Painting a wet coop

[catchthewind]

I hope this isn't a dumb question.

We're close to being done our coop and considering we have 9-10 week old chicks inside the house still it's about time. If we can get the roof on this weekend the rest should come together pretty quickly. The problem is, I'm in the PNW and it rains a lot here. It's been raining almost every night and often during the day too lately. I can pick a dry day to paint the coop, but the wood itself may not be completely dry. Even if I wait until after it's roofed (so at least the inside is dry), the outside of the coop will likely be damp, and because it's been raining most nights I doubt the wood will have a chance to completely dry out even if the outer part is dry enough to paint. Is this a problem? Here's the stupid question part, if I paint wood and the inside of the wood is still slightly damp, will the paint prevent it from being able to dry properly and cause mold? I might have to wait months for it to be dry consistently enough for the wood to completely dry out though. (Or maybe not, some years it stops raining in April, last year it wasn't until June.) I bought Kilz primer and was planning on using an exterior oops paint.

 

[patandchickens]

I don't know what your actual coop situation is, but I would THINK the indoors part would be dry enough to paint, or would become so if you hung a lamp or two in there for a day or two. Since that is the part that it becomes much less practical to paint *after* the chickens are added, I'd just do that for now.

Then wait til this summer to paint the outside. It *will not* hurt it to sit out there unpainted in the weather for a few weeks or months, honest. Wait til you get a genuine dry spell (by local standards, I mean LOL) and paint the outside then. Painting wet wood is a recipe for scraping/sanding/RE-painting real soon in the future.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[catchthewind]

Thanks Pat, that sounds reasonable. It can get really dry in the summers, so if it's not going to be a problem to wait to paint the outside I don't think the wood will have any problems drying out then. It's exterior grade plywood so I guess a few more months of rain shouldn't hurt it. Hanging a light inside once the roof is on is a great idea. We'll definitely do that.

 

[THINGUM]

AW YES, after a day at Butchart Gardens taking pics of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS ON EARTH, then afternoon cocktails in the Empress.

Sorry, ....back to reality, I do seem to remember something about RAIN,.

Things have changed over the years in the paint industry. Mostly with the introduction of (water based) "Acrylics". The story is that they can be applied directly to bare wood. I'm old school and still use oil base (oops) of any kind for first cost, then move to latex.

Pat is right about the exterior being able to wait for drier days. (the ones when you tan instead of rust).

In general, wood takes 3 to 7 days to dry out after being wet. The drying time varies with ambient temps and humidity. Just because it feels dry doesn't mean it actually is, moisture trapped sub-surface will ruin (blister) a top coated (painted) surface applied to soon. The worst part of that is... the damage doesn't show up until dry weather finally arrives anyway.

If forced to paint, then the surface needs to be sheltered, we'll use heavy plastic or lumber wraps or sheets of plywood. Install the shelter in a "tent" fashion so the protected surface will breath. Most acrylics can be applied it temps above 40 degrees that last at least 3 hours after application. Leave the shelter in place at least overnight if rain, or in your area fog or dew is forecasted. AND THEN THERE NO GUARANTEES!

All this is way too much work, but it is what it is.

I'm envious of your location, my French Canadian heritage (Kewlona 'sp') makes me homesick.

 

[PapaChaz]

pat is absolutely RIGHT! i learned from experience years ago painting a house a couple of days after it rained. man it looked soooo good. and it was no time at all until it started peeling, i had to redo the whole job, never ever paint wet wood again! just wait for it to dry, you'll be much more satisfied

 

[catchthewind]

Thank you for all the information. I think we'll dry out the inside once the roof is on (the 3-7 days number is good to know), and then just wait on the rest until summer when it's dryer out. I'd hate to have to redo it all. Once is enough for me, thanks.