Oakvillian

I replaced a couple of sliding patio doors a few years ago. I had established before starting that they were standard sizes (60-inch wide x 80-inch tall opening) so bought the new doors from Home Depot, a roll of waterproofing tape, a bag of shims, and set to it. And, as mentioned above, I had watched a whole assortment of youtube videos beforehand.

The project was actually remarkably easy. The only challenging part was that the original builders had totally bodged the support for the outer sill plate of one of the doors: our house has brick siding, and the sill was held up by offcuts of 2x4 and bits of broken brick wedged in with other scrap. Which would explain the occasional seepage into the (unfinished) section of basement below that door when the rain was driven by wind in that direction (thankfully not the prevailing one...). Thankfully, too, that was the second door; the first had clearly been done properly so I had a good idea of what it was supposed to look like. I had a slack handful of bricks left over from a previous project, so another quick trip to HD for a bag of premix mortar meant I was able to sort out the mess easily enough. And by that time it was still early enough on the Sunday morning of a long weekend that we lived with the proverbial gaping hole for only 24 hours until the mortar had set up enough to set the new door in its frame. Shimming and securing the doors while checking for level.plumb and square was a 2-person job, as was lifting the damn things into place in the rough opening, but otherwise it was all pretty straightforward.

Of course, painting the new trim on the inside took another few months to get to, but I'd spent all my energy on making sure the outside was properly finished and fully watertight

I'd agree that interior doors are an altogether tougher proposition - done a few of those, both pre-hung and retrofit, and it's hard to get them as pretty (or work as well) in twice the time as a professional can throw them up and have them completely true.

anotherlimey

Well that would be me and I would give myself at least 3 our of 5 stars on Google.

My house is mostly concrete block covered in stucco. I'm going to gather as much info as I can for the time being. Working outside during the summer here is a PITA anyway.

sid nv

Anyone painted their house exterior? Our house is clad in something like pasteboard with rough timber trim, and the whole exterior is painted with I assume latex paint. It seems an easy enough job, but I have never seen anyone here paint their own house, it is always a Pay Someone Else (PSE) job. Latex paint is expensive, so maybe the contractor can get a better price on the paint?

The asphalt shingle roof is shot too, back patio is covered in gritty stuff off the roof, and the tiles look decidedly shiny. I replaced the ridge tiles a couple of years ago that gave the roof another couple of years, but I guess the time it takes to replace the whole roof probably needs a PSE team to get the job done before winter sets in.

Pulaski

Yes I have painted our exterior masonite siding aka hardboard. It is easy but time-consuming, and one 5gal bucket should be enough. I bought two buckets and it took a lot less than I expected, but it needs another coat this year, so at least I don't need to buy more. I painted all the corner boards and end pieces brilliant white which sets off the beige paint that we chose for the siding very nicely. The paint should cost you about $150-$200/5gal, and if you think that is is expensive, wait until you get a quote for the labour!

For roofing, avoid reroofing with asphalt shingles if you can avoid it i.e. if you aren't forced to by your HOA. Metal roofing is all the rage, and there are a number of manufacturers of different types of metal shingles, including some that are grit-coated and look just like asphalt shingles if that is the look that you want to go for, or your HOA will accept that product.

Steerpike

I've had nothing but bad experiences with 'professionals' doing outside painting. They tell you they are going to do all kinds of prep and prime, etc but they just wave a pressure wash wand over everything and slap on the new paint. They do have access to decent compressor tools, and that does seem to be a big factor in how long it takes and how well it comes out. Good masking is also essential especially if you are going to use any form of paint sprayers. If you are doing it in NV and it's summer, you need to watch the drying time ... you may need to add inhibitors to the paint to stop it drying TOO fast. You also need to decide on a finish ... .flat vs eggshell, perhaps. My house was done in flat originally, but I had it re-done eggshell.

