Many people have expressed concern about the cost and short lifespan of paint.
Most contractors try steal business from a painter and persuade homeowners to use their services and install vinyl siding instead of painting.
Contractors intimidate homeowners and make them nervous by saying that fresh paint on an old 1900 house might only last for 5 years.
This can be a tricky sales tactic that homeowners might get caught up in. Some people also question that instead of painting again, to use a solid body stain on top of the current paint to provide a longer lifespan.
This is not true. Let us explain how all this works.
What Paint Does
Paint is made of three things: solvent, binder, and pigment.
- Solvent is like a thin liquid that dries up when it’s exposed to air – similar to paint thinner.
- Binder is a thicker liquid that holds the paint together.
- Pigments are what give the paint its color and sun-blocking ability.
When you put paint on a surface, the solvent evaporates, and the binder sticks the pigments to the surface. The dry paint will expand and contract with the wood.
Traditional Paint
For the last 300 years, oil paint was mostly made from linseed oil and a pigment called lead oxide.
Over time this paint would wear from the weather. It would either wear off on the surface or sometimes crack because the stuff holding it together shrank as it got older.
Fixing this paint was pretty easy. When it got really worn, they would brush off the loose bits and put on a new coat.
This new layer of paint soaked into surfaces well, so it helped fill in cracks in the old paint.
They had to do this every 20 to 40 years.
Sometimes, they only redid the parts that were really weathered, like towers, porches, and the south side of the house.
This way, the paint layers didn’t build up too much.
Also, this type of paint kept buildings looking clean because dirt would go away with the worn-out paint. The lead pigment in the paint also stopped mold and algae from growing.
Construction Boom after WWII
After the 1940s, the way they made paint changed. Even though they kept calling it “oil-based” paint, it behaved very differently from the old type. The new, “improved” paint had stuff called alkyd binders, which made it more flexible and better at resisting the effects of weather. It was great for new houses made of bare wood, but not so good for older buildings.
So why was it not good for older buildings? Although this new paint was tougher against weathering, when people added more layers of this paint to their houses, it built up and became thicker. Additionally, this new paint didn’t go into cracks very well, so any faults or cracks in the surface were still there under the paint.
The outside layers of the new paint were stronger than the inside layers of the old-style paint. As this new paint aged, it shrank a bit more than the old paint underneath. This caused the paint to crack, peel, and break making a new paint job necessary.
Then, they removed a material called lead pigment from the new paint. We are all familiar with the issues with lead paint. However, the removal of this lead allowed mold and algae to grow on the surface of buildings. Also, dust from cars sticking to the paint made buildings look dirtier than before. As a result, buildings needed more frequent repainting, rather than just touching up where the paint was worn.
The result of this change was not good. People then started repainting their buildings about every 15 years, and this caused a problem. The paint layers became really thick, and this thick paint didn’t bend well. So, it cracked. Water got into these cracks and reached the wood underneath.
When this water tried to escape along with normal moisture escaping from the interior of the house, it couldn’t get through the thick paint, so it pushed the paint off the wood. The outer layers of the paint also shrank, which made the paint peel away from the wood. This all happened where the paint was weakest, right next to the wood. As a result, the paint ended up peeling off and exposing the bare wood underneath. This in turn allowed the wood to be vulnerable to rot.
Paint Today
The more layers of paint people put on their houses, the quicker it starts peeling off. Back in the 1960s and 70s, the paint job would last around 10 to 15 years before it started looking bad because of peeling. In the 80s, it only lasted 5 to 10 years. By the 90s, it could look bad in just 4 to 6 years. So, now you know about the peeling paint problem, and I’ll explain why it’s happening.
Here’s the main reason: The kind of stuff they use in paint changed, but the way people take care of the paint didn’t change. They kept painting the whole building with new coats more and more often. This was good for the companies that make and sell paint, but not great for older buildings. Sometimes, they’ve used stains on the outside of buildings to help, but even those can cause a buildup of paint. Especially the ones called “solid stains” that are kind of like paint. We’ve come up with two ways to fix this problem. Usually, we use both of them on different parts of the same building.
Spot Painting
This method is all about letting the paint peel off naturally, at its own pace. Instead of applying a full new coat of paint, which would make the peeling happen sooner, we work with the peeling process. The appearance might change over time, but it usually doesn’t look really bad. Every three to five years, we clean the surfaces, get rid of the loose paint, and paint over the exposed wood in those spots. We don’t try to make the thick, built-up paint edges smooth, because it wouldn’t really make things last longer.
We use somewhat weaker primers and paints that are based on oil. It’s important to match the color and shine of the paint around it. This is a less expensive way to fix the problem, but you have to keep doing it as long as the thick peeling paint is an issue. If there’s paint with lead in it, we have to follow rules to handle it safely. In the long run, this method might end up costing more than completely removing the paint.
Paint Removal
The best option is to take off all the old paint until we reach the bare wood. Then, we get the wood ready and apply a coat of linseed oil with paint thinner if it’s necessary. After that, we apply an oil primer and two top-coats of acrylic latex or acrylic elastomeric paint, which work really well.
