Exterior Painting and Preventing Dust/Debris Sitting on Surface Before Top Coat

[bellevueace]

Hi
I live in an old end terrace and am in the process of re painting the outside, i have using a sander taken all the paint off down to bare stone, after filling in the cracks im ready to paint, my question never having done this before is the application, after washing down and applying a good undercoat how do i minimize the chances of dirt settling on the new paint prior to a second coat/topcoat? I live on a busy road and dont want to paint over any settled dirt that could have settled in the 24 hours before adding a second coat, i dont want to put all the effort of removing the paint in only for it to start flaking after a couple of months. Secondly around the front door is sandstone and part ot that needs filling, what is best to use for doing this? Is it possible to actually fill areas in sandstone? Thanks.

[thewallsare]

The only real way is to cover the house which is overkill.

You're never going to eliminate all debris, just make sure to minimize the time between coats and paint when there is no wind or gusts.

Some little bits shouldn't cause the paint to flake if you are using good quality paint.

Good luck!

[bellevueace]

That seems the most sensible way of tackling it, thanks.