Real estate is often one of our largest investments; however, it seems we are always repairing before we sell, or updating after we buy, or just trying to keep the level of maintenance up so our property values don’t go down. Painting the outside of your home gives you remodeling power, a low-cost remedy to change the overall character of your home, downplaying flaws, highlighting interesting structural features and potentially attracting buyers, if your home is on the market.
What I hope to help you avoid is: You have your real estate investment freshly painted and within a short time you notice that the paint is peeling.
Clapboards
The cause may be excess moisture retained in the wood, such as over the porch, where rain constantly splashes on the clapboards above, or in a shaded area near the ground where the boards never dry.
If this has happened to you, you’ll need to remove the paint from the damaged and moisture-laden areas. The water has permanently, and negatively, affected the adhesive qualities of the paint.
Always be cautious of lead-based paints and follow the Environmental Protection Agency and Vermont guidelines for paint removal. A light sanding will help smooth the wood; soap and water can be used after to clean and rinse the surface.
Once the boards have been readied, my real estate repair “trick” is to boost the sticking quality of the paint by coating the wood with an epoxy first.
A low-viscosity, high-strength, moisture-insensitive epoxy can be applied to boards to act as a “plastic wood” and a vapor barrier, preventing moisture from traveling back and forth and causing the paint to fail.
The epoxy kit may be a 2-to-1 or 1-to-1 mixture of base and hardener and should be combined in small quantities, as a large volume of epoxy may cause excess heat as it catalyzes. Read the Material Safety Data Sheets for all precautions and usage information.
Mix the epoxy for 3 to 4 minutes, give the blend roughly a minute to react and then brush-apply the wood with multiple coats until the surface is saturated. Epoxy should be applied to small areas, not entire walls.
Epoxy cures and is not a drying process like paint. When the surface is dry to the touch, another light sanding may be needed, followed by a wipe-down with clean towels.
At this point, you can reapply your paint or coating in the normal manner and your clapboards should be better protected.
I have used this process for many years in construction and at my house to make permanent repairs.
The splash-back around my front porch had been so persistent that the boards and the door peeled and rotted. Using the epoxy mixture has prevented new exterior wood and paint deterioration.
The dry days of mid-autumn are suitable to repair and repaint damaged areas, and protecting your wood from another winter’s cold and wet with an undercoat of epoxy will necessitate fewer, larger renovations in the future.
This article was also published in the Stowe Reporter.