Author Topic: Farmhouse paint vs. siding  (Read 2179 times)

toganet

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Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« on: July 24, 2018, 02:14:30 PM »
I finally got someone to give me a quote on painting my rental property.  $10-12k, nearly 4 times what I was expecting!  He explained that the poor condition of the exterior and the large amount of trim and windows (~25) are to blame.  So he's recommending vinyl siding, at not much more than that (~$15k).  To top it off, they can't start work until Spring.

If I had more options in this market I might get some lower quotes, but this was the only company that even came out to look.

So, I'm back to thinking about DIYing paint, or even just mitigating further damage by applying some caulk & primer in vulnerable areas and planning to go with the siding option next year.  The upside of the siding is they will handle the soffits & facia that also need to be replaced, and it's the same crew that will probably be doing some roofing and other repairs for me in the near term.

Any thoughts on whether the paint quote is just inflated to try to sell me on siding? 

What short-term repairs would you do, to minimize wear for one more WNY winter?

Sibley

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2018, 03:15:08 PM »
He's saying the exterior is in poor condition. What does that mean? Flaking paint? Rot?

Painting is mostly labor. Paint is (relatively) cheap, it's the time for prep and actual painting. Mostly prep.

Siding they don't care - they just go over it all. So it's more materials cost, but less labor cost than painting.

toganet

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2018, 04:48:07 PM »
I don't disagree with the assessment of the exterior condition -- there is a LOT of peeling paint, bare wood, and some areas where the wood siding needs to be replaced.  Vinyl siding would definitely result in a superior end result, I'm just not eager to spend that kind of money.

lthenderson

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2018, 07:31:35 AM »
Vinyl siding would definitely result in a superior end result

I disagree. Vinyl siding looks cheap and can be spotted from the road. It has problems with mildew and molds so requires regular scrubbing and cleaning. It fades, gets brittle, cracks, gets holes poked in it from errant baseballs to lawnmower thrown rocks, warps and other things. If it were me, I would paint it myself. Painting is one of those projects you can do it in one week, or more than a year. I have painted my house over the course of several months as time and shade permitted. Get yourself a good radio and enjoy the time outdoors. If you really want to reside your house, I would save up your money and do it with a more quality and durable material like cement board.

Sibley

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2018, 08:20:44 AM »
My garage painting thus far: last year, I rebuilt parts of the garage since it was falling down, replaced a bunch of rotten wood (including the sill plate on 2 sides), etc. At that time, I painted all the new wood + scraped, cleaned, primed, and painted one side.

I'm doing the other 3 sides this year. These sides were peeling, lots of chips, etc, except that some idiot slapped a thick coat of cheap paint on without scraping (the side I did last year didn't have that coat of paint). Basically gluing all the crap in place. So I used chemical stripper and scraped off the paint, section by section. Then I powerwashed it all. Now I'm scraping it again to get off the stuff that powerwashing loosened but didn't blow off. Then I will need to lightly sand the whole garage (normally I wouldn't, but the powerwashing did some damage and sanding will get rid of the fuzzy wood). Then hose it all down. Then I can prime and paint. I've been working on this since May, I should be done by October.

This is why your painting estimate is so high. The painting bit is easy. It's the prep. And if you don't do the prep, then it'll look crappy and not last. Once this is finally done, I should be good for 10+ years.

The house has aluminium siding. I'm not willing to spend the money to put siding on the garage, the whole thing should be torn down and rebuilt anyway.

lthenderson

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2018, 11:27:01 AM »
This is why your painting estimate is so high. The painting bit is easy. It's the prep. And if you don't do the prep, then it'll look crappy and not last.

+1 I usually figure 80% of my time is prepping, 20% is actually painting. If using a sprayer, prep can be as high as 95%.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2018, 02:47:41 PM »
If your going to DIY it then do it right. Don't half-ass it because by spring you could have a hell of a lot more problems especially living where you do based on your profile. Is that why it got to be that bad in the first place avoiding it? If not, in either case you want to get it right!

Sibley

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2018, 02:51:57 PM »
This is why your painting estimate is so high. The painting bit is easy. It's the prep. And if you don't do the prep, then it'll look crappy and not last.

+1 I usually figure 80% of my time is prepping, 20% is actually painting. If using a sprayer, prep can be as high as 95%.

For my garage, I think I'll be above 90%, just for prep.

toganet

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2018, 11:30:29 AM »
I appreciate the input from everyone, your wisdom in this area is invaluable.

I'm leaning again toward painting it myself, as I would prefer to preserve the original look of the house, and the savings will be considerable.  In addition I think I'll have more pride in the finished product.

The downside is finding time to do the work -- the house is 2 hours away, and I have many other competing priorities.

Fishindude

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2018, 07:01:53 AM »
If the wood is mostly solid and intact, I'd definitely paint it -vs- installing vinyl siding.  It will look much better.
Living two hours away, I'd find a way to hire the work out.

tralfamadorian

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2018, 08:16:28 AM »
Another vote to paint instead of installing vinyl. It's not as maintenance free as advertised and (IMHO) looks terrible.

I am friendly with some realtors and they have told me that every time they list a home with vinyl that is not original to the house, they have questions from potential buyers about the cost to restore back to wood and whether the seller would credit a portion of that cost. So, around me at least, vinyl decreases the value of the property.

TrMama

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2018, 09:43:19 AM »
Your quote for getting it painted sounds similar to what I was quoted. I've done lots of painting in my life and opted to do it myself instead. Our house is hardiplank with 10 million miles of contrast rough cut cedar trim. The original paint was in decent, but faded, condition (except for some sections of trim that were flaking badly) so our quote was only $6800.

I've been able to do it myself for just under $3K. The DIY price is so high because I opted to rent some heavy duty equipment to help me safely reach the upper levels of the home. I also painted over some of the extraneous contrast trim with the primary color. I think it looks better and hopefully if someone ever wants to have it painted professionally in the future it will be slightly more affordable.

A great way to make the job more DIY friendly is to break it into a multi-year project. Do one or two sides this year and the remaining sides next year. 

toganet

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Re: Farmhouse paint vs. siding
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2018, 06:50:32 AM »
Thanks for the advice, @TrMama I have officially decided to DIY the whole job, with help from family -- and to break it into a multi-year project. 

Also, I serendipitously found myself seated on the bus to a volunteer activity next to a young man whose father owns a painting company. When the topic came up, I explained my situation and he explained that painters really don't like to take on jobs with that much prep work, and since business is booming right now they have plenty of other jobs they'd prefer to do.  He went on to give some good advice on how to properly prep (powerwashing appears to be important for siding that's been neglected like this, but it has to be done properly).

I also found out one of my nephews owns a 2-story scaffolding setup that he will let me use for free!  Meanwhile, my father has started scraping and clearing away debris in places he can reach from the ground and porches.

So the plan now is to get the three sides of the house that are visible from the street prepped, primed, and painted before the snow flies.  This will require some replacement of some siding that has warped or cracked, as well.  Trim and doors will probably get done in the same timeframe as that gives my dad something to do.  The rear of the house I hope to have prepped and any repair done, but it can wait until spring if it has to.