Painting, Staining and related work

Steel Garage Door

Cleaning surfaces before painting

Something that I don’t always do before painting a surface is cleaning it, and that’s my failure. I believe that, even if you’re able to paint something well without cleaning it, giving it that extra day to be cleaned with tsp, or soap and water will just produce a slightly better project.

Cheap paints and not using primers (or using primer/paint combinations)

At this job, the homeowner and myself painted some of his old furniture white to give it a “fresh appearance.” Appearances aside, painting it required 3-5 coats of paint as the old paint continued to bleed through whatever we were covering. The lesson here is that it's better to use a separate primer and a good quality paint because otherwise you may end up re-applying many layers of cheap paint uselessly (I don’t remember if the final product showed bleed through of the original paint, we may have just given up at some point and let it go).

A note about deck refinishing

It is better, when refinishing a deck to tackle the project with a combination of stain stripper and pH balancer/wood cleaner. Behr sells a combination of products at Home Depot for this purpose. Apply the stripper either directly or in combination with water in a pump sprayer (whatever the instructions are), scrub and pressure wash. Repeat over and over until most of the stain is gone. You don’t need a particularly powerful pressure washer here but the more of the old stain you can remove with strippers, the less of it you’ll have to remove wearing a respirator and using a belt sander (which will likely leave scarring in the wood).

Deck staining (never stained before)

The better you can clean wood before staining, the better your final project will turn out. Try to address any mildew/mold etc with deck cleaners, sanders, and a power washer. Once you’ve cleaned it (to the best of your ability) a very quick and light sanding with an orbital sander should suffice in opening up wood grain to allow stain to be absorbed. I like Home Depot’s semi-transparent Behr products because they are not film-forming. However, they do fade and re-application requires complete refinishing of the deck by stripping away the new stain.

Fence staining (warning about spar varnish)

If you’re going to use something called spar varnish, make sure you know how to use it. I applied the product in a single coat to a wooden fence. The purpose was to waterproof it and provide a clear coat (mission successful on both counts, though the finish did darken the wood). However, a year or two later, the results looked awful. Spar varnish needs multiple coats of application in order to look good. So, I won’t be using that product again.

Pros and cons of power washing

Pro: a power washer will remove dirt, debris, and generally help you clean wood. Power washers that use heated water are even better (though far more expensive to purchase).
Con: I'm not sure about this, but I believe that a power washer may damage wood if applied closely by causing small lines and indents and possibly by stripping away the pressure treated coating on the wood surface which protects wood boards from rotting. I believe that power washing wood likely shortens its lifespan causing homeowners to require wood board replacements sooner than otherwise would be required.

Re-hanging towel hangers: my approach here

I used a thin layer of JB weld and then attached the towel hanger to it and repainted the surrounding wall.

Shed painting note

If you are doing painting outdoors, don’t skimp on good quality tarp. It is very painful to drop little beads of paint all over a customer’s expensive, nice looking interlock and then try to figure out a way to remove it. Paint stripper works, but it darkens the stone.