Repainting roof soffit and eaves.

[terry]

Have cleaned off loose/flaking white trim paint from the wooden edge board and metal flashing and from underside of the two foot overhanging soffits of our roof and now ready to repaint. House roof is single storey low slope pitch and gravel and the roof is

62 feet by 37 feet; so we have some 200 lineal feet to repaint. Fortunately everything can be reached from a short step-ladder, no scaffolds!

In some places the original paint and previous repaints during last 39 years where paint was flaking have now been scraped and in places the wood is bare. However most is intact but has become dirty. Previous paint layer looks fairly glossy. Have checked that all ventilation is OK and no signs of rot in the wood trim to be repainted.

Question: Should I now use say 'Alkyd' undercoat on the bare wood patches, and then repaint all over with an alkyd exterior paint. I understand 'alkyd' means what one would have previously called 'oil paint' . It looks like it's going to be two coat job anyway. Once that's been done and a couple of very small patches around two a couple of windows the overlapping pine clapboard will be redone with a new coat of redwood stain. i.e. Redwood house with white trim.

Repainting advice welcomed please.

[SteveBell]

Use an exterior primer on the bare wood. Primer sticks to wood very well--just _try_ to get it off your hands. ;-) The finish coat sticks to primer and is sun- and weather-resistant. You can have the primer tinted to match the finish coat if you want.

I recommend you power-wash before you go much further. Use a cleaner designed for exterior paint. I usually use the /Simple Green/ brand because it's biodegradable. If you don't clean well, the paint won't stick well.

Find a good paint store where the people know their product. I use Sherwin Williams because they know what they're doing and they give me a discount. The big-box stores around here have people who're only trained to use the tint machine.

[stan]

Thank you much Steve. Also for the tip about cleaning. terry

[hrhofmann]

Definitely power wash with the strongest detergent you can legallly buy.

[Steve Stone]

I have a similar issue, except I live on a ridge where the winter wind weathers the paint on west side of my house at triple the normal rate. I guess the only real solution to my situation is to cover the soffits with vinyl.