Giving Your Paint a Brush Up Before Winter Sets
In:
If you are planning to paint and caulk outside
with an eye to preservation and weatherization,
better get to it before cold weather sets in.
It's not a good idea to leave wood unpainted for
long periods, because the ultraviolet light of
the sun will literally begin to consume it via
oxidation. Unpainted wood is also much more
vulnerable to rot and dimensional change. This
can mean a later replacement, warped and split
doors, loosened windows and more air leakage
during windy winter weather.
Here are some hints for late season painting
projects:
Keep your projects small-scale so that they can
be completed in one or two days.
Remember that the morning and evenings will be
relatively cool so you will have a shorter work
day.
Painting late in the season pretty well limits
you to the water-based paints since you want to
be sure they dry before the evening temperatures
drop below 40 degrees.
As a general rule, don't apply glazing compound
or caulks to bare wood.
Do use a primer rather than a top coat on bare
wood. (Some architectural sealant caulks can be
applied to bare wood.)
Don't scrimp on your prep work.
Do tint your primer the same as your top coat.
Always work from the inside to the outside of
any job (particularly windows and doors) so you
avoid reaching over finished areas.
For small work, especially windows, use an
angled sash tool (2 1/2 inch paint brush with
the bristle end cut at an angle).
Since you are only going to be painting some
parts of the house, you are locked into reusing
the same colors and must plan your work so that
the new paint finishes at a natural cutoff point
such as an inside corner, the edge of a piece of
trim, etc.
Special notes on caulking: Get some work gloves
and some 00 steel wool and rub the edges and
forward face of the window and door trim that
meets the siding. This should remove any dirt
and loose paint. Do this to all of the windows
and doors on the house.
To repair loose glazing compound in a window
remove any loose material and clean the wood
surface with sand paper or steel wool. Apply
primer to the bare wood areas and allow this to
dry. Next, take some glazing compound from a
small can and roll it between your hands so that
it forms a snake about 1/4 inch in diameter and
about six or eight inches long. Break off a
length as long as the missing piece you are
replacing and press it against the primed wood
with your fingers. Lay the blade of your putty
knife against the old hard glazing with the
point against the glass and then pull it over
the new glazing compound. If the surface isn't
smooth, gently run your thumb in the opposite
direction and it should smooth right out. Do all
the windows and allow the glazing to set
overnight.
Seal this by topcoating over the glazing and
allow the paint to lap slightly down onto the
glass. Priming the wood prior to glazing
prevents the binding oils from being sucked out
of the glazing compound. Painting over the
glazing compound and down onto the glass
prevents the weather from getting to the wood
under the glazing compound a reason not to
scrape paint off with a razor.
Preserving wooden shutters: All too frequently
wooden shutters are left bare or only thinly
primed on their back sides. Left this way, they
will soon disintegrate. Check the bottom of
yours or look up under the slats.
Remove unpainted or poorly sealed shutters, lay
them across sawhorses or several cardboard boxes
and paint their back sides. Observe the above
rules for preserving and priming and drying.
Wooden shutters are often secured to brick
houses with cut nails. Easiest removal is
accomplished by cutting around the cut nails
with a tiny hole saw attached to an electric
drill. Remove the shutter and then pull out the
cut nails with a claw hammer. Resecure the
repainted shutters with cut nails in another
location or use sleeve anchor devices and
screws.
To mount the sleeve anchors drill small holes in
mortar joints with a masonry bit and electric
drill. (Line up the shutter and mark carefully.)
Nylon or lead sleeves are then lightly tapped
into the holes and then screws are run through
the shutters and into the sleeves. The screw
action inside the sleeve forces it to expand and
secure tightly within the mortar.
If your emphasis is preservation and not
cosmetics, you might consider spot-priming the
most vulnerable spots of your house. This
involves simply preserving and priming those
areas where the old paint has failed.
Never paint a wood deck it will always peel up.
But be liberal with wood preservatives. Make
sure the deck is dry and then daub plenty of
preservative on the tops of supporting joists
where they intersect with the decking boards.
This is where water can be trapped and breed
fungicidal rot. (You might have to cover your
deck with sheets of plastic to get it dry enough
so that the preservative can soak in.)