For many people, the biggest investment they make will be their home. It’s therefore surprising that people sometimes neglect to maintain their property’s exterior painting.
It’s essential to keep your house or business premises protected from the elements with paint in our climate. This paint wraps around and protects your home’s structural materials from the destructive elements of many years of hail, cold, rain and Australia’s constant harsh sun.
The consistent investment in maintenance of your exterior paint work can save you thousands of dollars having to “fix it’ in the future. By protecting external woodwork and metal from rust and rot you may never need to pay to replace damaged features.
This is especially important if your building is an older property. They built many decorative features into older buildings that are not affordably replaceable. Keep these charming features sealed off, protected with paint.
- Window Frames
- Doors and Frames
- Timber or Weatherboard Walls
- Patio and Pergolas
- Eaves and Gutters & Fascias
- Fencing & Roofing
Don’t leave it too long to redo exterior painting. Once rust or rot has set in, its too easy for it to spread. Your metal and wood features may also become dangerous if left too long, as you cannot always see what needs replacing, rather than fixing.
Different Exterior Paints for Different Materials
All wooden and metal surfaces are rubbed down, filled and properly prepared to seal against future weather damage. They are then twice coated with weatherproof acrylic paints. All weatherproof external paints these days have a manufacturer guarantee – generally for 10 years – sometimes for longer.
Brick work and rendered brickwork need to be correctly sealed before finishing with weatherproof acrylic paint. It can be hard to ensure cracks don’t reappear but flexible fillers will be good for many years to come.
Wooden flooring, such as decking, can be painted or stained or sealed with a polyurethane finish similar to the ‘varnish’ used for cork or wooden floors. Porous external tiles or stone may also need sealing to prevent stains.
Concrete paint is used for exterior patio and courtyard floor areas and for laundry or garage concrete floors. There is special roof paint to renew the surface on concrete roof tiles and paint for corrugated iron roofing to apply after they have been cleaned with a gurney.
Colour and Decorative Details in Exteriors
Exterior painting might be just doors and window frames, with a timber finish or exterior acrylic paint. Or it can be just the eaves, downpipes and gutters. Or the whole exterior of the building – walls, floors and roof, surrounding pool areas, verandahs and pergolas. Verticals may be metal, brick or render, fibro cement panelling, or timber – each require the right seal to protect it.
Decorative detailing in strong colours, especially on heritage buildings with their beautiful woodwork features, can be painted in heritage colours or your choice of traditional or contemporary colour scheme. Paint is always protective, but contrasting colours and shiny or matt finishes are beautiful.