Facts and Figures in Connection with Outside Painting 
INFORMATION THAT THE HOUSE OWNER SHOULD HAVE BEFORE HIS HOUSE IS 
PAINTED—THE BEST SEASON FOR THE WORK AND THE BEST MATERIALS TO USE 
by George E. Walsh 
Photographs by P. H. Humphrys and others 
W ITH every recurring season the question of painting the 
house causes more or less concern among house owners 
who wish to keep their place in good repair at all times both for 
looks and protection. No hard and fast rule can be laid down as 
to how often the exterior of a house should be painted, for that 
is something decided largely by climate, the condition of the paint, 
and the thoroughness of the last job. In high and dry climates 
paint retains its color and usefulness longer than at the seashore 
where the disintegrating effects of salt and moisture are always at 
work. Some houses need repainting every second or third year, 
while others may not require it oftener than every third or fourth 
year. 
The early fall of the year is considered by most architects and 
painters the best time to paint the house. October is one of the 
best months, for it is a quiet month, with few heavy winds to 
blow up dust, and most of the insects of summer are dead or 
hibernating. There is little danger of heavy frost to injure the 
paint. One paints his house to protect and beautify it. The se¬ 
lection of colors must therefore be a matter of individual taste, 
but to protect the woodwork there must be good paint material 
and good workmanship. 
The composition of colored paints, however, should be under¬ 
stood in a general way by the owner of a house. The white paints 
consist of white lead or oxide of zinc, and combinations of such 
inert materials as barytes, gypsum, whiting and silica. The only 
durable black pigments are lamp black, gas and bone blacks. The 
red pigments consist chiefly of the iron oxides and red lead, but 
often the coloring of these are heightened by mixing some of the 
aniline dyes with them. The aniline dyes are misleading, for they 
give an artificial brilliance to the color of the paint, but they 
quickly fade and cause disappointment. The yellow pigments 
are the chromes and the ochres. The former are the brighter in 
appearance, but not so durable in effect. Aniline dyes are some¬ 
times mixed with the yellow paints to add to their brilliant lustre, 
but they should not be accepted for permanent work. Blue paints 
are made from the Prussian blues and the ultramarines, and the 
greens from combinations of Prussian blue and chrome yellow. 
The brown paints get their colors from the umbers, siennas, and 
the so-called mineral browns. They are all very durable. 
Pure linseed oil should be used for mixing and emulsifying the 
paints. A good many cheap substitutes are used, such as pe¬ 
troleum oil, cotton-seed oil, rosin oil and fish oil. None of these 
gives the same permanent results as pure linseed oil. No known 
substitute has ever been found to take its place and give the same 
excellent results. Turpentine and benzine can be used in the 
paints in small quantities to reduce the thickness 6f the pigments 
to good working condition without any particular harm. They are 
also used sometimes to hasten drying and to secure the ‘‘dead¬ 
ness” of surface. Both the benzine and turpentine are volatile, 
and they disappear and do not remain in the dried coat of paint. 
But even their use should be limited to actual needs. 
In painting a house contractors usually figure that the cost of 
the labor represents from two-thirds to three-fourths of the whole 
cost of the job, and where there is a good deal of cornice, sash 
and ornamental painting to be done the cost of the labor even ex¬ 
ceeds this proportion. So the paint after all is not the all-import¬ 
ant part, and one should therefore insist upon the best and also 
upon good careful workmanship. The covering capacity of a 
gallon of paint is a matter that depends a good deal upon the con¬ 
dition of the house to be painted. On a new house the wood ser¬ 
vice absorbs the paint much faster than on a surface that has al- 
readv been treated. If ten pounds of white lead will spread over 
221 square feet of surface, the usual estimate, the same amount 
of material in a second coat will spread over 324 square feet. A 
painter under average conditions figures out the total surface area 
to be painted in square feet, and then divides this by 18. That 
gives approximately the number of pounds of white lead in oil 
that will be needed to do a good three coat job. For a two coat 
job divide the number of square feet by 200, and the result will 
give approximately the number of gallons of white lead paint 
Paint is not only an insurance against deterioration but is a certificate of good standing. These houses of similar style owe their different 
appearance to the fresh painted boards of the house on the right 
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