On Sat, 16 May 2015, Mayayana wrote:

| I am looking for the paint that will last the longest.
....
|I pay for my painter's time. It takes time to clean oil-based paint out of a
| brush. That time would cost me more than a $1.73 brush.

It sounds like you don't have a skilled painter
and you want the job as cheap as possible. You
don't even want to know anything about how
to paint. You just want to have an unskilled,
underpaid lackey slap on some amazing product
and thereby get the best job. Your strategy
is common, but not promising.

My painter has decades of experience. He is very experienced in plaster
work, as the houses around here have real plaster walls. He doesn't do as
much outside painting.

While there are differences in paints, the biggest
factor will be preparation and adequate caulking/glazing.
(If you put on high quality acrylic but don't caulk
cracks then the wood will get wet and the paint
will peel off. If you don't sand and wash the existing
paint then the new paint won't stick well.)
The wood can also matter: Old trim that's been
weathered won't hold paint well....

But you don't want to bother with any of that. So
buying good paint would probably be a waste of money.

The wood is not weathered. The windows are only 10 years old. This would be
only the second painting for the ones in front. The sills, where there is a
little weathering, he would sand. Remember my painter has decades of
experience.

Some in the back (the sunny side) already have had a second painting. They
may not be repainted this go round. It will be a window by window thing.

Some of the back were repainted with Impervo. I had a different painter
then (the boss of the fellow I now hire directly). When the windows were
new, the fellow I hired supposedly painted a primer and two coats of black
oil-based paint. Looking at the job he did I can't believe he actually
painted that many coats. Unless he thinned it a lot.

That painter 10 years ago was one recommended by the window people. I
caught him not filling in the nail holes. I asked him to do so. He did not.
He said it wasn't necessary. I had to replace one of the back windows. The
nail rusted and broke and the molding popped out. This time my painter will
be sure to fill in the nail holes.

If it's high up and done infrequently, and the old
paint is oil, I'd be tempted to use black oil paint
mixed with thinner and boiled linseed oil. I use that
as a thin blend on rusty iron railings and it holds up
beautifully. (Maybe 30% linseed oil and enough
thinner to make it thin so that it will soak in.)
That will soak in well and the linseed oil cures
to a gummy, protective layer. Linseed oil is what's
used to seal wood gutters and used to be used for
fir decking on porches and stairs. It's also the main
ingredient in traditional house paints. (Years ago
black paint would have been linseed oil, coal
dust and drier.)

Maybe that was what was done 10 years ago. Or he thinned it with something.

Looking at the front windows (the shady side) up on the top floor they do
get some sun. And really it is only the sills that have paint cracking and
peeling.

Putting it on trim will be a bit drippy and won't provide
a smooth, elegant film, but at 3 floors up that won't
matter. And if you use gloss oil you'll still get the
gloss with this mix. Boiled linseed oil dries with a
semi-gloss type sheen and mixed with gloss paint
will dry with a gloss sheen. If you put on two coats it
should last a very long time -- no priming needed.

You can try a little first to see what you think.
And best of all, it's cheap.

Labor is the cost. Not the paint so much.

You have some good ideas. My painter (and handyman) has other things to do
here on Monday. So I will be able to discuss this with him then.

More important is finishing the sealer on the wood fence, and scraping and
painting the iron stairs in the back. This as that is the tenant's space,
and we want to get it all as nice as possible before they go all out and
use it during the Summer.

Don. www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).