Painting a shed

[SoftFroggie]

Old rough wooden shed. Some currently painted, some not.
All needs a nice new lick of paint.
What do I need to do?
Rubbing down? primer? undercoat? how many coats of topcoat?
fairly grotty old shed, so don't want to go over the top, but if a jobs worth doing ... and all that.
Here's hoping someone here knows.
Thanks.

[starlover]

i would just use a coloured woodstain.

bits that are already painted should be rubbed down ideally... if not the paint will flake off.

how about a new shed?

[SoftFroggie]

Thanks starlover - would a coloured woodstain be any good on the painted bits?
It's not so bad as worth replacing. But it needs tarting up a bit so DH doesn't get rid of it before I get my ducks / chickens / goats to live in it.

I wrote: "what do I need to do?" what I should have written is "what do I need to pay 16yr old lad next door to do during the summer holidays?"

[starlover]

hahaha... no, woodstain won't work on painted surfaces... unless you sand it right down to bare wood.

[starlover]

or rather.. unless said 16 yr old sands it right down

[SoftFroggie]

bump for anyone who knows how to paint the thing...
or I won't have any work for the lad to do when he comes round after exams are finished, which must be pretty soon.

[SoupDragon]

If it's painted, sand it down, buy some cheap exterior gloss/eggshell and paint it. You will need to prime any bare wood. Is it painted with ordinary paint or does it look like shed preservative type stuff?

[zebraZ]

Might want to check on suitability of paints if animals are going to live in it, they could chew on the wood, don't want them ingesting something they shouldn't.

[SoftFroggie]

Looks like ordinary paint.
So - prime bare wood,
rub dpwn painted areas
1 or 2 coats cheap exterior paint.

Sounds straightforward.
Doesn't matter too much if goes wrong

Animals are currently potential and may not become real for a year or two. They'll be IN the shed, and we're painting the outside, so I would have thought they'd be OK.

[SoftFroggie]

Many thanks all.