My biggest issues with the painters was ... working in the rain! We don't get a lot of rain in the Bay Area, but if it does rain on your scheduled day(s), they are very reluctant to NOT work. I had to argue with the workers, and later the boss, when the workers on site tried to paint in actual rain! And the second it stopped, they were at it again ... even though the walls were clearly wet! I was selling the house so didn't stress it too much, but it boggled my mind that they would be applying paint in and after rain. Obviously, they set a schedule (my date was months out, it was VERY hard to get anyone to do the job) so they don't like to encounter any delays. They also used some fillers on some wood damage, and painted over it immediately ... despite instructions saying to wait 24 hours, etc. Everything is time/schedule driven with them. Sadly, for me, my house required massive scaffolding so it wasn't something I could even contemplate myself. It cost me $18,000 just for the scaffolding before the painters could even start (and that was another schedule driver - I was paying for the scaffolding by the day). That house was an 'architecturally interesting' property ... never again!

sid nv

I have not done the numbers yet, but that is a fraction of the quantity I was expecting. I am guessing that would be using brush, not a sprayer.

Yep, painting is all about preparation. The actual application of the paint is the easy bit at the end of the job.

ddsrph

Steerpike

I would also look into rental. The gear my pro's used looked very heavy duty and expensive, so buying would likely be out of the question. The question I can't answer is - are the expensive 'pro' models easier to use (and yield better results) than the Wagner models you can buy? I did buy a Wagner model 20 years ago and absolutely hated it - but I may not have spent enough time learning how to use it. It seemed to clog very easily, and was hard to get an even finish with. The thing I heard about more recently was that you should use a 'low pressure' version, for what its worth.

chawkins99

I bought one of these to paint a whole house (interior) prior to selling. Went through about 15 gallons of paint to cover a 4 bedroom house.

As Sid said, it's all about preparation. Would take 3-4 hours to mask off all the bits you don't want to paint and then 30 minutes to paint.

Cleanup is also a pain as you have to flush the paint out before storing.

The problem with the smaller handheld ones is they are heavy and only hold 1 or 2 pints at a time so you're forever refilling and there's really no clean way to do that.

Steerpike

How loud is it ... bearable? In some of the pictures on the site, they show the guy without any mask; I would have thought a mask (if not a full-blown body cover) would be necessary due to the paint spray?

I imagine it would take a few walls (or rooms!) to get the hang of how to use it - best pressure setting, best way to hold, how fast to move, etc. I often feel like I'm an expert in something when I'm finally done, and would love to start all over again!

chawkins99

Not too loud. Probably same level as a vacuum cleaner.

I wore a paper style mask but there really wasn't a lot of excess spray. We also bought the extension wand which made it easy to do a wall from floor to ceiling in one pass.

The first room we did was a bit too thick trying to do full coverage in one pass and ended up with some runs. Lesson learned and subsequent rooms we did a couple of thinner coats for full coverage.

I chose this one because it would take a 5-gallon bucket. I wouldn't bother with it for a single room but for a whole house (or any big job) it's great.

We also used this masking tape which has 2ft of plastic sheet attached to the tape. It worked great.

Pulaski

We bought one, used it once, and decided that between the masking off, floor covering, cleaning up, and cleaning the equipment, not to mention the use of overalls (it isn't easy to find ones that fit me) it was, all things considered, easier and quicker to use a 18" paint roller; "trimming" around the edges and doors and windows is the time consuming bit.

sid nv

I was wondering about spraying - this was obviously how it was done originally, as I have spent some time cleaning spray paint off the windows. Since it is not a huge area, I am inclined to use a roller on a long handle.

I once had a job spraying buildings with textured paint ("Kenitex"). The spray gun was connected to the pump by two heavy-duty pipes. The gun would block at the most inconvenient times - like when I had climbed to the top of a fully extended triple extension ladder to reach the top of a chimney stack on a house gable end. Those pipes got heavy at that height. At the top of the ladder, stretched up to the chimney top, pressed trigger and gun blocked. Climbed all the way down, unblocked the gun, climbed back up, gun blocked again.

If using a roller takes multiple coats, then yes I may go for spraying. Once masked up it is quick and gets a good finish.

anotherlimey

I bought one of these for painting against edges, it's so cheap and easy to use: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Shur-Lin...6561/202080280

Pulaski

​​​​​​We have one of those in our box of painting tools, which I think Mrs P bought, but I have done so much trim-painting with a cheap 2" that I am a dab hand and can do it pretty quickly and don't usually think of getting that edging tool out.