Repainting a House

[ssmith1627]

Trying to get a rental house back in shape for my inlaws so they can get it rented out again. Had to build some new drawers for the kitchen and replace a countertop and sink. Replace a bathroom floor, put the toilet back in, replace some plumbing in there.

Now I'm to a point that I need to work on the OUTSIDE. Any advice on repainting a house ? How much of the old paint do I really have to scrape away ? Just what is loose ? And then sand the edges down some ? I tried in one little sample area on the back of the house and I just felt it looks halfway done -- up close you can clearly see where there are 2 layers of paint and where there's just 1 -- basically where the paint all scraped away and where it didn't.

Appreciate the feedback.

Any fears when scraping on ......I think this is masonite type siding ? I remember a show on This Old House Classics where it looked very similar and the stuff had asbestos in it. Gonna try searching for some info on the net as well.

Thanks guys.

Steve

[scorrpio]

I believe that latest Fine Homebuilding issue has an in-depth article on prepping a house for repainting...

[ssmith1627]

Picked that up at lunch. Thank you.

Gonna be a lot of fun. Not so bad on the parts at ground level but the rest, whew.....a lot of work.

Steve

[maxparot]

I would have to say that is depends on the surface that you are painting. For instance painted brick tends to look good showing multiple layers whereas sheet siding with a smooth texture needs to often be sanded to feather in the old paint before applying new. Course textured siding may not require much more than removing the loose base material. In any event I'd say at minimum you need to remove what is loose but for a rental I'd worry less about how it looks and more about how long it will last before needing more time and money put in to protect the investment.

[Hellrazor]

Beware of lead paint.