Painting a roof

[Panda]

Roof update

Well I didn’t head the advice and painted the roof anyway

I ended up using a corrugated shaped wire brush and a hand brush. Its a fair size roof so brushing it down took me a while and was hard work. I did some repairs while I was at it.

After I had finished the brushing I washed it down and then applied the Penotrol with a garden weed dispenser that I bought for about $9 on special at Bunnings. I recommend using that.

I used an industrial silver paint with rest killer stuff in it and applied that with a corrugated roller. This worked really well, however, I bought the small roller that has only three corrugations. I think the larger ones might have the trouble that was posted about. Also the smaller one you have good control over.

Its amazing the difference. It has made to the place.

If you can spray, I would do that definitely. I would go an airless spray gun if possible. I had already bought the roller and I was a little paranoid about over spray with an enamel based paint and the paint shop wont allow enamel through their gun anyway. So I rolled.

I used an airless spray gun for the exterior walls though. Its a fairly big house and goes up 16 feet. I got 2 coats on in just over half a day. I used a big gun with 100 odd foot of hose and the one where the feed drops straight into your tin of paint. This meant that I just set it up in the shade under the house and off I went.

I took the wall colour right up and included the eaves so that’s walls and eaves done.

After doing the roof I think it would be worth getting one of the $850 jobs if you had a good condition roof. But mine had allot of surface rust on it and I’m glad I did it because I gave it some much needed attention.

Cheers,
Panda

 

[alwayscurious]

Great Job!

Hey, a good job - sounds like you bit the bullet and tackled a difficult and potentially expensive job - and got good results!

I used an industrial silver paint with rest killer stuff in it

I know that rest killer feeling - I have a small child and another on the way!

 

[Panda]

hahahahaha.....

Yeah I can say that kids and renovating are certainly two excellent examples of industrial strength "rest killers"

 

[knightm]

Well I didn’t head the advice and painted the roof anyway

1: I did some repairs while I was at it.

2: After I had finished the brushing I washed it down and then applied the Penotrol with a garden weed dispenser that I bought for about $9 on special at Bunnings. I recommend using that.

3: I used an industrial silver paint with rest killer stuff in it and applied that with a corrugated roller. This worked really well, however, I bought the small roller that has only three corrugations. I think the larger ones might have the trouble that was posted about. Also the smaller one you have good control over.

4:Its amazing the difference. It has made to the place.

5: If you can spray, I would do that definitely. I would go an airless spray gun if possible. I had already bought the roller and I was a little paranoid about over spray with an enamel based paint and the paint shop wont allow enamel through their gun anyway. So I rolled.

6: I used an airless spray gun for the exterior walls though. Its a fairly big house and goes up 16 feet. I got 2 coats on in just over half a day. I used a big gun with 100 odd foot of hose and the one where the feed drops straight into your tin of paint. This meant that I just set it up in the shade under the house and off I went.

7: I took the wall colour right up and included the eaves so that’s walls and eaves done.

8: After doing the roof I think it would be worth getting one of the $850 jobs if you had a good condition roof. But mine had allot of surface rust on it and I’m glad I did it because I gave it some much needed attention.

Cheers,
Panda

Well done panda, hard job but sounds worth it

1 What repairs did you do?
2 Is the penetrol a rust inhibitor? (good idea to use the weed thing btw, but I dunno why anyone would want to dispense weeds? )
3 Good solution
4 Congrats
5 If the paint shop wont allow enamel, what paint would one normally use if spraying - is external acrylic used for roofs?
6 Good to hear the gun worked, any tips for using that? What did you have to mask (other than windows)? And how much does the paint get on everything else?
7 sounds very sensible
8 do you mind sharing what it cost you to do yourself (dollars and hours)?

thanks

 

[Panda]

Sorry for all my typos and bad grammar in the previous post (makes for a good laugh though ).


knightm,

1 What repairs did you do?

There were lots of roof nails where the tops had fallen off. I pulled allot of these out and replaced them. I also filled a few small holes with a paintable sealer. I also put new roof nails in a few places where some sheeting needed reinforcement.

2 Is the penetrol a rust inhibitor? (good idea to use the weed thing btw, but I dunno why anyone would want to dispense weeds? )

Penetrol is an oil based primer and surface conditioner. It helps bond paint down hard to the surface. I spoke to a fair few people including a roofing company and they all use it on the tin roofs. You can also add it to your paint (oil based only ofcourse) and it makes the paint so smooth. I added some to my oil based undercoat used on the weatherboards.

If you are going a gloss enamel topcoat on your windows for instance, you can mix some of this in and it makes the finish nice and smooth.

5 If the paint shop wont allow enamel, what paint would one normally use if spraying - is external acrylic used for roofs?

I think there are acrylic based roof paints. If you were going that way you could use an airless. Or you could use an airless with enamel paint.

The airless spray guns are great for large interior and exterior surfaces. I have used them in the past on interior and as mentioned exterior. Normally you would not be using an oil based for walls in or out.

6 Good to hear the gun worked, any tips for using that? What did you have to mask (other than windows)? And how much does the paint get on everything else?

