Should I prime the whole house exterior in this case?

I've been talking to handymen, general contractors, and a painter contractor about repainting my home's exterior. Most of them suggest or bid various solutions that don't involve priming the entire exterior.

My current exterior is the original paint supplied with my model year 2002 manufactured home. It's a Glidden I.C.I. product, but maybe that's not important. In some places, the paint is almost as good as new; it others, there are spots where it's gone and bare pressed wood shows.

The thing that worries me is that my current paint is all satin finish (both the siding and the trim). The surface seems slick enough that I'm not sure whether the new coat of satin paint will adhere as well as it should.

On the other hand, if you painted some wood with the usual two top coats of paint, you wouldn't worry about the second coat peeling away from the first coat. So maybe the sheen is nothing to worry about.

Plus, I've read a suggestion that all latex paints are naturally self-priming, in the sense that they will bond to any existing latex paint.

Is priming only for bare wood? Or should I require that the whole house receive a coat of primer? Or something else?

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences with this issue.

 

What type of siding do you have?

In most cases, you would prime the bare wood and paint. There should be no issues with the new paint sticking to the old, (as long as it is the same paint type) but you have to be sure to clean the old paint well with T.S.P first.

I would be more concerned about why you only have certain areas that are pealing bad while the rest looks like new. Usually that is a sign of water getting behind the siding.

 

Keith, thanks for responding. The siding consists of large panels of pressed wood particles/splinters. Each panel's left and right edges are shaped so that it can overlap with the adjoining panels and they all remain flush and form a flat wall.

Those overlapping edges are not caulked. I assumed it's supposed to be that way, so the area behind the siding can "breathe" and moisture could escape and evaporate. If that's wrong, please let me know!

I wonder whether my cheap siding is vulnerable to having rainwater soak through it. I hope that two new coats of satin finish paint might help prevent that.

Yes, moisture is probably involved. After the repainting, I'm going to have gutters installed along the roof. That will help in at least some areas with paint loss.

I'll see whether the problems then go away.

 

There are absolutely no issues with applying satin latex paint over satin latex paint [no matter what brand] All raw areas should be primed! Normally sound paint doesn't need a primer. Another concern is whether or not their is any chalk. Latex paint/primer will not adhere well over chalky paint! When all the chalk can't be washed off you need to either coat it with an oil base primer or add Flood's EmulsaBond to the first coat of latex.