A Hot Day. But A Nice Day.
Ouch.
It’s bloody hot.
And I am painting the exterior of a huge old wooden house.
In the summer of 2014 I was painting the west facade. Much of what I did bubbled, and this drove me INSANE sanding each bubble down to bare wood and repainting. And doing it again. And again. And again.
I about lost what little mind I had left.
The cause of all this painful frustration was something I learned later:
Fresh paint + high heat + direct sun = bubbles.
Oh.
In the summer of 2016 I am painting the north facade. Little of this receives any direct sun. And the small part which does, beginning around 2PM as the sun creeps around the turret, I now know to cover up. So, I drape a kinda sail over the wall area BEFORE the sun hits it. Under the sail all is shaded. The sail remains in place for several days after I have painted.
Crossing my fingers that no bubbles will develop.
I also have a powerful industrial fan pointed at me at all times.
So, between the shade (both natural and created), the fan, and bottles of water, I worked for hours today quite comfortably.
Heat? What heat?
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Ross I assume if the paint bubbles it is latex? I didn’t think oil-based paint will do that. I also assumed that since you were a stickler for authenticity, that you would use oil base paint. Just wondering.
I never once thought about using oil-based paint.
Hmm, I am now curious if it would look different?
The color is supposed to be more fade resistant for latex paints. I used Sherwin-Williams Gloss Latex on my house. What I have noticed is that in places that have some wear, you will have to touch up the paint. It is not perfect. My uncle told me that lead based paints were very durable and high quality. And that today’s paints are nowhere near as good.
That’s interesting. I’ve yet to have that problem with my paint work, but I haven’t done the southern exposure yet. I’ll have to keep an eye on it when I get there.
I’ve also been very anal about my prep and priming, but I don’t know if that has an effect or not. After stripping, sanding to bare wood, and countersinking all nails, I pre-treat with Wolman Woodlife Classic, then prime (latex or alkyd: I’ve used both and aim to see which holds up better), then putty nail heads (DAP 53), caulk joints (polyurethane), spot-prime putty, then two coats of latex topcoat (SW Duration).
I did have one area with a bit of shrinkage cracking, but that was a result of me applying the second topcoat too soon.