How many coats of paint does my shed need?

Have you ever wondered why your Shed is looking a bit down in the dumps? 

Is your summerhouse looking a bit worse for wear and frail-looking?

If you’ve had this thought before, there are a few reasons why this can occur. But today, Sheddies, we’re going to focus on one of the big reasons, if not the biggest: a severe lack of paint🎨

Your Shed needs the same TLC that everything else needs. It’s a living, breathing thing, and you have to treat it as such!

If you’ve just had a brand new Shed or Summerhouse delivered, and you’re sitting there in amazement, you might be wondering when you’ll need to do some maintenance.

But effectively you need to know…

“how many coats of paint does my Shed need?”. 

The short answer is that you’ll need a coat of paint around every 5 years. However, in this blog, we’ll give you some explanations (and proof)…

What happens when you don’t repaint:  The Redshed Parable

Ah, poor old Redshed – G&M’s resident storage shed, hiding away behind our Show Area where no one can see him. 

Poor Redshed; we ought to treat him better….*looks at Sorley*

I’m kidding, of course! We’ve obviously just not given him any new coats of paint as we’re illustrating what can happen if you don’t paint your Shed…..

….Anyway, Redshed needs more love, and we’re terrible people for not delivering that TLC. Moving on!

All joking aside, it does go to show what happens when you don’t paint your building! And this begs the question, how often do you need to paint your Garden building? 

As with anything, folks, it depends. You’ve seen the TL;DR above that says about every 5 years, but there is a lot more to it than that. 

How will the Scottish weather affect how many coats of paint you need?

One of the main factors in adding, or deducting from this 5-year rule-of-thumb is geography. Let’s say that you have two Sheddies. One Sheddie is up in Fort William, the other is in Berwick. 

Now, last time I checked, the weather down at the border is quite a bit nicer than up in the Highlands, and as such – you guessed – our Fort William Sheddie is going to need to paint a bit more frequently than our Berwick Sheddie.

In essence, it’s all about weather weather weather… whether you like it or not! (you chuckled, didn’t you?). 

Indeed, the main thing that alters a building’s need for maintenance is the weather it must endure. To quantify it, I’d suggest that a Shed up in Fort William will need to be painted every 3-to 4 years; leaning towards 3 if there’s been a particularly nasty Winter at any point. 

On the flipside, Berwick people will most likely not need to paint every 5 years. Assuming the Winters are not overly awful, these Sheddies may only need to be repainted every 7 years to keep it looking tip-top. It’s all about the weather. If the Shed is looking tired, give it some love – it’s just Mother Nature taking her toll.

How will coats of paint affect the life expectancy of the shed?

Now #Sheddies, earlier on in this article I showed you poor old Redshed who is not looking very healthy at all. This guy is something like 20 years old – it’s pretty ancient! And I know what you’re thinking: this is just a case of age.

Well, you’re partly right to think that. However, I can guarantee that the tired aesthetic is almost solely because he’s not been painted.

And we have proof below. 

I implore you to look at a picture of our very own Sales Office Garden Room out on-site here at Errol. This bad boy is painted every 5 years – just as we recommend – and it is looking brand new.

“Is it brand new”, you ask?

I don’t think you’ll believe me when I tell you that this beauty is 16 years old. Wow. Now that is the difference that painting your building makes. The difference between Redshed and our Sales Office is absolutely immense.

If this doesn’t persuade you to repaint your Shed approximately every 5 years, I don’t know what will! You’re doing your Shed a favour, yourself a favour, and your garden a favour.

Win-win (win), right?

What paint should you use to re-paint you shed?

Now, you’re probably also wondering: what paint should I actually be using?

And you’re spot on asking that because, in our opinion, the best paint you can use for a Shed is Sadolin Superdec. We have made a SHEDLOAD of content on Sadolin and why it is so good, so do feel have a scan of these blogs listed below:

• Painting your Gillies & Mackay building: the second coat explained
• Shed Maintenance: How Painting Your Shed Will Help Your Shed Last Longer

There’s so much more to be discovered beyond these two! I know what you’re thinking: “so much content about a type of paint?!” 

Yep, that’s how you know it’s good. We don’t need to talk about Sadolin anymore here – the bottom line is: it’s great. 

Don’t forget to give your garden shed a new coat of paint…

So, I think that’s just about everything we wanted to cover today folks, and to help you remember how many coats of paint you Shed needs, just remember this limerick.

If you think that your Shed needs some paint,

some Sadolin will make it feel quaint.

Nearing 5 years untouched? 

Reapply it as such!

And your building will think you a Saint. 

Tell you what, that’s actually not a bad limerick! Chuffed with that, just like you’ll be when you apply those additional coats over the years. 

If you like the idea of cracking out the paintbrushes, grabbing a brew and painting a brand new Shed, book in for a Consultation HERE to get an order placed and be first in line for delivery.