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Exterior coatings don't fail overnight. They give you a good year of warning if you know what to look at — and the difference between acting then and acting later is usually the difference between painting and carpentry.
1. Chalking
Run your hand along a sun-facing wall. If it comes away with a fine powder, the binder in the paint has broken down. The coating is still there, but it's stopped protecting.
2. Hairline cracking
Fine crazing across the surface means the film has lost its flexibility. It still looks fine from the street, and it's the last easy moment to repaint.
3. Flaking around fixings and joins
Where two materials meet — timber to render, wall to window frame — movement concentrates. Flaking here means water is getting behind the coating.
4. Colour shifting unevenly
North and west walls fade first. When the difference between elevations is obvious from the driveway, the coating has taken its full UV load.
5. Timber that feels soft
Press a fingernail into the weatherboard near the ground line. If it gives, you're past painting and into replacement for that section.
Why timing matters
Repainting sound timber is straightforward. Repainting timber that's been open to the weather for two wet seasons means replacing boards, and that's a different quote entirely.
