Old cedar shakes with a few layers of paint, peeling pretty bad. What should I?
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Old cedar shakes with a few layers of paint, peeling pretty bad. What should I?
Small house about 1100 sf. I hate the look of vinyl siding really and was thinking of just painting the house, but I've never done it before.
It's really a tiny house and I wouldn't mind painting it myself, but I dread having to scrape all the old paint off the shakes. I probably should post some pics? lol.
Anyways, is it difficult to strip off all the old paint or do you just take off the loose peeling stuff. There also could be lead paint, I'm not sure.
Oh yeah, these are the larger "shakes" with the grooves in them. So I wouldn't be sure how to get paint off. I wouldn't want to mess up the grooved wood.
Another option would be having someone (hiring) scrape it all or "prep" it and then I could paint it. I really wouldn't mind painting it myself as it's rather a small house.
Should I being going vinyl instead?? Yuck!! Cookie cutter houses!!
It's really a tiny house and I wouldn't mind painting it myself, but I dread having to scrape all the old paint off the shakes. I probably should post some pics? lol.
Anyways, is it difficult to strip off all the old paint or do you just take off the loose peeling stuff. There also could be lead paint, I'm not sure.
Oh yeah, these are the larger "shakes" with the grooves in them. So I wouldn't be sure how to get paint off. I wouldn't want to mess up the grooved wood.
Another option would be having someone (hiring) scrape it all or "prep" it and then I could paint it. I really wouldn't mind painting it myself as it's rather a small house.
Should I being going vinyl instead?? Yuck!! Cookie cutter houses!!
#2
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pics would be nice - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html
How old is the house/siding? Are the shingles in good shape other than paint? Only good way to know for sure if there is lead paint is to test ..... if the house is old enough.
Usually on a house like that we'll pressure washer and then scrape [maybe use a wire brush too] Obviously the more paint you remove the longer a properly primed paint job will last.
How old is the house/siding? Are the shingles in good shape other than paint? Only good way to know for sure if there is lead paint is to test ..... if the house is old enough.
Usually on a house like that we'll pressure washer and then scrape [maybe use a wire brush too] Obviously the more paint you remove the longer a properly primed paint job will last.
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Hi
The house is in the 1970's, I forgot the actual date, but I can find out. To me, the shakes seem ok, but I'm not a painter. None are crumbling or anything, but someone painted over them leaving a lot of paint on them and things. You can tell there's multiple layers and someone must've been lazy and not scraped a lot off in the past.
A good deal of the paint is peeling pretty bad. If I took the time I could most likely hand peel a lot of the shakes that's how bad the paint is holding on.
The house is in the 1970's, I forgot the actual date, but I can find out. To me, the shakes seem ok, but I'm not a painter. None are crumbling or anything, but someone painted over them leaving a lot of paint on them and things. You can tell there's multiple layers and someone must've been lazy and not scraped a lot off in the past.
A good deal of the paint is peeling pretty bad. If I took the time I could most likely hand peel a lot of the shakes that's how bad the paint is holding on.
#4
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The main thing is whether or not the shakes are solid - no rot. Pressure washing will remove a lot of the peeling paint although care must be used not to force water behind the siding and especially along windows and doors.
While I'm sure the siding can be cleaned up, painted and look nice it will require repainting at some point. Of course that does give you the option of changing colors if you wish There are a lot of different styles of vinyl siding so there might be one out there that suits your fancy .... and then the maintenance is basically just washing it as needed.
While I'm sure the siding can be cleaned up, painted and look nice it will require repainting at some point. Of course that does give you the option of changing colors if you wish There are a lot of different styles of vinyl siding so there might be one out there that suits your fancy .... and then the maintenance is basically just washing it as needed.
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#7
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I'd pressure wash it and then come back with a putty knife and wire brush to finish removing any loose paint. Resist the urge to do all the PWing from the ground. Spraying upwards under the shingles can force water behind the siding.
Will know better after it's all prepped but you'll probably need an oil base wood primer. It can be top coated with most any quality latex house paint. While I might spray the primer, both coats can be applied with a 1" nap roller .... and brush work were needed.
Will know better after it's all prepped but you'll probably need an oil base wood primer. It can be top coated with most any quality latex house paint. While I might spray the primer, both coats can be applied with a 1" nap roller .... and brush work were needed.
#8
The siding you show is known as striated cedar shakes. They consist of a layer of cedar mounted to either plywood or a fiber board and are attached in panel form.
