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Question about my neighbor's advice on peeling paint, he said scrape it all, I'm not so sure
My neighbor Dale stopped by last Saturday while I was staring at the flaking paint on my 1940s garage door, and he told me to just scrape every last bit down to bare wood before priming. I said that sounds like a full weekend job, and he goes "kid, I've been doing this 30 years, skip it and the paint falls off in 6 months." Back when I started fixing up this place in 2019 I would've just slapped primer over the flakes and called it done, but now I keep thinking about what he said. The thing is, half the door is still holding paint fine, so scraping all of it feels like wasting 2 days on wood that doesn't need it. Has anyone here tested the spot-scrape approach on old exterior trim, and did it actually hold up through a winter or two?
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evan_dixon6717d ago
Did Dale actually look at the door though, or did he just see flakes and start talking? Half your door holding paint fine is a big clue, because paint sticking for 80 years means the bond is still good there. Scraping to bare wood on the solid parts can actually cause problems, you break the seal on old wood and open up fresh spots for water to get in. I would feather the edges where it's flaking, prime those bare spots, then paint the whole thing so it all ties together. Dale's rule works great for a door that's peeling everywhere, but spot work holds up fine when the rest of the paint is tight.
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