Tips for Painting Aluminum Siding

 

MELISSA: Well, I have a new old house – my house was built in about 1915 – and it’s got aluminum siding on it and I’m wondering if I can paint this siding because I really can’t afford to do an overall makeover right now.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

TOM: Yeah, you absolutely can paint it and the key is going to be that the aluminum siding right now has paint on it that’s deteriorated. It usually chalks. If you rubbed your hand over, for example, it comes off in your hand.

MELISSA: (overlapping voices) Yes.

TOM: So what you need to do is to get as much of that old paint off as possible. You could try to pressure wash it a bit and see if that takes off the loose stuff.

LESLIE: But you need to be cautious with the pressure washer because you could ding the siding.

MELISSA: Oh.

TOM: Yeah, you want to use a wide sort of a fan spray.

MELISSA: OK.

TOM: And then you could actually brush – like wire brush – or sand lightly the siding and I would practice kind of on like the least visible side of your house because the key here is to make sure any loose material is removed. Then you need to prime it – I would use an oil-based primer – and then you need to put a topcoat on it and the topcoat could be latex.

LESLIE: What is that new Behr paint that just came out that adheres really well and almost makes a good sealant? Is it that pure – darn, we just talked about it, Tom, you and I.

TOM: Yeah, the Behr folks have a paint out now that’s actually primer and paint in one coat.

LESLIE: It’s the Premium Plus Ultra paint from Behr and they can mix it into any of their colors and it’s fantastic.

TOM: And the best way, Melissa, to apply the paint, if you can, is by spraying it and you can rent a paint sprayer if you want to do it yourself.

MELISSA: Yeah. (chuckles)

TOM: You know why? Because it’s hard to brush into all those nooks and crannies.

MELISSA: Right, right. There are a lot of nooks and crannies; that’s for sure.

TOM: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

MELISSA: Now do I have to bring the paint all the way down to the metal?

TOM: No, no, no. Just need to get rid of the loose stuff.

MELISSA: Excellent. Excellent. Well thank you very much.

TOM: You’re welcome, Melissa. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.