Help With Paint on Porch Steps

[nitronut1]

Can anyone give me some better ideas on how to stop this from happening? Ive painted these steps three or four times now and the problem keeps coming back. The problem is that the paint keeps coming up after the rain.

I sanded them, them primed them with Zinsser oil-based primer then put on two coats of Benjamin Moore Porch paint with the Epoxy hardener in it. When it rains, the paint bubbles up from underneath, then it's gone. Happens over and over.

Steps are pine; porch flooring is mohogany.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> When it rains, the paint bubbles up from underneath, </font>
Can you get to the underside of the boards and paint/seal the bottom? That's where the mositure is coming from. Anything short of sealing the bottom of the boards wont solve the problem. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[nitronut1]

I could disassemble the steps fairly easily.

Then seal them top and bottom with the same paint?

Or...I was thinking maybe composite might be the answer, but then how to paint it?

This is a picture of the whole house...

As you can see, I have a lot of porch wood to take care of...

 

[MikePA]

If I was going to disassemble the steps, I'd look into the composite stuff as an alternative. Perhaps someone else on TBN knows if you can paint it. Here's a link to one kind that indicates they come in brown and gray.

If you decide to keep the pine steps, I would use a good oil based primer and prime all six sides of the board(s). I'd even finish coat them, if there weren't too many steps.

 

[normde2001]

There is a primer called "XIM", carried by Sherwin Williams, et al, that supposedly will stick to anything and anything will stick to it. We used to paint chrome cash register cabinets with it with great results. http://www.ximbonder.com/.

 

[Stonewall]

XIM is good stuff. It's pretty "hot" and it can give you trouble trying to get a smoothe finish on a wide surface. I don't know if the "trex" people will give you nod on painting it but you can ask. If you go to Trex you will have to add bracing to the stairs as Trex does not have a lot of linear strength and requires 12" centers on a deck project. I think your problem is moisture in the boards and that they are never really getting dry before you paint them. They may have absorbed something off of the ground as well. Are you using a lot of snow melt, fertilizer, lime, etc? Salts in the wood will repell the paint. I would try new boards that I can cut-dry-prime & paint (all sides) before mounting them on the stair risers.

 

[rancar]

Gregg...

I have same similar problem on my porch flooring. It repeatedly gets hit with rain during storms and the repetitive moisture and sun will cause the paint to peel within 2 years. I've tried just about everything. Oil based primers.....followed by oil based marine paint....still no good. I plan on replacing these porch floor boards this summer with the gray composite material that Home Depot sells and I'm hoping this will solve the problem.

BTW, where in central NJ do you live? I used to live in Matawan. Just curious....

....Bob

 

[nitronut1]

Live in a town called Warren right in the middle of the state, home of the Chubb Insurance Co. and what used to be Lucent Technologies headquarters (anyone need 800,000+ sq/ft of prime office space?).

I don't use any ice/snow control chemicals at all. I think the sun/rain just do it in. This isn't the only staircase doing this - just the one my wife is "commenting about" presently. What I don't understand is why the paint won't hold and last.

Last summer I was on a fishing trip on the Delaware River and ran into an old widow who lived in a hundred plus (?) year old house (really, really old). Her porch had sooo many coats of hunter green paint on it - it became impenetrable from the water. I asked her about it because the woodwork was incredible; she said they painted it more times than she could remember over the years. It was great seeing that kind of workmanship.

Then I renovate my porch, use the best lumber, carefully put on a couple coats of "good" paint - and they won't stay there!

Was also thinking I could just as easily replace the steps with Trex (or similar), but will paint hold to that material? My wife absolutely has to have the white/blue color combo thing going....natural's not an option.

Argh!

 

[normde2001]

I would just replace the steps with pressure treated lumber, wait til it grey's, then prime/seal and paint. Should last a lifetime, painting every 10 years.

 

[cstocks]

Maybe it would be as simple as trying a different brand of paint. My neighbor pointed out the peeling paint on the trim of her house the other day and said it had been painted with Benjamin Moore paint not more than three years ago. She said they were very disappointed in the quality of the paint and intend to waterblast the trim and go with another brand of paint.