I need to paint our front door and garage door both wood and North facing.
Have done a bit of research but cannot decide between water or oil-based paint. Ideally I want a high gloss smooth finish which I understand is best achieved with oil based paint however there are some negative reports on the longevity of oil based.
If it looks reallly good for 10 years, I would be very happy.
Solvent (oil) based.
If you want a really good hard finish go for a two-pot paint.
But even then I'd be surprised if you got 10 years.
Wood is a hard thing to keep pretty, it changes shape too much. I have a wooden boat, and it's a PITA.
Andy
I thought the idea of exterior wood paints was that they're flexible, so they move with the change of shape of the wood? A two pot epoxy finish will presumably be rigid and not flex, and so crack and flake off when the wood stretches or shrinks?
There are products like:
which claim flexibility.
Painter used that on weatherboard and it's lasted a long time (I don't actually remember when, it was a long time ago it was last done, probably more than 10 years...)
Beware that the formulation of a product from decades ago may not be the same as the one of the same name on the shelf today :-(
Theo
Not too keen on 2-pack as it seems to be a bit unforgiving for your average DIYer. I'm more old style primer/undercoat/top coat sort of guy.
I find it often depends on the weather, the orientation and the paint colour and the wood preparation. Dark colours tend to crack. I'd myself not use a water based paint if I wanted a good gloss, but on my window sills at the front where the sun bakes them they are cracking back to the undercoat. I guess if paint was made to last forever, they would never sell any more paint!
Brian
North facing gives you a sporting chance of having it last. Direct sunlight plays havoc with daily paint film expansion. You can't avoid some annual changes in the wood with winters high humidity.
A black south facing wooden door is the worst possible case.
You will be lucky if it lasts that long and still looks good. I reckon about 8 years is par for the course if you have prepared the surface well. The longevity of a classical paint system is largely determined by how well the surface to be painted has been prepared and cleaned and how evenly it was painted (rather than the precise chemistry of the paint).
That said oil based would always be my preference for outdoors.
A certain well known UK paint manufacturer used to teach its employees how to paint doors correctly as free advertising for their products (also gave employees a healthy discount on their paints and still do).
Is it true that the new (oil based) paint is not as good as the old paint wasa as some of the best ingredients have been banned?
Dulux weathershield (trade) is brilliant. The trade version of the U/C is still solvent based, whereas the retail U/C as sold in B&Q etc is water-based. The gloss top coat is solvent-based for trade and retail.
There is also a special primer but that is now water-based and a pig to use on timber that has previously been painted, so any bare wood/flaky bits need sealing with a solvent primer. Many of these are now water-based so shop around. Dulux still do a solvent primer, just not in the weathershield range.
I used it on my North-facing barge boards in 2005 and apart from going it bit dull it is still intact. Just needs a wash down every 5 years or so, together with the gutters.
The downside is that when you do decide to repaint it is difficult to remove. This is probabbly how I overheated my Bosch orbital sander so that the velco no longer sticks. so now the disks fly off.
so any
Consider one of Zinsser products
I used Superdec on my house. On the south facing elevation it last five years. The rest was ok but that was when I got uPVC fascias and soffits installed.
As a digression, I got new windows about 10 years ago and very soon the frames will need painting. I was told at the time that the paint is microporous. I have heard (1) that using any other kind of paint ruins the breathable properties; and (2) that microporous paint is a gimmick anyway and you should rub down and start again.
What does the panel think?
I don't know about microporous, but surely if the paint has gone brittle and is flaking there's no point in putting another layer of anything on top of something that is liable to crack and poorly keyed?
I'd question how long a microporous paint can stay porous for - does it block up over time?
It seems like all paints are porous to some degree:
There's also a question about porosity for opening windows - you might use a porous paint to allow the wood to 'breathe', but then damp wooden windows stick more than dry ones.
Theo
@ Martin, I am definatley inclined towards your views on going with oil-based paint because this garage door is North facing and I don't want grief in 10 years time when it needs stripping bac,
I have spent 3 days stripping off the old oil-based paint down to bare wood and now just smoothing off with sand paper.
Can you recommend the exact brand name and products you would recommend forn:-
1, Sealing knots.It will be the last time I do this work again so no expense spared. On;ly the best paint will do.
There is now a new super shiny water based paint,not sure about longevity.
Any ?shellac-based product from Rustins or similar.
If you really have removed *all* the paint, I would use the Dulux weathershield range, Primer + *trade* U/C + topcoat. If your doors are sound and painted/sealed all over inside and out my experience is that Dulux Weathershield on North facing surfaces will easily last 15+ years before it needs some minor attention to wood joints that have moved and maybe cracked the paint.
You need to follow the instructions on the primer because it is water-based. Unlike solvent primer it raises the grain slightly and can form waxy blobs after the second coat. The Dulux website used to have some videos on how to use it. Any traces of previous paint will make it dribble down the timber (and your arm) so take care and wear some disposable latex gloves. I use a synthetic brush, it doesn't seem to like bristle brushes, and wash them out with gun-wash which is semi-clean thinners sold by motor factors for cleaning out spray guns.
Beware of the retail version of weathershield, where the U/C is water-based. The trade version is marked high-VOC and needs a good stir. It still dries quickly and can be overcoated within
6 hours according to the tin but because it dries quickly and because it is not a 'runny' paint you have to be careful to avoid brush marks.
Many years ago, I bought some microporous 'Ranch' paint (white). Essentially, I think it's intended for sloshing on fences and the like. IIRC, I think it says that it's only the first coat that is microporous, and the microporosity is lost with later coats.
@ Martin Brown, Many thanks Martin for the detail. I shall follow your recommendations having spent 5 days stripping off all vestages og the original paint.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.