Farrow & Ball for exterior woodwork - HELP!

[Mins]

We would like to paint the outside woodwork of our house a sludgey greenish grey colour but are 1) not sure if it will work, 2) not sure if F&B or a similar kind of paint is suitable for exterior use (I know they say it is!) and 3) are not sure how we should prepare the woodwork.

Can anyone help? We have a garden shed painted in a Cuprinol colour called Wild Thyme and this is exactly the kind of colour we'd like on our external woodwork. It's a 30s semi - the front door has stained glass with red around the edge and green, amber and a pinky colour. The outside of the house is part rendered painted a creamy colour and part red brick. Have seen lots of Victorian and older houses painted in this greeny- grey colour which looks wonderful but not sure if it works with this style of house and if it does then it's trying to find the right colour..... another thread to come!

What experience do MNers have of using non-gloss paint on exterior woodwork and how did you prepare the wood? Does it matter if you use an oil based undercoat? Help, help, Help!!

hi mins,just doing our exterior too,wood needs a lot of prep, sand down,fill in any holes or gaps with exterior wood filler,wipe down.then i use exterior undercoat and primer in 1 tin.farrow and ball is 17.00 for 750ml tin.they have about 10 colours of undercoat ,i had the dark one cause were painting the woodwork black.2 coats of undercoat and primer then lightly sand before you exterior gloss or exterior eggshell .they are all 17.00 for 750 mls.and all colours are available on the website .good luck.

Hi wfrances - thanks for that. Trouble is I just discovered DH has already put on undercoat - an oil based one at the front of the house and a water based one at the back of the house. Not sure if this is a problem or not - could always go over it again with the F&B one maybe (or maybe that will have to be my job!!)

Mins, I matched a F&B colour think it was Lichen or similar, went to dulux and got a good match, all outdoor woodwork, garage etc done. any good decorating shop will advise on the undercoat already applied.

Thanks for that fitflopqueen - am a bit confused though as I'd thought about that and found a Dulux colour that looked suitable but the guy at the Dulux mixing desk in Homebase told me that they weren't suitable for external use??? What did you use - was it a satinwood?

Yes of course you can - you just need to buy the right finish. We did our conservatory in F&B exterior eggshell but they also do a full gloss - we used Wimborne White and it looks fab.

Mins, yes fairly sure its gloss but did have to go to a dulux trade shop for mixing.

We used F&B for the outside of our house last summer and DH had to do it again this summer.

Don't know if this is normal, but less than one year before flaking occurs doesn't seem much time to me.

Thanks for that fitflopqueen - think I will ring the Dulux trade centre and get some info.

Whatswrongwith you - that's useful to know - did you use the F&B exterior eggshell? Do you know what kind of primer or undercoat you used? Certainly don't want to be redoing it again after a year!