This small suburban painting project was a sheer joy to work on because the only requirement the owner gave me was that his sheds had to be painted in Enamel Paint. Old school thinking from an old school tradesman! It had been almost 15 years since I last painted exterior weatherboards using enamel paint and memories of strong paint fumes, sticky brushes, thinners and long drying times came flooding back. Compared to today’s environment, convention is to shun enamel paints and use exterior acrylic paints like Dulux Weathershield and Wattyl Solagaurd.
Scope of Work
The work required that all timber surfaces to the garage and shed be painted using Dulux Gloss Enamel Paint. The surfaces to be repainted included the garage barn doors, two small entry doors, windows and the weatherboards. There was some minor timber rot developing among some of the weatherboards, but the owner being a handy carpenter wanted to replace them himself. Below are some pictures of the finished paint work to the garage.
Colour Scheme
For both the garage and shed, the owner requested the same colours to be used which is great for me because using the same colours helps with coverage. There were 3 colours used: first was Mission Brown for the diamond on the barn doors, the small entry doors and the window sills. Second was Vivid White for the windows and door jambs and thirdly the weatherboards were a colour match of the existing colour. The colour match resembles a very light version of Jade Green. When it came to selecting the sheen levels, there was only one request and that was High Gloss.
Preparation
The preparation involved;
- Removing any flaking paint
- Filling all nail holes, timber knots and timber splits
- A light sand of all woodwork
- Washing all timber surfaces to remove chalkiness, dust, dirt and grease
- Caulking all gaps along weatherboard stops and timber groves of barn doors
- Spot priming all timber and putty repair
- Applying 3M blue tape to paint the diamond on barn doors
- Applying two top coats of Dulux Enamel paint to all surfaces
Below are some more pictures of the completed shed and barn doors.
Final Thoughts
Painting exterior surfaces with enamel paint is the exception rather than the norm. The garage and shed had been maintained over the years using enamel paint and so it made sense to repaint in enamel paint rather than converting to acrylic paint. Would I recommend using enamel paint on weatherboards? No I wouldn’t, because the acrylic paints offer more flexibility, durability and easier maintenance over the long term.
