Barn Paint

[weedsportpete]

Anyone heard of Dura Coat 'premium coat latex' paint? Someone is trying to sell us a paint job on our barn, and we do need it. They would use a power washer to clean off the old (peeling) stuff and a power sprayer to put on the new. They said with the paint and the sprayer, we would only need one coat. Does that sound right?? Doesn't seem enough. But I'm not a paint person. hey, I'm not really a farm person, but I live on one..

Pete

 

[beenthere]

Sure sounds good, but...... I wouldn't believe the comment "only need one coat". Depends on what you want one coat to do in the long haul. One coat probably would look great . . for awhile. But two coats would be better, and cheaper to do now IF the power wash job was a good one. On the other hand, if the power wash doesn't get all the loose paint off now, then one or two coats won't matter. When the old paint decides to get loose, the new paint will come off with it, whether it is one or two coats. No clear answers, as I see it, other than "time will tell".

 

[Golfgar4]

Be careful about making sure that the guys giving you a bid are reputable. If you read <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=rural&Number=173267&page=2&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=>You Get What You Pay For</A>, you'll see what happened to someone else that needed a little power washing and painting.

 

[gerard]

Buy yourself an airless sprayer and do it yourself. If the woods bare put on a primer then the topcoat. I did a 90 x 50 arena, two car detached garage, and 24 x 30 barn for about $600 in materials (and that was because my wife bought the stain for $17 a gal). Since your local I would also check with the Strathmore factory in Syracuse. They sometimes blend out their paint/stains if you don't mind gray. They had their premium paint and were selling it for $3 a gal Had 300 gallons and they sold out in about a week.

 

[weedsportpete]

Thanks.. you are in Tully? Just around the corner...

Money savings sound great.. some of the existing paint is good, most is peeling badly. Would pressure washing get rid of loose stuff and leave good stuff? Then I have to prime the part that got blasted clean??

Do you recommend renting the pressure washer and buying the sprayer? I don't have an air compressor yet.. can I combine the purchase of that into the tools I need for this?

How long does it take and how close do I have to get to the building? On one side its 13 - 15 feet off ground, on the ends, its as high as 40 feet..

Pete

 

[rancar]

Hi Pete...

Haven't heard of the paint that you mentioned but I'm now in the process of painting by barn. See pics of it in my thread entitled Barn Renovation Project in this forum. I power washed everything but I'll be very frank, it took off only about 50-60% of the peeling paint. I've had to go around by hand (very time consuming) and scrape and there's an awful lot more that comes off. I then prime and give either 1 or 2 coats of topcoat of red Sherwin Williams oil based barn paint in the 5 gallon buckets. 2 coats go on the south facing sides that take the worst beating. I also use Sherwin Williams oil based primer.

I'd be careful with this contractor you're talking to if all he's going to do is power wash and topcoat with one top coat. I had a contractor do this in 1984 when I first had my barn painted and I had to re-do everything 2 years later myself.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Bob Ancar
Cambridge, NY

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Sounds like the Irish Travelers are over your way Pete.
Pressure washing works real well, if you do it with a big enough machine, and usually do a second washing a week or so later.
Then, if you're using oil paint, you need to let it dry thoroughly. With Latex, you can paint sooned.
You oughta be able to rent a good pressure washer and a good airless from the same outfit, and do the job right for a lot less than the contractor wants.
Any contractor lookin to book barn painting this time of year has to be up to something wrong.

 

[gerard]

pete, I would rent the pressure wahser as a good unit (10hp or more) runs over a grand. Go slow and with the right tip all the loose paint will come off. (A 0 deg tip will actually cut through the wood!) I would buy the sprayer because you can get a decent one for under $300 and the rental is about 50 a day. You would need to rent it at least two times so you would have already paid a third of what it costs to buy one and you can do it at your leisure. Rent one and I guarantee the day you set aside to paint it will rain /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif. I think an oil primer with a latex topcoat is what is recommended, check with the paint store. If you use a ladder that's what will take the most time, going up and down and moving the ladder. 40 foot and you will need a pretty good extension ladder. Takes a little getting used to but you'll be amazed at how quick it goes. (Most put on about .40 gal per minute at full output) You can adjust the output, you dial it down for primer and stain, dial it up for paint and thicker stuff. Trick is to keep the spray patter at 90 deg to the surface and have the tip moving before depressing trigger AND after letting up. Get a more even coat and avoids globbing. Ideally you can have someone follow you with a long brush and backbrush or you can do it yourself. (Spray section, grab a wide brush that you use to wash cars and run it up and down a few times. Works the pain in and evens things out nicely. I used one of those extension poles that extend out to about 15 feet so most of the back brushing is done from the ground). OH BYTW - airless compressors are self contained, don't need a compressor, they operate like a pressure washer at about 1500psi. When shopping do yourself a favor and get the 50 foot hose. Most of the cheaper ones come with 25 foot. It's worth the extra money to get the 50 foot hose, saves a lot of time and moving things around and you'll be able to do your 40 foot peaks. Not a real hard do it yourself project, you can save a ton of money, and if you do it right you won't have to do it again for several years. (Just make sure you run either thinner or water through the hoses when done to clear the pain left in the hose and pump)

 

[rationalizer]

What about solid color stain? I'm building a new barn/tractor home - it will be sided with T1-11 and I was planning on staining it a nice barn red. My plan was to "brush in" the first coat before the panels were installed - and while they were horizontal. Then I was going to rent (maybe buy based on comments above) a sprayer and do a second coat.

My house has cedar siding and solid color stain - seems to work well and I'm hoping "re-staining" will be easier than re-painting.

Thoughts?

Bill

 

[gerard]

My last house was cedar sided and I used solid stain. Used the same airless sprayer and it works just as well on stain, you just dial down the pressure a little. I like stain better because while it fades over time it doesn't tend to flake off like paint can. Also easy to go over. The sprayer works great on T11. I would get myself a 24 inch roller to "backbrush" and it goes really fast. (I only used a car wash brush because the barn is board and batten and you can't use a roller).