Weatherboard homes are all over Melbourne's older suburbs, and they turn up in the south east too. Timber is a beautiful cladding, but it moves, it weathers, and it shows every shortcut in the paint job before it. A proper repaint is mostly preparation.
Start with the timber, not the paint
Every board gets checked before anything else. Soft spots, rot at the bottom edges near the ground, and boards that have cupped or split need repair or replacement first. Painting over rot doesn't hide it for long - it hides it just long enough to get worse.
Loose and flaking paint comes off by scraping and sanding back to a firm edge. This is the slow, unglamorous part of the job, and it's where most of the result is decided.
Gaps and joints
Timber moves with moisture and temperature, so the filler has to move too. Flexible exterior-grade filler goes into gaps at board ends, around windows and along joints. Rigid fillers crack out within a season or two.
Bare timber needs primer
Anywhere the sanding has gone back to bare wood, an exterior wood primer seals the timber and gives the topcoats something to grip. Skipping primer on bare patches is why some boards peel years before the rest.
The paint system
Two topcoats of a quality exterior acrylic is the standard system. Lighter colours last longer on timber because they absorb less heat; very dark colours on sun-facing boards can push timber movement hard enough to shorten the coating's life. Worth knowing before you fall in love with a charcoal weatherboard.
How long should it last?
A well-prepared weatherboard repaint in Melbourne conditions should give you many years before it needs attention again - sun-facing walls will always weather faster than shaded ones. Our repaint timing guide covers the signs to watch for.
We paint weatherboards across Melbourne's south east. Call 0420 596 677 to talk through yours.