If Your Paint Is Cracking Up, It’s Time for a New Coat
Although some North County homeowners have been known to go 10 or 15 years without repainting, most houses need help before then.
A typical paint job lasts five to seven years along the coast, where moist, salty air and warm sun give painted surfaces a beating. On inland homes, where cycles of moisture and heat aren’t as extreme, paint may last up to 20% longer.
The bottom line, though, is that if the outside of your home is starting to remind you of the cracked bed of the Mojave, it’s time to repaint.
In fair-weather North County, the painting season runs from early spring to late fall--with precautions. Heavy early morning and afternoon fog in coastal cities, typical in early summer, makes for limited mid-day painting opportunities. During the fog season, allow two to four hours for paint to dry before afternoon fog rolls in. Also, fresh paint and stain require a month or so to cure completely, according to Scott Tilley, manager of Vista Paint’s Vista store. Your best bet is to paint during the drier spring and summer months.
Here’s what some of North County’s painting experts advise for the homeowner looking to repaint or re-stucco:
Preparation
Before painting, the surface needs to be cleaned up and smoothed out. Professionals use a water blaster to remove chalky buildup and flaky paint from stucco or wood surfaces. Paint stores rent blasters for about $60 a day. Badly cracked or peeled surfaces may need to be re-stuccoed as well as sandblasted.
If your stucco appears to be in good shape and is less than 20 or 25 years old, patching and repainting will probably work fine. Some homeowners who re-stucco also paint over new stucco with the custom color of their choice. If you like the color of stucco you’re having applied, it’s not necessary to paint over it; San Diego Stucco, for instance, offers 28 colors of stucco.
While stucco walls can go years without repainting, problem woodwork areas--especially those that face south or west and receive direct, intense sunlight--need a touch-up every year or two and complete repainting every five years or less.
Woodwork can be sanded and repainted if it’s not in bad shape. If there are large flakes and bubbles, though, strip the surface bare either with a power sander or by using a hot-air gun and scrapers.
Sanders can be difficult for do-it-yourselfers to handle. It’s easy to damage the wood. Hot-air guns can cause fires if smoldering embers creep into cracks and flare up later.
Paint
California has strict environmental laws, and every two years paint manufacturers must meet stricter emission standards. Scientists studying oil-based paint have detected emissions of toxic gases, especially when paint is newly applied.
Because it is increasingly difficult to make economical, environmentally sound oil-based paint, latex, or water-based, paints have emerged as the increasingly dominant choice. Latex is the standard choice for stucco walls, while latex or oil-based enamel are options for wood trim.
But woodwork poses problems. If it has already been painted with oil-based paint, prime or sand thoroughly before switching to latex. It’s simpler, and probably more durable, to repaint oil-based paint with oil-based paint. But there’s a third option: Strip all old paint and recoat with stain.
“What I’ve been recommending for some of my customers, especially when they can get down to raw wood, is a solid-color acrylic stain,” said painter John Ritter. Stains breathe, so they don’t trap moisture and bubble and crack like paint can.
For a classic, glossy finish on trim, though, use latex or oil-based enamel. Bare wood needs a primer coat, whereas stain can be applied to raw wood with no undercoat. Both paints and stains can be sprayed on.
The amount of paint needed varies. Dave Pardo, a salesman at Vista Paint in Vista (one of five San Diego County Vista Paint stores), says a gallon of flat-finish wall paint will cover 300 to 350 square feet. Glossy paints go a little further. A modest North County tract home might use 10 gallons for exterior walls, 4 for trim.
Flat-finish paint for exterior walls costs $11 to $12 a gallon; latex or oil-based enamel for woodwork costs $16 to $18. You can find paint for less at discount stores, but name brands generally offer more consistent quality.
Application
Brushes are seldom your weapon of choice for attacking a home’s exterior, except for edges and hard-to-reach corners. A fast and effective method is to spray eaves and to roll flat wall surfaces.
Do-it-yourselfers can rent airless sprayers for $45 a day. But be forewarned: These sprayers put out paint at a pressure of 2,000 pounds per square inch and can cause serious or even fatal injuries if not used properly.
You can’t beat sprayers for speed. The eaves of a typical tract home can be sprayed in a day, versus several days of brushing. If you spray, mask windows with Visqueen and a special tape called Long-Mask that won’t leave a residue on glass.
“Sometimes I’ll spray the walls too, but I always follow with a roller,” said painter Dan Breuninger. “That helps the paint get into the pores of the stucco, and if there is dust or dirt or chalkiness left after you’ve cleaned the surface, rolling will help the paint get in and grab better than just spraying.”
Hiring a pro
Besides saving you back-breaking labor, competent professionals bring valuable knowledge to the job.
There are more than 1,000 licensed painters in San Diego County. To get a state contractor’s license, painters must have four years of experience and pass a test on both the business aspects of contracting and the specific techniques of painting.
The multiple-choice licensing exam takes five hours. The 2 1/2-hour painting section includes questions on materials, tools and equipment, safety procedures, plans and specifications, mathematics, even wallpapering.
The Contractors State License Board has a hot line you can call to find out whether a painter is licensed (1-800-321-CSLB). Call the board’s San Diego office (455-0237) to check whether complaints have been lodged against a licensed painter.
San Diego County has two painters unions. To get a union card, painters first complete a three-year apprenticeship including classes, on-the-job experience and an exam.
Cost
A professional repaint of a typical 2,000-square-foot North County stucco-and-wood home might cost $1,500 or more, according to Ritter. When he gives an estimate, the main variable is prep time. An older home with badly damaged paint will cost more. Add an additional premium for homes with wood windows.
Re-stuccoing costs about twice what repainting does--$3,000 to $4,000 for a 2,000-square-foot home.
If you are willing to contribute some elbow grease yourself, you can rent a sprayer, hire a college kid or two and repaint for $600 to $700--not counting the tens of hours of preparation, brushing and rolling.
