While many contractors agree that back-priming wood siding improves its overall durability as well as the finish of its exterior surface, I’ve seen siding installers ignore this important step.

They simply skip this preparation stage to save money — the cost of the primer — and time.   

For us frugal types who still want to do the job right, here’s a way to add the primer at minimal additional cost:

• Use mis-mixed latex or acrylic exterior paint, which is usually available at your local paint store. This is paint that was custom-mixed for a customer who had a change of heart and didn’t purchase it. 
  
  
• Since you can’t see the color of back-primed siding once it's installed, you shouldn’t care what it looks like. The color makes no difference to me when I use it for back-priming.

Here in the Twin Cities metro area, one local paint distributor offers gallons of its mis-mixed paint for free — rather than pay for its disposal. Other area stores sell their mis-mixed paint at greatly reduced prices.

Be careful, however, of the type of paint you are actually purchasing when seeking this low-cost or free alternative. You want mis-mixed paint, not paint from a recycling center.

While some recycling centers and stores that sell used building materials often provide used or donated paints and stains for free or at low cost, you risk premature paint failure with these products because they may have been frozen, diluted, aged or otherwise ruined. These products are suitable for painting theater props or other jobs requiring temporary finishes, but they should not be used for building finishes — whether seen or unseen.

That’s why paint stores are the best source for free or low-cost mis-mixed finish alternatives.

— Bruce G. Koprucki; Chaska, Minn.

Tips & Techniques provided by Fine Homebuilding.
©2010 The Taunton Press

To contact Fine Homebuilding, email Christina Glennon.

Get NAHB BuilderBooks 2010 Virtual Publications Catalog Online

The NAHB 2010 Publications Catalog from NAHB BuilderBooks is available online.

Presented in a virtual format as part of the NAHB BuilderBooks effort to go green and streamline delivery, the catalog includes publications and products to help building industry professionals ramp up for a successful year as the industry and the economy begin to recover.

The materials in the catalog, written by industry leaders in various fields of residential construction, feature publications and products about accounting, estimating, business management, green building, sales and marketing, safety, construction codes, 50+ housing, multifamily housing, construction management remodeling and more.

Some of the newest publications in the catalog include “Social Media for Home Builders,” the “National Green Building Standard Commentary” and “Paper Trail: Systems and Forms for a Well-Run Remodeling Company, Second Edition.”

To view the virtual catalog, click here.