How to paint a wooden porch

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

Porch painting

Porch is an integral part of any country house or cottage. It welcomes guests, the design creates a first impression of the owners of the building, their tastes and material well-being. Therefore, the question of how to paint the porch on the street pays considerable attention to the construction and design of the house and the plot. And the article suggests getting to know how to do it better if the porch is made of wood.

Why paint

The wooden porch in each building looks very impressive and creates a feeling of comfort.

Wherein:

• The cost of building a wooden structure is much lower than many other materials.
• Work can be done quickly.
• No special technical skills required.

Wood is the softest and most vulnerable building material that needs additional protection with special means. Its physical characteristics allow after processing and proper protection to serve for quite a long time.

Wood protection is carried out by various impregnations, giving the material new properties, and painting the wooden porch ensures its preservation and serves as a decoration for the site.

The main tasks of facade paints are:

• Removing excess moisture from the material.
• Decorative decoration.
• Creating a moisture protective layer on the surface to be coated.
• Emphasizing the natural structure of wood.
• Providing UV protection.
• Protection against mechanical damage.
• Prevention of the spread of mold, fungus.

Tools and materials for work

Before painting the wooden porch, you will need to purchase special tools and the necessary supplies.

The set of tools and their purpose are presented in the table:

Name and photo	Appointment
Chisel	To remove knots and various defects present on the surface.
Metal brush	For cleaning surface roughness. The tool is selected depending on the type of wood used and the presence of the old coating.
Rollers	For coloring even planes, rollers with a large pile are used (seePaint rollers: consider in detail)
Tassels	For painting any surfaces, especially for corners and decorative elements
Baths are painting	For the convenience of using paint and primer
Brush	For the removal of garbage and dust sweeping during operation

To carry out the work you will need to purchase:

• Hard putty on woodto scratch not small cracks.
• Primer that creates a protective layer and improves adhesion.
• Paint for wood.

Materials for painting a wooden porch

Surface preparation

In order for the paint to lie flat and firmly held, the wooden porch must first be properly prepared.

For this:

• The porch is inspected, removed with a chisel, all knots and other defects, if any.
• Putty fills all cracks in which paint can leak.

Tip: To avoid shimmering of the putty spots, after painting the surfaces with your own hands, its shade should be selected as close as possible to the color of the wood.

• The filler is cleaned with sandpaper until a perfectly smooth surface is obtained.

Tip: For the most complete polymerization of the putty mass, you must wait two to three days after the first grinding, and then repeat the operation.

• After processing, debris and dust are removed from the surface with a brush.
• The porch is primed 2 times with a brush or roller. The interval between coatings is 24 hours.

Types of Paints for the Porch

Before painting the wooden steps of the porch, the type of paint is correctly selected depending on the chemical composition and its main characteristics.

For painting wooden surfaces located in an open space, paints such as:

• Oil.
• Alkyd.
• Polyurethane
• Water emulsion.
• Reactive.

Each type of coating is distinguished by the cost and composition of its components.

Oil paint

In the composition of such a paint, the binding components are flax, soy or hemp oils.

Oil paint

Features of the coating are indicated in the table:

Oil paint can be used as a primer. Its main advantage is fast and reliable surface protection.

The coating is applied by roller, brush or spray to a previously cleaned and well-dried surface on which a film forms after application.

Porch painting with oil paint

Water-based paint

The binders in the coating are water-based components.

Varieties of water-based paint

The table shows the features of the coating:

Water-based paint There may be 4 types.

It happens:

• Acrylic.

Acrylic paint

The most common type of coating is resistant to small external influences, dirt can be washed off.

• Silicone.

Silicone paint

For the manufacture of coatings, silicone resins are taken, which makes it quite expensive. It has good vapor permeability, cracks can be painted up to 2 millimeters wide. On the coating, microorganisms do not multiply in large numbers, which allows the use of paint for interior decoration where there is a lot of humidity.

• Silicate. It consists of an aqueous solution, water glass and coloring pigments.

Silicate paint

After coating, a film does not form, and strong physicochemical compounds are created with the surface, which makes silicate paint very resistant to mechanical and atmospheric influences. The service life of the composition reaches 20 years.

• Mineral.

It is used more often for painting brick and concrete surfaces, but due to the short service life, the popularity of the coating is lost.

Alkyd paint

As part of such a coating:

• Vegetable oils.
• Organic acids.
• Various alcohols.

These components dry much faster than oil paints, the surface layer acquires greater resistance to mechanical stress and protection against moisture.

Advantages and disadvantages alkyd paint presented in the table:

Other types of paints

In addition to the considered types of coatings for the porch, you can use:

• Reactive paints. They contain two components: pigment resin and hardener. Instructions for use indicate the desired proportions of the compositions for mixing before application to the surface. This will allow a protective film to form as a result of a chemical reaction between the elements. The main disadvantages of such mixtures: high cost and a limited period for application after mixing. But such a coating has resistance to environmental factors and increased hardness.

Porch after painting

• Polyurethane paints are almost never used in domestic needs; when applied, they emit a large amount of toxic substances. In addition, the coating requires special technology of application to the surface and special drying.

Polyurethane coating on the surface

Choosing a Porch Paint

How to paint the porch on the street

An important point when painting a wooden porch is the choice of a suitable paintwork, so that it resists such natural phenomena as:

• Rain.
• Snow.
• Strong wind.
• Exposure to direct sunlight.

In addition, the following are taken into account:

• The climate of the region.
• The average temperature in winter and summer.
• The degree of mechanical stress.

All these indicators are taken into account when choosing a paint that should effectively resist them.

Wherein:

• The use of different antiseptics and special impregnations to protect wood increases the service life of the material several times, but at the same time reduces the service life of the coating.

Tip: After treating the wood with impregnations, the paint layer needs to be changed every 3-4 years, which depends on the intensity of operation of the porch. Lack of impregnation increases the life of the paint up to 10 years, but worsens the physical properties of wood.

• Additionally protect the coloring composition from abrasion and other damage, special varnishes or azure can.

Special wood varnish

• To decorate the entire porch or its individual elements, transparent varnishes, azure and resins are used.

Tip: It must be borne in mind that with each replacement of the coating layer, preliminary surface preparation is required, and this leads to mechanical stresses on the tree, which violates its natural structure.

Azure paint for wooden porch

• For the design and protection of wood, special resinous transparent lacquer compositions are used. They include pigments that repeatedly enhance the natural color of wood and beautifully highlight its natural texture and pattern.
• Varnishes and resins at the same time provide reliable protection against moisture penetration, and the ultraviolet filters available in the compositions do not allow the destruction of the material under the influence of sunlight. The main advantage of such coatings is the ability to update the old surface layer, without preliminary preparation.

The better to paint the wooden porch, everyone decides for himself. But it must be remembered that a high-quality protective coating and adherence to the painting technology increase the life of the structure. This requires taking material selection seriously, and the suggested tips and watching videos in this article hopefully help to get things right.