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Wood as a material for construction is experiencing another surge in popularity. The craving for naturalness and natural materials is quite understandable. But it is not enough to build a wooden house or cottage, you need to provide them with proper care, and in order for the wood to serve for a long time and not lose its attractiveness, you need to paint the house. When builders guarantee that a wooden building will stand for a hundred years, they mean its timely and correct protection from destruction.
Why you need to protect the tree
Professional builders recommend immediately painting a wooden house so that it lasts longer. Unprotected wood is adversely affected by almost all environmental factors. If in a living form the tree is covered with bark, then only painting will protect the log cabins or boards.
- Exposed wood is destroyed under the influence of the sun’s rays. Ultraviolet radiation affects lignin, a substance responsible for the lignification of plant cells. As a result, the tree darkens, becomes loose and wet. A cardinal change in the material occurs after six months of being in the open air. Since painting a wooden house on a destroyed surface layer will not bring the desired result, it is first necessary to grind the surface to an undamaged material.
- The alternation of rain and dry weather leads to the fact that the wood periodically swells and dries unevenly. The result of the process is cracks of various depths, which gradually increase. The house becomes ugly and its ability to retain heat decreases. In addition, mold fungi settle in the cracks, rotting begins.
- Temperature fluctuations in winter lead to the fact that moisture enters the pores of the tree during the thaw, and then freezes. Ice crystals are capable of breaking wood fibers, forming cracks in the depths. Repeated repetition threatens that cracks will spread not only on the surface, but throughout the entire thickness of the log house.
Exterior painting of a wooden house creates a protective layer that serves as a barrier to negative impacts.
Types of paints
The abundance of modern paints and varnishes provides various options for solving the problem than painting a wooden house outside. All types of exterior or facade paint are divided into:
- glazing, i.e. translucent, preserving the appearance and texture of wood, with antiseptic properties;
- covering – these are oil, acrylic and alkyd paints that form an additional layer on top of the wood.
Materials differ in composition, drying speed, appearance and other characteristics. Experts have not come to an unequivocal conclusion on what paint is better to paint wooden houses on the outside, so you need to choose taking into account the wood from which the house is built (dry, damp, processed, old, and so on), and the climatic features of the area.
When choosing high-quality products, the preservation of wood for up to 15 years is ensured. To achieve such a long and reliable impact is possible only if the rules of painting and preliminary preparation are observed.
Wood pretreatment
In order for the paint to lay flat, absorb well and serve for a long time, you need to prepare the surface for painting. Before treating a wooden house from the outside with any compound, antiseptic or refractory, it is necessary to level the surface and repair the cracks.
The main condition is that the wood must be dry with a moisture level of no more than 20%, so preparation begins in the dry and warm season. If you put the paint on a damp surface, then the internal moisture during evaporation will destroy the coating and tear it away from the base.
The dry surface is cleaned of dust and dirt. If stains and streaks of resin are difficult to remove, you can use a solvent. Wood that has previously been in the open air should preferably be sanded mechanically.
Additionally, read the article “How to choose a wood grinder.”
After grinding, painting is carried out within 48 hours in order to maintain the maximum effect of grinding.
First, the surface is treated with priming antiseptics or wood impregnations. Sometimes builders take on this work, but they often use the cheapest compounds – not very effective for the preservation of wood and environmentally unsafe. It is recommended to use water-based antiseptics that protect against the formation of mold, fungus and other biological formations on the tree.
The application of antiseptics is carried out in strict accordance with the instructions indicated on the package. You can not engage in processing at low temperatures, even if manufacturers offer winter antiseptics.
The better to paint
Paint for the facade of a wooden house can be translucent, glossy or matte. Since the natural look of wood is most attractive, glazed facade materials are very popular, which are available in the form of antiseptics, azure or oils.
The peculiarity of these materials is that they do not hide the structure of wood. The materials work as impregnations, penetrating deep and creating a barrier to getting wet or exposed to ultraviolet rays (UV). Despite the transparency, glazing paints are available in a wide range of colors. The most famous manufacturers:
- Renocoll Germany.
- Teknos Finland.
If there is a desire to hide the surface of the wood, then they use facade covering paints, which are divided into:
- oil – made from oils of natural origin and organic solvents;
- alkyd – produced on organic solvents or aqueous solutions of alkyds;
- acrylate (acrylic) coatings – based on acrylic and copolymers (latex, vinyl, silicone).
These paints form an opaque protective film that completely hides the pattern of wood. Over time, they oxidize, cease to be elastic and crack. Subsequently, the top layer turns into a powdery white substance (paint chalking process). After a few years, the layer will need to be removed completely or partially and re-worked.