Any rough treatment in your preparation will damage the visual aspect of the material as it is cedar which is a soft wood.
Your problem looks more like an issue of poor preparation between previous paint jobs. The original may have been done with an oil based paint which was then covered with a latex. If the original paint was not washed and allowed to dry properly, the subsequent finishes would not develop an ideal bond to the first paint application.
You could try using an air compressor and blast off a lot of the loose material along with a stiff nylon bristle scrub brush. I don't see how a scraping techniques could not end with disaster. The final prep would be to use the pressure washer, but again, this is cedar, you need low pressure and fan spray. As an alternative, you could wash with a TSP substitute material and a stiff scrub brush. Allow to dry thoroughly and you will probably see some additional evidence of peeling which will have to be addressed before priming with a bonding primer and acrylic finish coat.
The beauty of wood siding is that the house color can be changed as opposed to vinyl, which, although can be painted, never has the charm of wood.
Any rough treatment in your preparation will damage the visual aspect of the material as it is cedar which is a soft wood.
Your problem looks more like an issue of poor preparation between previous paint jobs. The original may have been done with an oil based paint which was then covered with a latex. If the original paint was not washed and allowed to dry properly, the subsequent finishes would not develop an ideal bond to the first paint application.
You could try using an air compressor and blast off a lot of the loose material along with a stiff nylon bristle scrub brush. I don't see how a scraping techniques could not end with disaster. The final prep would be to use the pressure washer, but again, this is cedar, you need low pressure and fan spray. As an alternative, you could wash with a TSP substitute material and a stiff scrub brush. Allow to dry thoroughly and you will probably see some additional evidence of peeling which will have to be addressed before priming with a bonding primer and acrylic finish coat.
The beauty of wood siding is that the house color can be changed as opposed to vinyl, which, although can be painted, never has the charm of wood.
tuffy65
voted this post useful.
#9
There is allot of good information stated here. I agree with wire brushing with scraping! However I didn't see anyone mention a spray prep liquid solution before power washing, there is assorted variations jomax etc. helps lift off dirt, sap and mold among other things and helps prep the wood/painted,stained surfaces for better adhesion. Its highly recommended for decks but I also like using it in applications like yours.
Good luck
Good luck
#10
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Guess I forgot A cleaning agent is almost always in order when washing siding/decks as part of the paint prep. I generally use a bleach/water solution and may add TSP as they are both cheap and effective. The commercially prepared products are more dummy proof. I generally wet the siding/deck, spray the cleaning solution on with a pump up garden sprayer, let it set but not dry and then rinse with a pressure washer. Stubborn areas often require a 2nd treatment and/or scrubbing.
#11
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@Brian1900,
I have cedar shake siding on my mid 60's home. It's not the striated kind. It does not have a backing. It's all cedar. Keeping paint on that stuff has been a bear.
I'm not sure what the previous owner(s) did when they painted. I suspect there was oil over latex over oil. I've cleaned and scraped and, following the advice from the paint store, primed the bare spots with oil primer, then finished with acrylic latex. One of the problems I've had is that, many of the places where I hadn't removed the old paint, because it seemed stable and tight, would end up peeling in the next couple of years.
Have you removed any of the shingles to see if there is anything "interesting" going on behind them? I have backer boards behind my shingles. This is different than the kind of backer that @calvert described. The backer they used on my house is a separate sheet around 14" x 48" by 3/8" thick. It's similar to Homasote.
Also, the sheathing they used on my house was Homasote. My theory is that all the porous material behind the shakes tended to retain moisture which would "push" the paint off the shingles.
You may get lucky and achieve a nice paint job that lasts many years.
For me, however, I'm giving up the fight with paint over cedar. It's taking more time than I care to admit, but I'm removing all the old siding and sheathing and replacing with Hardie siding over plywood sheathing (with WRB in between).
Good luck with your project.
I have cedar shake siding on my mid 60's home. It's not the striated kind. It does not have a backing. It's all cedar. Keeping paint on that stuff has been a bear.
I'm not sure what the previous owner(s) did when they painted. I suspect there was oil over latex over oil. I've cleaned and scraped and, following the advice from the paint store, primed the bare spots with oil primer, then finished with acrylic latex. One of the problems I've had is that, many of the places where I hadn't removed the old paint, because it seemed stable and tight, would end up peeling in the next couple of years.
Have you removed any of the shingles to see if there is anything "interesting" going on behind them? I have backer boards behind my shingles. This is different than the kind of backer that @calvert described. The backer they used on my house is a separate sheet around 14" x 48" by 3/8" thick. It's similar to Homasote.
