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Painting a wooden house

Painting a wooden house

Painting a wooden house from a log or a bar is a necessary measure aimed not only at improving its appearance, but also at protecting the log house from a whole list of harmful influences. These include sunlight, changes in humidity and temperature, wood-boring insects, microorganisms. If the outer walls of a wooden house are not protected from all these “enemies”, then the material will quickly age – it will darken, crack, mold, and lose its original structure and strength.

The material chosen for painting a wooden house determines what appearance it will acquire and how often the coating will have to be updated. Also, do not forget that one type of paint differs from another in cost and application nuances. As for the reliability of wood protection, in this regard, almost all materials intended for facade work show themselves with dignity.

As a rule, the choice is made among three main “competitors”:

  • Antiseptic impregnations (with color scheme or colorless).
  • Acrylic (aka water-based) paints.
  • Oil paints.

Naturally, there are other ways to protect wood from harmful influences, but they are so expensive that only a few use them. These products include, for example, natural oils. They penetrate the wood, protect it, emphasize the texture, and do not form a hard film on the surface, which would have to be removed during re-processing. In addition to the price, oils have another significant drawback – the service life of the coating. In the open air, the treatment will have to be repeated every one to two years, which is costly and time consuming.

Antiseptic impregnations – double-acting formulations. They penetrate deeply into the structure of wood, protect it from harmful influences, and also emphasize the natural texture. There are two main types – glazing (penetrating) and covering. The former do not hide the texture of the wood, as they are almost transparent. Coating compounds cover the texture, but leave the texture visible (if it was originally pronounced).

Acrylic paints are one of the most popular materials today for decorating and protecting facades, including wooden ones. It contains only water, acrylic and coloring pigment. You can get absolutely any color. Does not stink when applied. Dries quickly. Serves long enough and, most importantly, is relatively inexpensive.

Oil paints are, by and large, already yesterday. Today, despite their low cost and availability, they are rarely used. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, oil paints have a pungent characteristic odor. Secondly, they dry for an extremely long time, which makes painting work dependent on weather conditions. Thirdly, the coating is a hard, opaque crust, which cracks and loses its appearance after a few years. For re-painting, this “husk” will have to be removed, and this is very difficult, expensive and time-consuming to do.

Recommendations for painting a wooden house

Before painting a wooden house with any of the above materials, it will not hurt to familiarize yourself with the experience of other users:

  • The easiest way is to apply antiseptic impregnations. They do not smudge, do not smell, dry instantly, do not require pre-treatment with soil.
  • Do not skimp on primer before applying acrylic or oil paints. It improves adhesion, reduces the consumption of painting material, and allows you to quickly achieve the desired shade.
  • Do not trust the “experts” who say that the paint applied with a brush, due to the bristles, better penetrates into the structure of the wood. You can paint with anything – a spray gun, a roller (if the facade is not made of a log).
  • Before painting “fresh” wood, it is advisable to process it – to clean it from the darkened layer and various defects such as blue and other.
  • It is advisable to re-paint a wooden house a little earlier than the existing coating collapses completely, ceasing to protect the wood from harmful influences.
  • Never remove old paint with aggressive chemicals. They penetrate into the structure of the wood and remain there to “live” with you in the same house.
  • When using acrylic or oil paints, in addition to the primer, it is worth considering antiseptics. Some primers for wooden facades already have the necessary protective components.
  • When using acrylic paint with dye, tint the composition in full for painting the whole house, otherwise you can easily make a mistake with the shade. Water-based paint in a bucket, applied to the wall at once, and dried – these are three different shades.
  • The ideal weather for painting is calm and cloudy.
  • Pay particular attention to the ends of the log or bar. This part of the lumber absorbs paint several times more intensively than a planed surface.

Important! Any lumber is painted exclusively along the grain.

Outcome

Painting a wooden house is needed not only to give it a special look. The applied coating will protect the wood from sunlight, wind, moisture, insects and other factors that significantly accelerate the aging of the material. Absolutely all the described compositions cope with these tasks. The only difference is in the service life, price and how the building will look after painting.

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