pressure washed the barn....

Started to get pretty mossy, so I fired up my " dumpster-dove" pressure washer and gave it what fer. Even did the 3 horse featherlite while i was at it- thing practically glows in the dark now.

Anyone have thoughts on stain or no stain? I've never gotten around to it.

I have natural wood on my house and afterwards I used Thompsons sealer on mine with a light tint. I think it was honey gold. Still can see the wood and leaves it a nice brown color if the wood is aged a bit.

Nice!

Looks like you own a little slice of heaven there!

I'm not sure about the stain but I suppose I'd be inclined to use the Thompson's as well.


Your question has me wondering now, how long should you wait before sealing wood after being pressure washed? Just wondering.

jose,
Down here in Central Texas, On the older wooden barns.....Good ol "Barn Red Paint' is still a favorite! My pick!!
Later,
John A

did you spray it or roll it? I'm thinking I'll need to spray because of the board/batten sides.

I would like to pressure wash my steel sided house but I don't find any of the cleaning soaps rated for steel, only aluminum and vinyl. Just water only works so so.

I have painted out buildings for the past 15 years and barns are a favorite.
I used Cabot latex stain in a antique red color which matched the origional red color.
I would pressure wash, scrape and be sure to let it dry 3 or 4 days before painting.
A interesting bit of history was a traditional barn was painted all red no white trim as it was considered "showing off" to put white trim on a red barn. I don't remember the cabot name of the "red" but could find it if you need it. It is not a bright red that will fade rather it stays the same sheen all the time.

I've painted three times that long. My experience would tell me to use a latex stain or paint even right after power-washing it. Why? What's the solvent of a latex paint? Water. I even sometimes wet a dry building down an hour before I paint it so that the moisture will "draw" the latex to it better.
Now, if you are going to use an oil paint, that's the opposite story. The wood needs to be 15% moisture or less for oil paint to properly adhere to it. 15% is about dry enough to bale hay. Why does paint sometimes not last on the north side of a building like it does on the other three sides? Because the north side wasn't dry enough to paint with an oil paint.
Another pointer: primer is a soft paint, made to adhere and hold the finish paint which is hard so it will withstand the weathering. I have some buildings that don't hold paint because some former paint coat violated the "rules". I only use primer on them even tinted to a color you may want. The older coats will expand and contract at different rates and crack the hard finish (final) coat. Moisture gets behind the paint in the cracks and when it freezes, pops it off. Extreme heat and cold are hard on paint, so is snow lying on the deck or picnic tables.
Power washing is important to a lasting job. I'm surprised at some of the dirt that comes off some buildings. Paint will stick to the dirt, but the dirt won't stick to the barn causing a paint failure.
Now, on some red barn paints, the paint may act as it's own primer. I'm not too fond of painting anything without a primer beneath, but some barn reds, yes.

I had pine clapboards so I sprayed and brushed to touch it up. I tried a pump garden sprayer with little luck. I ended up using an old sears electric paint sprayer I got at a yard sale for $5 that atomized it better and that did the trick. I bet a thick nap roller would work real good in your case.

You have given some good advice but when a board dries after being wet the moisture goes to the air or the outside of a board. How then can this cause the paint to be "drawn" into the board?
Sometimes when we pressure wash the old barns that have square nails you can see diluted red water in the dirt under the siding. This is from the ingredients of the red paint of that era.

My advice is to spray it on only as a means of applying the paint. Brush it well to distribute it and give a nice, smooth finish. Latex paint is not to be applied below a temperature of about 50. The ingredients don't bond as they should in cooler temperatures. Make sure it's dry before dark!
One more bit - latex is made pretty much to lay on the surface and the oil based paints are meant to soak in. I'm wondering, though, have you ever sawn through a board painted with oil paint and noted how far it "soaked" in? Needless to say, I'm a strong advocate of the latexes. They've improved them a lot since they came on the market.

Moisture, being the "thinner" of latex or vinyl paint, does soak into the wood "drawing" the thinned paint after application into the pores of the wood. It then dries from the inside out leaving the paint behind.