Paint removal plus painting is a more expensive process – sometimes almost double a paint job price, but it’s only done one time. Since it gets rid of the main reason for the problem (having too much old paint), you won’t need to spend as much money on maintenance compared to the other method of fixing spots.
I personally got 11 years out of my last paint job. I wanted my paint job to last longer than 11 years so several years ago I had the paint on my shingles removed with a Paint Shaver. So far so good!
Paint is shaved off with a paint shaver.
A paint shaver is used on both clapboard and shingles. It is followed by a quick sanding. The dust is sucked up in a vacuum with a HEPA filter. There are a number of Paint Shavers available for purchase or rental. A house painter will do this so you just need to make some phone calls to find the right painter. As with every project, good luck getting someone to return your call!!
I found this several years ago and it is a great reference written by someone who is very interested in longevity of the paint job.
http://rogcad.com/painting/contractors/index.htm
This is exactly the reason I am so reluctant to have my 1904 Queen Anne brick cottage repainted. Yes, the paint is worn and flaking off in a few small areas, but it is still holding up so much better than the paint on neighboring brick cottages which have been repainted within the last few years. I don’t know when my house was painted, but the mustardy yellow ochre appeared to have been it’s only paint coat ever when I bought the home in 1989.
I got only 11 years out of mine so I had the paint removed. 34 years is a long time.
My father was a painting contractor who worked primarily on historic homes. We have gone down both paths many times. Spot repairs can be very effective as long as it’s done on a regular basis.
Latex paint ended up being an incredible paint remover on the thick buildup of earlier oil paint, almost to the point of eliminating alot of sanding.
Moisture migration from inside to outside can be considerable on older homes. Vapor barriers weren’t always used depending on the age of the structure.
When replacing clapboard, shingles or exterior trim I always prime the backside and end grains before installation. It’s a wise investment of time and money in the long run.
Reading all this and I’m so worried and concerned about my 1928 2-story with original cedar clapboards. Fifteen to 18 years ago, my late husband and I took two years to thoroughly scrape down to bare wood except where paint was firmly adhered (and used a paint shaver). Then we primed, and painted (two coats) with what we thought was the best paint we could find. We really tried to do a good job so it would last. But it hasn’t, and now I’m a widow, that much older, and my much-loved house needs painting so bad. I still want to do as much myself as possible but am paralyzed by indecision. In this article, Ken says “The best option is to take off all the old paint until we reach the bare wood [that’s what we did]. Then, we get the wood ready and apply a coat of linseed oil with paint thinner if it’s necessary [I’ve seen this recommended before]. After that, we apply an oil primer and two top-coats of acrylic latex or acrylic elastomeric paint, which work really well.” I’ve read so many times that you can’t paint acrylic or latex paint over oil based! Most of those discussions are about interior walls and I’ve seen photos and videos of paint literally sliding off a wall that was primed with oil-based. What is the difference? I want to at least get a start on repainting this summer and up here in ND we have a shorter season for that kind of work than other areas of the country. Help.
Hi – what you did was 100% correct. I really think you did pretty good with the lifetime of the paint. I got 11 years after only scrapping off the old paint but had the paint shaved off 5 years ago. Time will tell but I expect and hope to get 15 years or more. More would be great. So really from what I see out there you did pretty good and soooo much better than others. I know that doesn’t solve your problem but this time you don’t have to do such an extreme job by shaving the paint. All that old stuff is gone. Just remove and sand the loose areas and prime. Another cause of paint failure but I don’t think it pertains to you is when people insulate their walls.
I’ve had 5+ painting contractors out to give me price for exterior painting in Maryland. All are $50k+. Multiple have recommended below. Do you think this is a good recommendation or would I be better off going for a linseed oil primer + 2 Linseed oil costs?
Their recommendations were to scrape all wood with flaking, chipping, peeling paint back to a sound substrate. The intent is not to remove all existing paint back to bare wood, but to remove the failing paint.
Then Mad Dog Dura-Prime Stabilizing Bonding Primer
Then Benjamin Moore Regal Select Exterior Low Lustre Acrylic paint
Mad Dog primer may have possibilities but the owner did not respond when I reached out to him. It does sound like a good possibility. I have used Mad Dog on an exter garden gate but did not monitor it as I should before I had to replace it. You are spending a lot of money and you may want to consider the use of a paint shaver to remove all the paint. When I was planning my painting I was going to have 3 sides of paint removed and one just scraped and sanded. Months later when it was time to paint the 4th side began to peel so I had to include that side to have the paint removed. I would weigh out the difference in cost of using Mad Dog over some old paint versus removing all the paint. This removal is for flat surfaces so even so the Mad Dog may come in handy for certain areas. I would first contact the rep from Ben Moore and have them look at your house and see what they have to say. It is their paint that will be going over MD. Even so one doesn’t know who to trust. Sherwin Williams store and representative told me that yes, their porch floor paint was self priming. The next year the porch floor boards curled. Sherwin Williams corporate said a separate primer should have been used as did the lumber manufacturer. I really wish I could provide a firm answer. I would make sure you get some sort of warranty. I don’t think there will be any problem for the first 5 years but the paint job should last at least 15. You may also want to post this question of a forum for professional painters but sometimes all these opinions make it more confusing. It would be great if you could keep me and the readers posted for this is something of most importance for everyone.