How to Repaint a Plywood Porch
Plywood consists of multiple layers of wood that are compressed together tightly into a single sheet. It has a variety of uses, including building porches. While plywood is durable if maintained properly, the paint deteriorates quickly due to crevices in the wood layers, which often contain moisture. This often results in flaking and peeling or checking, which looks like vertical raised lines on the plywood. Repainting the plywood requires that you first strip it down to bare wood.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Bucket
- Water
- Long-handled scrub brush
- Garden hose
- Medium-grit sandpaper
- Belt sander
- Dust mask
- Safety glasses
- Tack cloth or broom
- Latex exterior wood primer
- Paint brushes
- Paint roller (optional)
- Acrylic latex exterior grade paint
Instructions
-
-
1
Fill a bucket with 1 gallon of water and 3 to 4 tsp. of liquid dish soap. Stir the liquid up until bubbles form and insert a long-handled scrub brush into the soap mixture. Scrub the entire outside of the plywood to remove dirt, grease and tree sap. Rinse the soap off with a garden hose and allow the plywood porch to dry completely overnight.
-
2
Place a medium grit sandpaper sheet onto an electric belt sander and plug it in. Put on safety glasses and a dust mask and sand the surface of the plywood to remove all of the existing paint.
-
-
3
Wipe down all of the plywood with a tack cloth or use a broom to brush off all sanding dust from the surface.
-
4
Open a can of latex exterior wood primer and insert a paint brush into it. Paint the plywood porch with a layer of primer until none of the underlying wood is visible. If desired you can apply the primer with a roller and then use a brush to fill in any crevices the roller missed.
-
5
Allow the primer to dry for 24 hours and then open a can of acrylic latex exterior grade paint in the desired color. Apply two coats of the paint, allowing the first coat to dry thoroughly before applying the second.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Prime and paint the plywood immediately after sanding the plywood porch since any exposure to the weather causes it to deteriorate.
