Painting this house plinth black

[NewspaperTaxis]

The plinth on the front of our house could do with a lick of paint. I suppose the plinth is really a kind of outside skirting board.

This is not a hard job, just outside my comfort zone. Presumably you just sand down the affected area a bit, clean it with soap and water, leave it to dry and then carefully paint it using a tin of masonry black paint from Wickes.

It doesn't have to be done with particular finesse though one painter and decorator I asked to do it - among a couple of other jobs I wanted done tbf - basically refused saying it was so easy I should do it myself.

It is easy, isn't it? Or have I missed something?

[PickNewName]

I think the hardest thing will be keeping dirt off your paintbrush tbh.
It will be fine. Open the tin & go for it!

[thedogisstaring]

I would dig a little trench about 6 inches all the way round so you ensure you paint below the ground level line, then it just needs a good scrub with a wire brush to remove loose bits then whack on some paint!

[NewspaperTaxis]

Thanks, I will give it a go! Wire wool might be too abrasive for me maybe I"ll try those kitchen brush scourers!

[BustPipes]

Reminds me of this gem from our survey OP:

"Low level rendered plinth. Rendering cracked, unkeyed and missing in places 
exposing the underlying brickwork. We do not favour the use of rendered plinths as 
they can bypass any damp proof course that may exist and lead to internal damp 
problems. However, to merely hack the plinth off would result in a rather unsightly finish. We recommend defective sections be hacked off and renewed with a two coats of render."

Needless to say, after four years in the house we still haven't tackled our unsightly plinth. I need to invest in a decent silk cravat before I commence hacking off, never mind the two coats of render.

[BustPipes]

PS good luck with the paint job! I recommend getting a big bit of cardboard out of the recycling and scooching around on that, rather than trying to squat down and paint - low level painting is hard work!

[NewspaperTaxis]

Hi everyone, I did get around to painting the plinth! It looks okay, masonry paint from Wickes. It might have been better to get a builder just to replace the plinth all the way round while he was doing some rendering on another wall.

He did put in a plinth for the front bit and I intend to paint that. As you can see in the picture, it's white. Is that the primer paint? Or should I just paint black masonry paint straight on, with no other prep?

[Frecklespy]

Great job - you have inspired to paint my own plinth, which is looking just like yours did!!