Painting exterior walls
Most people want to keep their Portuguese properties in good condition, attractive and well maintained. It could be the influence of living for many years in colder wetter climes that makes us want to keep our homes watertight. Here in Portugal you may have bought a house and wish to renovate it. Perhaps the exterior rendered walls have become cracked, faded, flaking or has simply washed off.
Before you set to and apply your first coat of expensive exterior paint let’s consider why the existing paint had a problem in the first place. The paint in the above photograph has been washed off for a few reasons.
A: It was painted a long time ago
B: The sun, wind, rain and frost have weakened it.
C: The paint was of very poor quality in the first place.
D: The wall that is painted is damp. E: The wall had some other paint on it before this faded top coat.
F: The wall was whitewashed. My personal appraisal of this particular wall is that (a, b, c, and f are all true) If the wall was whitewashed it will need special treatment.
On the part that is cement coloured a good quality exterior paint primer should be applied 2 coats painted in opposing directions (up and down then a coat painted left to right) This will reduce the chance of missing any porous parts or small holes in the render.
Do not use watered down paint as an exterior primer. Treat any cracks with a little lime render or exterior filler. Make smooth and apply 2 coats of the primer. In the part that is still painted take a wire brush or use an electric grinder or electric drill with a wire brush attachment and remove any loose whitewash and provide a better key for the primer. It’s a dirty and tiring task.
Make sure you wear a dust mask and goggles. Then using good quality exterior paint primer should be applied 2 coats painted in opposing directions. Hurray we are ready to start painting the outside of our house………not quite ready… Have you looked at the range of available colours of paint. Do you a want Matt, Satin or Gloss finish. What about a stippled effect, smooth or rubberized membrane paint. It’s probably fair to say that you get what you pay for in paint. Occasionally stores such as IZI or Aki have special offers where you can save some money or you may know a local tradesman who will pass on some of his trade discount to you.
The bottom line is: If you don’t prepare the wall properly before painting you can reduce the life of the paint you have chosen by at least a year. If you don’t use a good quality primer you can reduce the life of the paint you have chosen by at least two years.
No one wants to re paint their house every 3 to 4 years so do it right the first time and save yourself lots of money in the medium term and spend more time with a cool beer in the shade in the long term! Written by Castelo Construction Lda www.casteloconstruction.com Tel. 00351 927168247 SKYPE casteloconstruction info@casteloconstruction.com
