How to Maintain and Repaint Timber Weatherboards
Timber weatherboards will last a very long time if the paint on them is kept sound, and the trouble nearly always starts in the same places, the bottom edge of each board where water sits and the wall that cops the afternoon sun. So most of looking after them is keeping an eye on those spots and fixing them while they're small, rather than waiting until a whole wall needs stripping.
A yearly look and a wash
Once a year, wash the boards down with the hose and a soft brush, and walk around the house looking for paint that's cracked or lifting at the edges. Dirt and mould left on the paint hold moisture against it, and catching a flaking patch early is a sanding job, where leaving it a few winters can turn it into a soft board.
Check for lead before you sand anything
If your house was built before about 1970, there's a fair chance the bottom layers of paint contain lead, and dry sanding or heat stripping it spreads lead dust through the yard and into the house. Get it tested or ask a painter before you sand anything back. If it is lead, wet scraping instead of dry sanding keeps the dust down, and a P2 respirator plus a drop sheet to catch the scrapings are the bare minimum.
Prep is most of the job
Scrape off anything loose until you're back to paint that's firmly stuck, then sand the edges of the scraped patches so they feather into the sound paint rather than leaving a ridge that shows through the topcoat. Any bare timber needs priming before the topcoats go on, and it's worth asking us which Haymes prepcoat suits, because that depends on the timber and what's on it already.
Fill the gaps where the boards meet the trims with an acrylic gap filler, because a gap you paint over is a gap water still gets into. A board that's gone soft wants replacing rather than filling, since filler over rot only hides the problem for a season.
Let the boards dry out properly before you paint, which means a few dry days after rain or a wash, and keep off any wall that's in full sun, because paint that dries too fast in the heat doesn't level out or grip as well.
Which paint goes where
For the boards themselves an exterior acrylic is the right thing, because it stays flexible as the timber swells and shrinks with the weather, and Haymes Solashield is the exterior range we tint in the shop, in a few sheens from matt up to satin. The trims and window frames are where a harder enamel earns its keep, and Haymes Ultratrim comes in semi gloss and gloss for those.
Two topcoats over a primed surface is the usual, and the recoat time is printed on the tin, so go by that rather than by how dry it feels.
Shop related products
- Hand Wire Brush, 4 Row. For loose flakes in the grooves and around nail heads.
- GSA Acrylic Gap Filler 450g. For the joins between boards and trims.
- Utility Synthetic Paint Brush, 75mm. The right width for a weatherboard edge.
- Uni-Pro Canvas Drop Cloth, 1.5m x 3.6m. Catches the scrapings and the drips off the garden bed.
Did you know we also stock P2 respirators and paint scrapers in widths from 38mm to 100mm in the shop. Haymes Solashield and Ultratrim are tinted to order here and can't be shipped, so they're a pick up. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf. The paint mixing page explains how the tinting works, and the brushes and drop sheets are in paint and accessories.
Keep reading
I'd rather spend a Saturday morning scraping one wall than a whole summer repainting the house, and I say that with a scraper in my hand.
Cheers,
Candeece
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