Exterior preparation and paint

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Attached a couple of pics of one of the gable ends of my bungalow (I have 3 :eek:).

Could anybody please:

(a) recommend what kind of paint to use (I’ve never done exterior painting before, apart from the odd window or door)?

(b) Advise how you would prepare the surface for painting? I’m particularly concerned about the soffits, where you can see the existing paint is flaking away badly – I have visions of me getting a crick in my neck and tennis elbow scraping away at it with a blade, and wondered if there’s an easier way?

Thanks as always :mrgreen:
 
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If you have a waterpressure jetting machine wash off walls and soffits ( isolate light), let walls dry , a coat of stablising solution on the bare rendering then two coats of Dulux Trade Masonry paint . The leadwork in the corner needs sorting out .
 
Thanks for that - yes, see what you mean about the mangled lead... didn't notice that, just took the pics when walking past on the footpath outside.

Is this the sort of thing you mean?
 
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The soffits look like someone has used masonry paint. That would certainly explain the cracking paint. I assume that the previous owner didn't want to pay extra to have gloss mixed to the same colour as the masonry paint.

That said, soffits seldom get wet, so using whilst using masonry paint over woodwork is inadvisable the soffits don't need the same level of protection as the barge boards.
 
The soffits look like someone has used masonry paint. That would certainly explain the cracking paint. I assume that the previous owner didn't want to pay extra to have gloss mixed to the same colour as the masonry paint.

That said, soffits seldom get wet, so using whilst using masonry paint over woodwork is inadvisable the soffits don't need the same level of protection as the barge boards.

Thanks – yes, the previous owners of this place “economised” on absolutely everything. I’ve spent the 1½ years I’ve lived here undoing or paying professionals to undo their wiring, plumbing, woodwork… you name it. So this comes as expected.

I take your point about something which should always be pretty much sheltered from the elements not needing much protection, but maybe the fact that it’s masonry paint explains why it’s peeling off so badly – will that kind of paint stick to wood…?

Think maybe I need to put my hand in my shallow pocket for this one, and pay somebody to do it properly…
 
To paint Soffits with Masonry paint is a fairly standard procedure for decorating

But not for reputable decorators...

A couple of years ago I had painted two adjoining semi-detached houses. I spent three weeks just prepping/painting the eves. The house next door had two cowboys that fixed white uPVC over the existing bargeboards and then painted the timber and peddledash in the eves with magnolia emulsion (it was the only paint they had in their van). They charged £600 (excluding the scaffolding) and as you would expect, it looked awful. It took them 4 hours...
 
Again it is standard procedure to fit uPVC over bargeboards, as you say it took you three weeks prepping/painting eaves that would have cost over £1500 for labour alone, for an average decorators pay rate ( more in the suburbs). one cannot equate DIY to someone that does the work for a living .
 
Again it is standard procedure to fit uPVC over bargeboards, as you say it took you three weeks prepping/painting eaves that would have cost over £1500 for labour alone, for an average decorators pay rate ( more in the suburbs). one cannot equate DIY to someone that does the work for a living .

Sorry, I do not understand your point.

The houses are just under £2million each. They are in Ealing, in a leafy west London suburb. It is not the kind of road where you use uPVC bargeboards. My labour to do the two eves was about £2300 but the clients were happy to pay to have a decent finish.

My hourly rate was clearly much lower than that earned by the two cowboys (who were "professionals" and not DIYers).
 
Sorry, I do not understand your point.

The houses are just under £2million each. They are in Ealing, in a leafy west London suburb. It is not the kind of road where you use uPVC bargeboards. My labour to do the two eves was about £2300 but the clients were happy to pay to have a decent finish.

My hourly rate was clearly much lower than that earned by the two cowboys (who were "professionals" and not DIYers).

Going by your figures you charge about £95. per hour, The " Cowboys" about £75.
 
Going by your figures you charge about £95. per hour, The " Cowboys" about £75.

?

How did you arrive at that figure?

£2300/3=£766.6 per week. At 40 hours per week that equates to £19.20 per hour. I restored the eves to their former glory and left everything neat and tidy. The guys on £75 per hour left paint splatters all over the tiles on the bay bellow the eves.
 

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