Can you paint vinyl siding?

Lee’s Notes: I have a flip house, and the exterior is this hideous mustart yellow. Not the bright yellow of  French’s, but the nasty yellow of Grey Poupon.. Yeah, it’s bad.. of course, it’s winter now, and we cant paint the house if I wanted to, but I digress.. Found this QnA session about paints for vinyl siding, and thought it might be interesting to others.

DEAR TIM: My house has a combination of wood and vinyl siding. The wood siding needs a fresh coat of paint, but I want the color of the two sidings to be consistent. My wife wants a new color that is different than what we have now. Can I successfully paint vinyl siding? If it is possible, are there special paints and techniques that I must use? Donald N., Scranton, PA

DEAR DONALD: If you had asked this question several years ago, I don’t think you would have liked the answer. But fortunately, there have been some major breakthroughs in the paint and coatings industry. Several new exterior paints are available that have been formulated to stick to vinyl siding. They perform so well that the paint manufacturers
offer a long term warranty so long as you follow the paint label instructions.

Painting vinyl siding is challenging for several reasons. Vinyl siding has a very high expansion/contraction coefficient. This simply means that it expands and contracts significantly as it experiences periods of exposure to sunlight and then periods of shade or darkness. This movement of the siding caused traditional exterior paints to fail in short order as the bond between the paint and the siding was severed by this constant back and forth movement.

Vinyl siding also soaks up heat to a great degree. If it gets too hot, it can buckle and distort. This is why many vinyl products are offered in lighter colors. Because of this fact, you can actually damage your vinyl siding if you paint it a color that is too dark. The paint manufacturers highly recommend that you paint the vinyl siding a color that is no darker than the current shade of your vinyl siding.
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For example, if your siding is currently a light shade of beige, you can paint it a light shade of green, blue, tan, etc. The trick is to use paint store color chip cards to guide you. Locate a color that is as close as possible to your existing vinyl siding. Use that color chip card as a benchmark and find complimentary paint chip cards that have the same depth of color as your card. You can then select a color that is equal to or less in color richness and depth as your existing vinyl siding color.

You must use the right paint to achieve victory. The ones that seem to work best with vinyl siding are ones that have a blend of urethane and acrylic resins. Water based urethanes mixed with high grade acrylic resins produce a user-friendly paint that has extraordinary adhesive qualities. This is exactly what one needs to combat the daily movement of the vinyl siding. Exterior latex paints that contain urethane are readily available. Simply look for the word urethane on the label of the paint can.

To get the absolute best results from this paint job you need to do a few other things. I feel that a clean, dry surface is very important. If you clean your house like your own body or your car, you will have a great head start. This means using soap and water and some good old fashioned elbow grease. You must mechanically remove the dirt film from the existing painted surfaces with soapy sponges, rags or brushes. Do not count on pressure washers to clean your existing surfaces. Not only do they not get all the dirt off the surfaces, but they also can inject massive amounts of water into and behind the siding. This hidden water can cause big problems as you begin to apply the new paint.

If mildew is present on the existing surfaces, use an oxygen bleach solution to remove it. Oxygen bleach will not harm the vinyl siding nor any vegetation near your home. Avoid chlorine bleach as it is highly toxic to vegetation. Oxygen bleach can be found easily on the Internet.

Painting in direct sunlight is also not the best idea. If you can paint your home in cooler weather and preferably on overcast days, the paint will have excellent conditions in which to dry and bond to the vinyl siding and existing wood siding. Windy, hot and sunny weather is not the best time to paint contrary to what many people believe.

Rearrange a room from the comfort of your desk!!

Great online product that lets you redesign a room in 3-d. Upload a picture or design on the fly. Choose paint colors and arrange furniture! I played with this for about 10 minutes and am in love… Now I want to go home and measure my rooms to play with it some more!!!

3-d Room Design

Thinking about completing some remodeling and wondering how it will affect your resale?

I have been flipping homes for over 15 years. I do most of the work myself, but recently I received a letter from a home owner who knows she is going to be selling in roughly 5 years.. Was a pretty long response, and I figured maybe some of you, internet playground peeps, would like to hear my thoughts as well….

When a buyer looks at a home, they want to make sure the kitchens, baths, and major systems(furnace, a/c, kitchen appliances, roof, etc) are up to todays standards. People aren’t too fond of the old octopus heating system that takes up an entire basement.. hehe Not that you have one of those, but you know what I am saying.

If you plan any major remodeling(add/remove walls, additions, etc) General Rule of thumb is to make the home open and airy.

When it comes to bath and kitchens, you need to put the minimum quality on par with the neighborhood. If you go above that your ROI(return on investment) will reduce. On that note, if you plan to be in the home for a while then buy what you will enjoy! Just realize you might not get the ROI you expected come sale time. Upgrades might push you into the lead against comparable properties, but don’t count on it. Does that make sense?

As for paint, etc. If you are specifically looking for resale, then try to stay neutral. That isn’t to say you can’t have some deep or bright colors, but be prepared for repaint. Another thought is to just paint one wall in a room a dark/bright color. It gives you the tone you want, and will be easier to change at a later date(if necessary). Stay away from painting ceilings dark/bright colors. Dark/bright colors, especially on a ceiling, have a tendency to make a room look smaller.

As for flooring: You don’t want to go too bright, deep, etc.. Flooring isn’t as easy or cheap to change. That being said, I have dark hardwood floors in my basement.. I like them, and I don’t think they will be too much of a hindrance come sale time, but I also realize they could be.

 For our region, here’s the average return on investment for some common projects:

Bathroom remodel                    Midwest 78.3%
Deck addition                           Midwest 89.7%
Window replacement                Midwest 82.4%
Attic bedroom                          Midwest 79.2%
Family room addition                Midwest 77.3%
Roofing replacement                 Midwest 81.8%
Master suite addition                 Midwest 72.2%
Major kitchen remodel              Midwest 72.6%
Basement remodel                    Midwest 68.9%
Sunroom addition                     Midwest 67.0%

Obviously, those can all change depending on how extravagant/inexpensive you go on your upgrades/remodel.

Remodeling can be exciting and great fun.. Enjoy it!