Why Is the Exterior Paint Peeling on My Doors? - Part One

Ron's Painting

RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • INTERIOR • EXTERIOR  • FAUX FINISHING in Southwest Florida.

Serving Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Fort Myers, Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero and Cape Coral, FL.

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Why Is the Exterior Paint Peeling on My Doors?

We, here at Ron’s Painting, have talked to many people who own homes in Southwest Florida and one of the most common questions they have involves exterior peeling paint.

This is understandable; there are several factors that cause paint to peel on various surfaces, and many of them happen to converge on homeowners in this area throughout the year. Fortunately, there are solutions to these problems.

Check Your Exposure

One reason many homeowners experience peeling paint on the exterior of their home, especially on garage doors, is at some time someone painted the garage door with oil based paint.  Especially if your garage door faces south or west, where it gets the brunt of the Florida sun, and it was painted with oil based paint, the paint will fade very quickly. The paint will “alligator” (think of an Alligator’s skin!) and eventually start to come off.  It also becomes very chalky and mildew can grow very quickly on a door that has been painted with oil based paint.

Choose the Right Paint and Prepare Properly

Peeling paint can often be caused by previously painting a surface using oil based paint, not properly preparing the surface for repainting, then painting over the surface with a latex based paint.  Rule of thumb for all painting is: oil based paint over latex paint is okay, but latex over oil based paint is not okay.

What we usually do when painting latex over oil is lightly sand the original paint layer, prime it with bonding primer that matches the final coat of paint, and then apply the final coat of paint with latex based paint. In some cases, the best solution is to strip the paint and start from scratch, which costs more, but is more of a long-term fix than just painting over the peeling.

The worst thing to do when painting your home's exterior is to ignore your location, assume all paint is created equal, and that just one or two basic coats will do!  Proper preparation before painting is everything to make your paint job last.

By Ron Rooker

President Ron's Painting LLC.  

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