The over spray is not that bad, its more something you worry about but when you actually do it realise its not a huge deal. However, you need to be careful. With acrylic based paint over spray will dry in the air so there is less of a risk. Enamel based is a different story it takes longer to dry so the over spray can be still wet when it lands on the neighbors car.

I’m lucky on this one as I only have one neighbor and every one else is across the road. I parked my car infront of the houses across the road as a show of faith. Didn’t get a spec on it. For my neighbor I organised it with her. I covered her car with 4 drop sheets first and was careful with over spray reaching her house.

The best tip I have for the gun is spend time getting the pressure right. This is so important. If it’s too strong you will literally go through buckets and buckets of paint ($). You will normally go through more paint than if you were rolling/brushing when using a gun. However, if you get your pressure correct then this does not have to be the case. I used only 1 litre extra on the walls than the coverage specified on the tin. I was really wrapped with that. One other time I did an interior and used way too much paint. So it’s the pressure.

Other tips,
- Dont put you hand in front of the nozzle. Although its not massive pressure it still pushes it out.
- I use some disposable overalls that also covers you head, a pair of sunnies and a p2 disposable mask. You probably don’t need a p2, but I use those ones for everything I do. They are the ones that people use for lead and asbestos
- If you are doing the outside make sure you get a considerable size machine with tones of hose
- Recommend doing the eaves the same colours as the walls for exterior and wall and ceiling colour the same for interior
- My windows need allot of work so I just taped up the whole frame
- I got over spray on the roof in four places due parts of the walls extending into the roof. I did the roof after the walls. A little back the front but I had other reasons for needing to do that. Very little over spray.
- I did it by myself, moving scaffold around etc. If you had a second person you can reduce over spray by getting them to hold a big piece of cardboard in places
- Also another trick is start at one wall an go to the end then stop leave the scaffold give it 15 mins and if dryish wack on your second coat. This way you don’t need to go around the whole house twice
- nothing else needed taping up. However, you need to make sure your happy to get paint on ANYTHING you don’t tape up
- Don’t do it on a windy day

8 do you mind sharing what it cost you to do yourself (dollars and hours)?

The biggest cost in time is in the prep always. The painting is nothing from a time perspective. Its a hard question to answer from a time point of view as it depends on the surface. This house had not been painted for about 40 years and it had paint falling of it. This means that I need to spend more time ensuring that I removed all the flaky stuff. Which I did with a scraper. This is hard work and takes a long time. If the surface is sound you can wash it down with Sugar soap and start painting.

I then brushed on an oil-based primer which I recommend. It helps to seal the exposed wood and penetrates what’s there. I used 20lts of trade coat at about $85 per 10lt tin from Bunnings

top coat was an acrylic. Not sure on the price off hand I think around a few hundred dollars about $300 I think.
- Gun hire $130 per day. Only needed one day
- Then there is tressle hire which can be costly as you need it the whole way through. This will be my biggest expense
- And all the other bits brushes, other primers for example metal primer for exposed metal and costs for repairs etc

Once you add it all up though its much cheaper than getting someone to do it.

The roof costed about 350 to do. That’s pretty good I reckon. When I think it has added a few thousand dollars. Now that I have done it I realise it was a must. The prep work on the roof is hard going as your in the sun and your literally scrubbing often on your hands an knees. Again it comes down to the surface. If there is no surface rust or cracked paint then no probs. I had lots of surface rust, virtually all of it.

You also need to keep your wits about you as your up high. I think I spent about 10 hours scrubbing it. Also need to use a mask. Rolling it also takes time I did 90% of the house 1 coat in a day.

I took some pics of the roof I will put them up once I get the time.

Cheers,
Panda

 

[knightm]

thanks for taking the time to reply panda I appreciate it - I am looking at some serious paint jobs myself in the next 6 months, I am thinking if you bought a place that needed paint inside and out + roof, you could spend a week doing all the prep then hire a gun for 2 or 3 days and get it all done. Compare this with the price of paying for internal+external+roof from the pros and you can save 000's

 

[Panda]

It will take you longer than a week to prep. Unless you have really good surfaces and then still not sure if you would have the time enough. Also there are always repair jobs to do which really suck up your time.

Painting is a big job. For example I still have windows to do they take time as you are cutting in etc.

One way to cut it down if you really want to plough through the work quickly is hire a few labourers for the prep work.

Good luck with your painting jobs.

I think next time I will get a labourer to help with the prep.
Panda

 

[demoman]

Hi Panda,

Congrats on finishing the roof...........I bet you feel well satisfied..........I did after I finally finished ours.

Nice to see you made it thru in one piece too.

Can't wait to see the pics...........are there any action shots.

Cheers

Jared

 

[Panda]

No action pic's Im afraid but I should put up before and after photos of my abdominals muscles, (man they got a work out). Personally I like my flabby gut muscles, so they were not immpressed

I slso got an update on the acrylic roof paint side of things. You can use acrylic if your roof doesnt have too much rust on it which would really make the job alot easier. Go the enamal if theres heaps of surface rust.

Cheers,

Panda