Also, the sheathing they used on my house was Homasote. My theory is that all the porous material behind the shakes tended to retain moisture which would "push" the paint off the shingles.
You may get lucky and achieve a nice paint job that lasts many years.
For me, however, I'm giving up the fight with paint over cedar. It's taking more time than I care to admit, but I'm removing all the old siding and sheathing and replacing with Hardie siding over plywood sheathing (with WRB in between).
Good luck with your project.
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Hello Calvert,
so you mentioned rough treatment will affect the visual aspect of the cedar siding, can i imply that to say it shouldn't affect the wood itself? I have grooved cedar shingles which i'm getting painted but i'm not happy with the paint job that they are doing because i can actually see the old layers of paint that didn't get removed by power washing and scraping. I was thinking may be i could get it sanded if it doesn't affect the cedar and its properties. I can live without the 'grooves' on the cedar. i want the paint to look uniform and nice.
With regards
so you mentioned rough treatment will affect the visual aspect of the cedar siding, can i imply that to say it shouldn't affect the wood itself? I have grooved cedar shingles which i'm getting painted but i'm not happy with the paint job that they are doing because i can actually see the old layers of paint that didn't get removed by power washing and scraping. I was thinking may be i could get it sanded if it doesn't affect the cedar and its properties. I can live without the 'grooves' on the cedar. i want the paint to look uniform and nice.
With regards
#13
You can sand the striations out of the wood but this would be an extremely labor intensive operation to insure a smooth surface.
You have to also be sure that your siding is not too thin to engage in a vigorous sanding procedure. You don't want to reduce it to less than 3/8" thick.
If you are hiring someone to do this you would be wise to make sure they are conscientious enough to complete the process to your satisfaction. Once you start there is no turning back.
You have to also be sure that your siding is not too thin to engage in a vigorous sanding procedure. You don't want to reduce it to less than 3/8" thick.
If you are hiring someone to do this you would be wise to make sure they are conscientious enough to complete the process to your satisfaction. Once you start there is no turning back.
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Two years later and 3 months of daily work (Jun-Sep1 so far) and I'd like to give all an update to how I painted my house.
I scraped 90% of loose paint off with a 5 and 1 tool held on its side going down each groove where it was loose, etc. Some large sheets came off while doing this so of course that sped things up, but in general each side of this 900sf house took about one month of about 3 or 4 hours a day most days, 7 days a week.
I primed with Glidden Gripper gray latex primer and painted 2 topcoats with Sherwin Williams Resilience Dark Navy Blue paint. That's scraping, followed by 3 coats of paint and ALL done with a brush, no rollers, save for the cement foundation on each side done in a white paint.
So far everythings holding nicely, but only time will tell. It came out a lot better looking then I thought it would and from the street it looks almost brand new.
I plan on having to touch up the paint most likely every year, especially after our brutal New England winters.
I figure scraping, priming and painting 2 topcoats, plus all the window, etc will take me about 5 months when I'm done, but it was worth it as I've never painted a house before!
I've gotten many compliments from complete strangers that walked by while I was painting the front of the house.
I scraped 90% of loose paint off with a 5 and 1 tool held on its side going down each groove where it was loose, etc. Some large sheets came off while doing this so of course that sped things up, but in general each side of this 900sf house took about one month of about 3 or 4 hours a day most days, 7 days a week.
I primed with Glidden Gripper gray latex primer and painted 2 topcoats with Sherwin Williams Resilience Dark Navy Blue paint. That's scraping, followed by 3 coats of paint and ALL done with a brush, no rollers, save for the cement foundation on each side done in a white paint.
So far everythings holding nicely, but only time will tell. It came out a lot better looking then I thought it would and from the street it looks almost brand new.
I plan on having to touch up the paint most likely every year, especially after our brutal New England winters.
I figure scraping, priming and painting 2 topcoats, plus all the window, etc will take me about 5 months when I'm done, but it was worth it as I've never painted a house before!
I've gotten many compliments from complete strangers that walked by while I was painting the front of the house.
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plan on having to touch up the paint most likely every year, especially after our brutal New England winters.
I've gotten many compliments from complete strangers that walked by while I was painting the front of the house.
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Just as long as I don't have to do the ENTIRE house over next year! I couldn't handle that again for a while!
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How do your shakes look now in September of 2019? Your pictures could have been my siding this afternoon! I moved in to this house 21/2 years agoI have been putting off prepping and painting for obvious reasons.