painting fascia boards

sloobey

Hi There,

The fascia boards/soffits on the house need to be painted. They are about 30 years old but most are still in good shape. I can't afford to put PVC over them yet so I am thinking about having a handy friend replace the rotten parts and then paint the rest. So far just the end bits seem to need replacing.

I think the wooden fascia looks better than the PVC anyway, and if it's lasted this long then I think it must be a good option. I suppose you just have to paint it every 5 years.

My questions are about painting the existing boards....

1. Prepping the old timber:

Should I first powerwash the boards, then sand them down a bit before painting? Some of the paint is still ok so not sure if I have to powerwash and sand. Other bits have paint coming away so think I defo have to do some prep there. Just not sure how to prep them.

2. Painting

After powerwash/sanding do you have to use a primer before painting? Or is it ok just to paint with something like Weathergard? Anyone have any suggestions for paints to use?

Thanks,
sloobey

Delta Kilo

Why don't you get your handy friend to put up the PVC fascia and sofit?
It isn't rocket science by any means. If he is willing and confident to go removing sections of what is there and matching and replacing those sections then putting up PVC will be a breeze. It isn't all that expensive either. If you go to a builders merchant I am sure they would do you a good deal on it in this climate. Get a quote from a professional fitter too.

What you are planning to do by powerwashing, sanding and painting would be fairly expensive for what really is a temporary job. You are better off to get it done right now and save yourself a lot of hassle!

Andrew33

Restarting an old(ish) thread but seems to make more sense than starting a fresh one, I'm in a similar situation, a small part of my soffit on my kitchen roof is rotten so I was going to cut it out and replace it, however, when I inspected the soffits/fascias on main roof I noted parts of them are ripe for replacement too. Now I figure would be a good time to get them done in PVC but I'm a bit suss of all the cowboys out there. Do they remove all the rotten timber first or just tack the PVC over the lot? Could the rot in fascias spread to roof timbers behind? If anybody knows a reputable PVC crowd could they please PM me? Thanks.

tiocimarla

Remove old ones and replace with new. Just get a carpenter to do it as it doesnt have to be pvc crowd. It is and always has been a jo for a chippy;)

builditwell

If you are going the painting route 2 undercoat and 2 top coat should do the trick
Dust off the boards with a stiff brush dont power wash them, then sand them roughly to get a good key for the paint, give them an undercoat and let it dry, then do any crack,hole repairs that have shown up in the paint and then give the last undercoat.
Finally 2 coats of satinwood, gloss or whichever u prefer giving enough time to dry between coats.


best of luck

michael999999

you cant use satinwood outside!

K_TRICKS

you can use satinwood outside its just not as durable / long lasting as gloss (due to the extra tough skin on gloss). and satin can tend to stain if leaves etc land and stick to the surface with moisture etc.
pvc is defo a better low maintainance option. power washing could be usefull (not great against wet/rotten and exposed timber) but not essential as a proper painter will scrap and sand all loose unstable old paintwork befor applying 1 0r 2 undercoats, (whichevers necessary), filler, putty, chaulk and your finish coat. obviously all filling etc to be done between undercats.

Juwwi

you cant use satinwood outside.

colourtrend used to do a satinwood that was exterior
and they were the only company to make exterior satinwood.
there might be more now but the normal can of satinwood will have interior use only on it.