A major quandary - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Robie · 06-04-2008, 12:57 PM

I posted a few days ago about some cedar siding with paint failure. After scraping and some nice weather, the cedar seems to have dried out nicely. My concern is this. How do you folks handle bad weather? I've got a lift rented as some of the fascia and paint work was on the 3rd level roof.
We had rain last night and more is due today. This job is an hour away and I hate like hell to start with the primer application just to have it rained on. How do you handle outside jobs where it looks like it will rain in the next few hours? Of course it's beautiful and sunny out now but severe thunderstorms are on the way.
Also, this represents 3 days of scraping. The paint was very pliable as water was trapped under it. I had to use a putty knife to get under most of this. Then, getting it out of the tongue and grooves proved to be a painstaking task.
I'd be interested in what you guys who do this day in and day out would probably charge for something like this. SW A-100 primer...the whole wall, followed by Duration. Lots of scraping first. With all 3 levels, it measure about 26 wide by 37 tall.
Thanks.

rbsremodeling · 06-04-2008, 01:10 PM

A tarp if the weather isnt extremely cold if you tarp it and keep the water off you should be fine

**slickshift** · 06-04-2008, 07:20 PM

Welcome to the world of exterior painting my friend
If anyone had a fool-proof plan, they'd be retired and living on their own island by now, so probably won't be answering on this forum

But really, the weather is an incredible issue out here
I can tell you what I do...in general

I won't coat w/o sticking a moisture meter into it if there is any doubt whatsoever of how wet or dry the substrate is

A 30% chance of rain is not enough to keep me from at least going to the job site and checking it out
More than 30%, I generally won't bother with the travel

A beautiful paint job that took 6 hours can be ruined in minutes by a lone wild storm cloud blown in from off the bay...keep your eyes an ears open

Each paint will have it's own rules as to how much moisture can be in the substrate (generally around 13% to 18%), and how long before rain is expected you can paint (6 to 24 hours), and they will be stated either on the can or in the TDS
Any questions, call the 800 number and ask the factory

Frankawitz · 06-05-2008, 07:53 AM

Robie, looking at your picture the water problem is that exspanssion joint that's how the water is getting behind the cedar and causing your paint to peel, I would caulk that edge, as for painting outside hey everyone knows exterior painting you have to be part weatherman too. I would use Benjamin Moore's freshstart primer it drys up fast so it will seal the wood but I would caulk that joint real good before priming or painting good luck

www.frankawitz.net

kenscar · 06-05-2008, 04:16 PM

Man, I'm dealing with that exact same problem right now. I have a lift rented - $200/day and it rained today. I only put 3 days worth of lift rental into the bid so I'm going to have to eat a day now. Hopefully it will be nice out tomorrow so I won't have to eat two days. I could put a stop rental on the lift but then the rental company could rent it out to someone else, which involves picking it up and then dropping it off again when I need it again - drop off fee is $50. It adds up. I'm in Colorado, so the weather can change literally in ten minutes from 80 and sunny to 30 and hail. In conclusion - painting exteriors SUCKS. Unless I'm starving to death this will be my last one.

**Double-A** · 06-05-2008, 06:43 PM

Accu-weather is good for predicting down to the zip code.

Mike's QP · 06-05-2008, 11:20 PM

i live in washington and here you can call the lift off for a rain day, usually one per rental period, call them and ask them, do you think they want to go pick it up and drop it off the next day, usually they dont want to bother with it

kenscar · 06-07-2008, 09:27 PM

They gave me a rain day. It's still stressful though: "Should I make the call? It's cloudy this morning but what if it clears up by noon?" You know. I shall reiterate: Exterior painting sucks. In fact - painting in general sucks. What the f' am I doing in this business? I was supposed to be rich and retired by now.

jtomin · 06-20-2008, 01:01 AM

In this situation you might look at using a new SWP product called resilance for the top coat. It is made for times where it might rain in the near future, it actually skins over in around 10 minutes. For primer, I would definitely recommend XIM peel bond.