How to Paint Cedar Siding

Cedar siding has a well deserved reputation for withstanding weather and resisting paint chipping and fading. Use this article to learn how to paint cedar siding, and how to keep your siding beautiful for years to come. Besides adding beauty to your home, painting is how you can protect your siding from letting any moisture in. Well painted siding will help repel mold and mildew and will make it easy to just hose off dirt and grime.

Step 1- Get Rid of Old Paint or Stain

 If your siding has been stained, painted, or treated with a water repellent before you need to determine what type was used. Paints and some water repellents are surface coatings. These surface coatings leave a film on top of the wood. Over time this film will peel. All of this peeling will have to be scraped off before you can begin to paint. If a penetrating water repellent was used then you will not have to scrape the wood. If you do have old paint to remove, use a paint scraper to remove any sections that are peeling. The most important part of painting is having a good surface to work with, scraping the old paint is necessary to give the new paint something to stick to. While you are scraping the old paint pay attention to any caulk that is old or damaged. Remove it as well and replace with new caulk. Do not just put new caulk over old caulk, it will not seal properly.

Step 2- Prepare the Wood

Now that you have removed the old paint or stain, there is an additional step to make sure the wood is clean. In a bucket combine a 3 to 1 combination of Water and Household Bleach. Using a stiff bristled brush, you need to scrub every single inch of the siding. No matter what, do not use a power washer. Cedar cannot withstand the pressure from a power washer, you risk damaging the wood, a costly mistake. Although scrubbing every part of the siding by hand is tedious work, it will pay off in the long run. After all of the wood is scrubbed you should let it dry. Since it must dry completely it is best to wait 2 weeks before beginning to paint after this step.

Step 3- Get Ready to Prime and Paint

Now that you have finished all of the prep work, you are ready to prime and paint. Paint is really just colored glue. You want to make sure you find the paint that sticks the best, because it will resist peeling better. The best choice for cedar is Urethane-Acrylic House Paint. Make sure you buy the type of primer that the manufacturer of the paint you choose recommends. Follow the directions to the letter on both the can of primer and paint. But how much paint do you need? You need 1 gallon of paint and 1 gallon of primer for every 400 square feet. A 20-by-20 foot exterior wall, (do not subtract doors or windows) will be 400 square feet. It is best to apply the paint using a paint sprayer, and then go back over it with a 4 inch brush to make sure everything is evenly covered. The paint will stick best if it dries slowly, so a temperate (70 degrees F), cloudy day is best.

Now that your cedar siding has been protected by your beautiful new paint job, all that is needed to maintain the look is to hose the siding once in a while to remove dirt. If the paint starts peeling or blistering it is time to repeat the painting process.