Christopher:

>>a good explanation as to why it's still cheaper and easier to maintain
wood rather than having to replace synthetics down the road. >>

I have a vinyl siding story pending, and would love to include this info if
someone has it, as opposed to the usual vinyl-bashing.<<

OK, here's a go at it:

Unfortunately it is no longer "cheap and easy" to maintain exterior woodwork
with paint maintenance. Yes, the actual task of doing paint maintenance is
easy and the materials do not cost much (I will not go into the technical
details here), but it is not cheap or easy to find a painter who is
knowledgable enough to do it effectively. The fallicy that exterior
maintenance can be
"cheap and easy" is heavily promoted by the vinyl companies and the
petro-chemical industry. Routine paint maintenance can effectively protect
exterior woodwork and can cost less over the long term, but this requires
much thinking, planning and committment. Both the paint and vinyl industries
know that most people making purchase decissions do not want to think or
plan,
nor are they committed to their buildings over the long-term. The vinyl
industry tells us correctly that vinyl siding is "cheap & easy", they do not
tell us it is a short-term treatment with high long-term costs. The
paint industry knows that we will not spend much more than $25./gal for
paint and so they give is paint products with short-term performance because
a better ones would cost more. This paint marketing fact is well known
within the paint industry. A paint industry official in a prominant position
admitted this explicity to me just last October.

Oops. I guess it can't actually be done without vinyl (and paint) bashing.
There is no getting around the hard fact that the paint and vinyl industries
are interested in only one thing and that is selling paint and vinyl
products and services. They are not interested in the long-term low-cost
maintenance of your old building. Those who are committed to their building
can do effective paint maintenance, but not by depending on the paint and
vinyl industries.

Get the whole story at Historic HomeWorks
(www.HistoricHomeWorks.com/hhw/Q&A/qa07.htm)


John Leeke, Preservation Consultant

publisher:               Practical Restoration Reports
contributing editor: Old-House Journal
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