Best paint for wooden conservatory?

andre_xs

Hi All,
last year we got a used conservatory, which is made from wood. The old paint is flaking, so it needs a new paint/coat. Any tips how to best do this? Do we need to strip down the old paint completely?

What to look out for in the paint? Would any standard (good quality) shed/fence paint be fine?

Best wishes,

Andre

Bendy_House

Any chance of a photo?
Is the timber actually rot-free? IE is this essentially a cosmetic issue?
How good is the existing finish - are there patches of paint missing, with other bits still there - all a bit steppy and hard to cover evenly? 
If you want is to last, then certainly remove all loose and flaky paint, and then you can use coarse - 80grit- to try and level/ even out the levels. This might be enough for thicker paints - perhaps Bedec Barn Paint? - to cover it nicely. I think typical 'garden' paints - 'Garden Shades' etc - would struggle to hide paint layers.
Another paint I've been looking at recently is decking refurb paint, eg by Ronseal. These appear to have superb 'filling' and obliterating abilities, so could be another option. But you'd need to research this yourself.
In any case, another thing I'd do after sanding/before painting is to soak the timber in a good quality timber preserver.
What colour were you thinking of?

Bendy_House

Osmo and Zinsser made high quality paints for exterior timber, but I'm not sure how neat you'd need to get the patchy-paint surface first.

andre_xs

Trying to answer your questions:
- First of all, it doesn't need to be perfect. No problem if it's somewhat uneven because of old paint. Although the old paint is really not that 'thick', so it is not steppy. It's also not flaking in this sense.
- We'd like to go for the same kind of 'standard' red
- Parts were a bit rotten, but I've treated that already with wood hardener. Some bits will need to be filled up with wood filler.
- We'll look at the other suggestions regarding colours and timber preserver, thanks for this.

Kind Regards,
Andre

Bendy_House

Ah, that's not bad at all. As you say, that's more 'weathering' of the finish, and not peeling - ie the coating is being naturally eroded away, and is not blistering or flaking off. That's great news.

Most likely, then, you'll be looking for a 'woodstain' to coat this. Very badly named, 'woodstain' in this sense is a weatherproof coating which is translucent, so it adds a wood tone but still allows the grain to show through.

Lots of good stuff out there - but I don't have a personal recommendation. I'm sure folk on here will have some good options.

What I said before still applies, tho' - once you've sanded/gently wire-brushed the surface as smooth and even as possible, I would brush or spray (really soak) preservative on all the timber. Especially allow it to get in to every joint and beading - keep applying it as it's drawn in, until it stops! Ditto the underside of the doors - another vulnerable part.

Bear in mind that top coats ONLY 'protect' the timber from rain - ie they try to keep it away - but they don;t 'preserve' the wood. So, once water does get through - via the joints, behind beadings, etc - and it will, then there's nothing to stop the rot from occurring out of sight. Hence the need to 'preserve' first.

A starting point for the choice of top coat? https://www.thedecoratorsforum.com/best-exterior-woodstain/ (I do NOT know how bona-fide this is.)

Oh, and do this when you've had a prolonged dry and warm spell, so that all the trapped moisture in the timber has been released.