Acrylic paints are more expensive, they have a high degree of elasticity.
Well-known manufacturers of covering paints:
- Tikkurila (Finland).
- Alpina (Germany).
- Dufa (Germany).
- Beckers (Sweden).
- Dulux (Netherlands).
- Marshall (Turkey).
Among the Russian brands, the most popular are Optimist, Svyatozar, Tex, Yaroslavl Paints.
Average paint life:
- glazing antiseptics – 5 years;
- acrylic – 8-10 years;
- oil – up to 6 years;
- alkyd materials – 7 years.
When comparing different types of paint, their pros and cons are taken into account:
- oil paints – have a high penetrating ability, reliably protect from moisture, but dry slowly (several days depending on the temperature), which is sometimes unacceptable for outdoor work;
- alkyd compounds – have good frost resistance, but eventually crack under the influence of UV;
- acrylic – convenient and easy to use, odorless, do not lose color, a new shade is easily obtained by mixing white paint with colorants (color dyes), but if the house is painted with acrylic paint, then only them can be used in the future.
In recent years, acrylic paints and varnishes have taken the leading place, despite their higher price. Considering how much it costs to paint a wooden house and how much effort it requires, it is undesirable to focus on cheap types. It is better to do it well once than in 2-3 years the house will look sloppy. Immediately choose how to paint a private house or cottage outside for a long time, even if you have to invest more.
The total cost of painting depends mainly on the size of the house. This amount will include the cost of antiseptic, putty and paint.
What color to choose
The choice of color depends only on the desire of the homeowner. Manufacturers offer a wide range of shades. Usually preferences depend on the design of the house and the place where it is located. In order for the house to visually merge with the environment, various shades of green, sand, brown are chosen.
To highlight the building on the ground, you can use bright white, blue, yellow. The most spectacular is the combination of two colors – light and dark.
A significant part of developers are more focused on the practical effect of painting, for example, dark colors attract rays, the surface heats up too much and cracks form on the wood. Light shades reflect light, do not fade longer, but pollution is better visible on them. Light gray fades the least.
If resin appears on the wood, then light dyes are preferred so that the wood does not heat up. Resin discharge is less noticeable against the background of cream, white, ivory.
Often, paint is chosen by combination or contrast with the color of the roofing material.
Additionally, we recommend the article “Mixing colors to get the right color.”
Painting sequence
To properly paint a wooden house, you need to follow the technology and sequence of actions. Painting a frame house is carried out according to the same rules as a log house.
- First of all, they clean the surface of dust, construction debris, resin drips – otherwise, mixed with paint, foreign particles will remain on the facade. If this is not the first treatment of the building, then carefully remove the previous paint and clean the surface to wood.
- The surface is then mechanically polished by hand or with a grinder. Grinding and further painting are carried out with a short break, no more than 3 days, so that the cleaned base does not have time to suffer from external factors.
- Cracks, bumps and damaged places are puttied in the old house. If nails or other metal elements protrude from the wood, then they are coated with a special primer designed for metal.
- After that, the entire surface is covered with a primer with antiseptic properties and impregnations. The primer will not only perform protective functions – after its application, paint consumption is noticeably reduced and it lays down more evenly.
- Then go directly to painting. The paint is applied with a roller or sprayed with an airbrush. It should be borne in mind that acrylic facade coatings are too thick and viscous – only a professional tool is suitable for them. To use household sprayers, the paint will have to be diluted, that is, the layer will be thinner than the manufacturers recommend.
- Coloring is done in several layers. Each next layer is applied only after the previous one is completely dry. When painting with a roller or brush, paint should be applied along the grain of the wood.
Nuances in painting
Since not all materials fit well on top of each other, it is imperative to remember which paint was used earlier (oil, alkyd, acrylic). If painting work is carried out by specialists, this issue should be clarified with them. At the first painting with acrylic dyes, in the future you will have to purchase only the same paintwork materials or compatible with them.
An old house will require careful sealing of cracks. Even after that, it is better to paint with a brush, as the roller will skip bumps, microcracks and other problem areas. If the old wood has traces of damage by pests, then it is additionally treated with insecticides and antiseptics.
Particular attention is paid to the ends, as the most vulnerable elements to moisture. They are painted in 4-5 layers.
Basic requirements for painting a wooden house:
- performed immediately after construction, and then at intervals depending on the type of paint;
- pre-treatment with antiseptics and a primer is required;
- it is desirable to carry out grinding;
- paint is applied in several layers.