Your Home's Exterior: Comparing Paint and Siding

The good news is that chemists at paint companies have developed coatings that adhere and last like lead without damaging the environment or human health. “Latex and waterborne paints have much more flexibility with expansion and contraction,” Manion says. “In places like Chicago and New England, that's especially important for the longevity of the paint job. The biggest problem with any paint failure is poor prep—not priming properly and not cleaning properly.” Preparing the Exterior for Siding or Paint Assessing a home's condition is essential to deciding what must be done to all sides, according to contractors, painters and siding experts. Although a common practice, throwing up aluminum or vinyl siding over existing wood siding is not a good idea. “You'll see mold, mildew,” warns Bucci. Before adding primer or paint, painters from Bucci Painting in upstate New York takes this home's siding to bare wood. If you have wood siding, step one is to see if it can be re-painted. “If you pull off a paint chip and you see there's wood attached or the wood grain is etched to the paint chip, it's actually let go of its main 'skin,' " says Terry Stamman, a former painter who is president of Twin Cities Siding Professionals in St. Paul, Minn., which sells James Hardie siding. Unless you strip and power sand, that's not going to hold paint. If you can sink your fingernail into the wood surface, it's old.” A good paint job will protect the house. But if your home has wood siding that is too far gone to withstand the proper scraping, sanding, cleaning, caulking, priming and painting a good job requires, re-siding is your best bet. Even if vinyl or aluminum siding looks faded and old, you may not need to replace it. Many of the new paints adhere so well that they can go over faded vinyl or aluminum siding, as long as it's clean, say painting experts. Sherwin Williams offers a direct-to-metal primer, Stamman says. “I would tint that to approximate the top coat color.” Painters with Bucci Painting use paint that will withstand the rain, snow and other elements of the climate in upstate New York. Only high-performing (and more expensive) paints, like high-end options by Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore, work on aluminum or vinyl because they are able to expand or contract in the heat as much as those the sidings do, Manion and Bucci say. Stucco, an older form of cement siding, is one type that can be re-sided over. And it can be painted if it's in good enough condition to be power-washed and dried, Stamman said. If it's already been painted and that's peeling or if it was whitewashed—a popular option in the 1950s—stripping is required. “That creates a huge mess,” Stamman says. “The power-wash blows millions of chips into your yard. I would just get siding then. But if it just has streaks, that's easily done: You can power-wash, dry and use a masonry primer.” If particles fall when you run your finger over stucco, a masonry conditioner binds it together to make a paintable surface, ready for a top coat of brick paint or elastomeric, a thick, highly expandable acrylic paint that covers the pocked, uneven surfaces of masonry siding well, Stamman says. Finally, as you contemplate painting or siding your home, keep in mind that not all sides are created equal, say the experts. If there are parts of your house more affected by sun, rain or snow, for example, you can re-side that section, matching the style and color to the rest of the building.

...Continued - Page 2 of 2 ( 1 2 )
< Previous Page