Help! I need to paint my Summit County, CO home
In Summit County, home owners are busy in the summer
getting all our home maintenance and landscaping jobs done in just three short months. In spring, we get outside, walk around the house and realize that it might be time to paint it again. Now is a good time to prepare, deciding not only what color to use, but what product to use. My husband recently retired after being a painting contractor for a number of years, and over time, I picked up a thing or to from him. We have had a discussion or two about what “paint” means. To him, paint is a product and he won’t use it on the outside of a house at this altitude. To me, it is a process. You paint your house, even if you are using a stain to do it. I think most people use the words interchangeably, but be sure you know which it is that you want when you go to the paint store or hire someone to “paint” your house.
Our high altitude makes a difference in the paint or stain that you use on your Colorado home, as the UV rays from the sun break it down much faster than at lower altitude. While many of us want our wood sided homes to have a natural wood finish, that is one thing that is very difficult to do in Summit County. I am sure that you have seen cedar sided homes that have turned very dark, almost black, everywhere except right under the eaves. That comes from using a natural colored, semi-transparent stain on the home. It is much better to use a stain that is more opaque, as the pigment keeps the UV rays from breaking it down so quickly. Sometimes that leads to a finish that is not what you expected, because a natural colored stain with more pigment in it sometimes gives an orange-y look, especially if you are after a cedar color. It may be that painting your house a color is best, but using a solid stain to do it. A solid stain works better at this altitude because of our extreme temperature changes. Paint cannot expand and contract at the same speed as the wood does when the sun hits it, causing the paint to crack and peel. Solid stain looks just like paint, but holds up better at this altitude. If you can’t bring yourself to go with a painted look, mix solid stain 50/50 with the semi-transparent, and it will last a little bit longer.
On Summit County log homes or on log trim,
a brand with a more natural look that works very well here is Sikkens. It was developed in Scandanavia and the pigment is ground much finer, which keeps it in suspension rather than settling to the bottom in the paint can. Because the pigment is distributed more evenly as you paint the product on, it gives better protection from UV rays. Be prepared to have it be opaque enough that you may not be able to see the grain of the wood. The application is much more expensive to have done as it needs three coats applied with a brush rather than a sprayer, taking considerably more time. That means a higher bill from the painting contractor. Because it is solvent based rather than water based, the painter must wear a respirator, it is harder to clean up and you must be careful of spontaneous combustion in paint covered rags. It will last 6 to 8 years, then one coat is sufficient to repaint. Sikkens comes in a fairly good selection of wood tones and is available at BigHorn paints in Frisco.
I am often asked what to use to seal and finish decks. My painter husband has never recommended painting decks with a solid stain, as when snow sits on any horizontal surface, it causes it to peel off. Staining the rail and uprights is ok. The best thing to do with a deck is to use a clear product made for that purpose. Thompson’s Water Seal is not sufficient to seal it at this altitude and after one season you won’t know that you ever did it. Your local paint store in Frisco or Silverthorne will be able to tell you which sealer is best for this area.
Even with the right product, the decking will need to be redone more often than your house siding may need to be repainted. The other option is to leave it alone and not put any finish on it at all. The wood will dry out in our low humidity, won’t look as good, and can crack and splinter. Alternatively, there is now a good selection of fire resistant decking products that look like wood but are made of recycled products. A good option if you want to be more green. However, be sure that the product you choose is slip resistant as I have heard that can be an issue in wet or icy conditions.
If you are in need of a painting contractor, check with one of our Summit County paint stores, or email me, as I have names of people who have done a good job for clients of mine.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
Hi, I’m a paint contractor in Omaha, NE looking at starting a blog on my site. We don’t do much whole house stain out here but I found the article interesting. The pictures are great too!
May 4th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Good luck with your blog Kyle! I am sure people in your area have lots of questions too, as regions differ so much. When we lived in Kansas City, you only textured interior walls if you were trying to cover up problems. In Colorado, every home has at least an orange peel texture and most have either knock down or hand troweled finishes. I was in a house the other day with a Buyer from Nashville. She looked at the heavy hand trowled finished on the walls and asked what they were trying to hide.
I am glad you liked the post and the photos. I drove around trying to find examples of what I was talking about, and managed to find a few.