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In this video I'm going to show you how to prepare and paint an exterior timber weatherboard
wall. A splash of paint will make any surface look absolutely fantastic and it doesn't take
very much to do it. There's three simple steps. The first is the preparation. The second is
undercoat, if required. And the third is the top coat. Depending on the condition of your
walls and whether you're going to totally change the colour from light to dark, you
may get away with the two top coats. If it's in poor condition, you'll definitely need
a primer. The tools and materials we'll need for painting the wall: For preparation we
need the wire brush, scourers, sand paper, a soft brush and pan is always handy, masking
tape for taping around windows, the putty and the putty knife, the filler. If your timber
is bad it needs to be scrubbed out with a wire brush and then filled. You need a scraper.
I'll explain what the newspaper's for later. We've got a roller and an extension for the
roller. We won't be using that today but in the case of you doing your eaves you would
need the roller. Good quality paint brushes, good quality paint, a paint pot to put the
paint in. And to avoid those splatters on the plants or on concrete, you'll definitely
need a drop sheet. And most importantly, while you're sanding you need a mask, gloves, and
you definitely need goggles. The first step is to have a good look at the wall. I've noticed
there's a bit of a gap between these two boards underneath here so we'll use the old caulking
gun to fill it up, make it a weatherproof seal. Make sure you put on your rubber gloves.
You don't want to get it all over your hands. A bit of a squeeze, pushing it away from your
body. With a finger, push it up and then wipe it off and no weather's going to get under
there. Right. With the small hole that we found here just get yourself a bit of wood
filler. Into the hole, scrape it down. Scrape it nice and flat with a spatula and leave
it a little bit on the (?) side so as when you actually sand it down you're going to
get it level with the board. Don't forget to put the mask on and the goggles down before
you do your sanding because you don't want to be breathing any of the dust. Give everything
a light sand. It gets all the rough bits, the imperfections off. Any little spots where
there's a bit of a drip from a previous painting. If you've got any paint that's peeling off,
you might use a metal brush. With the down part, you need a bit of a scourer. The next
and the last thing with the old brush, you give everything a good brush down to get all
the dust off. And once that's complete, we're ready for painting. As there's many different
types of exterior paints, pop on down to your local Bunnings Warehouse. Have a word with
a team member down there and they'll give you all the advice on which particular type
of paint to use in your circumstances. In our case we're going to use an acrylic pain.
Now paints come in cans - 10 litres, 15 litres - whether it's acrylic or enamel, it doesn't
matter. Make sure when you get home before you use it you stir it in the actual can first.
Then tip it out into a pail, a smaller pail, and give it another bit of a stir. The reason
you're going to do that - you don't want to be carrying 10/15 litres around the backyard
with you or around the front. Now being acrylic paint, it's a water-based, so what you can
do is get your brush in a bit of water first. Get rid of the water. And the paint won't
stick to the top of the brush. The other tip: if it's below 10 degrees or above 30 degrees
don't bother even starting because it's too hot or too cold for the paint to dry. What
I always like to do is start at the top and either in a corner or in this case behind
a down pipe. You start behind a down pipe or in a corner. It doesn't make such a distinctive
mark because that's going to dry a little bit before you possibly get around to the
other side. If you started right in the middle and go across, that bit there is going to
dry before you get back to it. So it's always best to start underneath the weatherboard
first. Nice long strokes and then you come up the top. Right. When you're putting paint
on the brush, dip it in, give it a bit of a wiggle. Then just give it a tap on each
side. You'll retain all your paint. If you wipe it on the edge of the bucket you'll wipe
off 40% of the paint. You'll also notice that if you put a fair bit of paint on your brush,
brush it into one spot and then use that as a bit of a reservoir. And you can go along.
This is the first coat and it's covering quite well. If you have any drips that sort of splash
down, just quickly feather over it before you get to it and then it won't dry and you
won't have a lump of paint to have to deal with when you get to it. Here's another tip:
on a hot day you'll notice the brush fills up with paint. Give it a clean out with water,
just water, every half hour or so and it'll just keep it nice and fresh. And you'll be
able to get the paint right in. Now with the downpipe, if you're going to paint the downpipe
a different colour to the wall, it's best to paint that first. Give it its two coats
first and then you can wrap it in a piece of newspaper so as when you're painting in
behind here you're not going to get it all over the downpipe. We're going to do it in
the same colour so it doesn't really matter. With the downpipe, put a fair bit of paint
on and then just feather it all out as you go down. Right. It's two hours since we finished
our first coat now so just prior to giving it the final and second coat. I'm just going
to stand back and have a quick look at it and it gives you a chance to see any imperfections
that you've left in your paint. You might get a little drip mark somewhere. Now that
I'm happy with that first coat, we'll start with the second coat. When you're doing this,
do it exactly the same as the first coat. You start at the top of the wall. You also
start at the bottom of the board and go up through the board. Nice long strokes. Now
that the paint job's finished, you can sit back and enjoy it. With a little bit of maintenance,
a bit of dusting, a little de-cobwebbing, you'll get 10-15 years without any worries.
For more information, pop down to your local Bunnings Warehouse. A team member will give
you all the information you require.