar shingles. It's a lot of work. H spent a day power washing and priming it. Then we spent the next day painting it, and it required two coats (we used Valspar). We still have the trim work and put the shutters back up. I spray painted the shutters (easier and goes on more evenly than a brush or roller). It's just the two of us, but if you have more people, it could get done faster. I'm not sure where you live, but you may want to consider waiting to paint in the fall when it's cooler. Working like that in the hot sun is no fun.

katharine25

vineyard12:

We are currently painting our house. We only have the front to do, since the sides and back are cedar shingles. It's a lot of work. H spent a day power washing and priming it. Then we spent the next day painting it, and it required two coats (we used Valspar). We still have the trim work and put the shutters back up. I spray painted the shutters (easier and goes on more evenly than a brush or roller). It's just the two of us, but if you have more people, it could get done faster. I'm not sure where you live, but you may want to consider waiting to paint in the fall when it's cooler. Working like that in the hot sun is no fun.

OP, It's not a good idea to power wash & prime the same day. You want to make sure the surface is completely dry before applying paint. 

Summer2011Bride

Thanks for all the tips and experiences! We're moving in this Aug. and were thinking of waiting until Sept. or Oct. to paint so we have time to get the inside settled, and that way the weather is more pleasant. I think we'll attempt it and just be realistic about how much work it is.

For those who have done it, is it realistic to say we could power wash on Sat., prime on Sunday, then wait a week until the following Sat. to paint (it'd be so hard to do while we are working during the week). Would it be a problem if it rained during the week before we got the paint on?

We plan on also talking to someone at a paint store or a Lowe's, etc. before we jump in, as well as our friend who painted houses for one summer and knows more about this than we do. It just makes me sick to my stomach to think of spending over $5000 to have someone else do this, though I know that's the easiest option.

katharine25

Summer2011Bride:

For those who have done it, is it realistic to say we could power wash on Sat., prime on Sunday, then wait a week until the following Sat. to paint (it'd be so hard to do while we are working during the week). Would it be a problem if it rained during the week before we got the paint on?

If you have a wood house, It would be much smarter to power wash one weekend and let dry over the week.  Once you've primed your essentially trapping any moisture from the wash still into the side boards of your house.  You expose your house to mold/moisture damage down the road, and it will cause your paint to peel quicker. You might be able to get away with it on a dry sunny day if you have a vinyl sided house, but it's a lot of work to not just exhibit some patience and wait a week.

Summer2011Bride

katharine25:

Summer2011Bride:

For those who have done it, is it realistic to say we could power wash on Sat., prime on Sunday, then wait a week until the following Sat. to paint (it'd be so hard to do while we are working during the week). Would it be a problem if it rained during the week before we got the paint on?

If you have a wood house, It would be much smarter to power wash one weekend and let dry over the week.  Once you've primed your essentially trapping any moisture from the wash still into the side boards of your house.  You expose your house to mold/moisture damage down the road, and it will cause your paint to peel quicker. You might be able to get away with it on a dry sunny day if you have a vinyl sided house, but it's a lot of work to not just exhibit some patience and wait a week.

Thank you! That's helpful. I think we will power wash one weekend then wait until the next weekend to prime/paint.