siding painting/protection advice

This "Hardi-plank" (cement board type stuff?) type siding has been deteriorating somewhat here along the base where it meets the roofing and moss has begun growing/accumulating. I scraped the moss/debris away and discovered there had indeed been some silicone caulking applied in that space/crack in the past as a method of potentially sealing that space/crack. Not sure without further investigation or dismantling of the siding and/or roofing to check whether there's any kind of flashing installed along in there; I sort of doubt it.

For the time being, however, I would like to at least scrape the flaking paint off the siding, then prime it and then repaint. The Kilz2 primer says it needs to be applied in temperature at least 50 degrees but we won't have that range of temperature here until May. The particular exterior paint, however, can be applied at temperatures down to 35 degrees minimum. So am looking for advice what I might do there meanwhile to help protect the siding from deteriorating much further until then at least. There's not much our typical wet and cold weather this time of year, rarely much above 40 degrees and with frequent rain and wind etc. prevents the idea of trying to cover the affected area with a plastic tent/tarp or cover or anything along those lines. The elements are as they are. Any comments/advice appreciated.

 

No wonder, it's not supposed to be that close to a roof!

A few more months isn't going to make any difference. You should just wait until you have good weather to scrape, sand, prime and paint.

It really ought to be cut up higher so that you can paint the bottom edge and keep it up out of the water. (Minimum 2" clearance according to the mfg) The bottom edge should not be foamed or caulked, just primed and painted. If cutting it up higher is too much work (and since you would likely cut into the flashing behind it) you should just replace that area with new siding, and gap it the proper amount.

 

Is there step flashing behind the siding. Usually they leave a much larger gap, around an inch between the siding and shingles so water doesn't wick up onto the siding. The flashing then keeps the water off the decking and wall .

 

Are those the original shingles? It looks like the siding is almost tight on the shingles. That would make it difficult to re-roof when the time comes.

 

Update: I did after further closer investigation see that indeed there is metal flashing back in there, installed where it seems it should be. Thanks for the helpful replies. And I found out by checking around that 123 brand latex primer can be applied as long as temps are above 35!

"Are those the original shingles? It looks like the siding is almost tight on the shingles. That would make it difficult to re-roof when the time comes."
Yes probably original shingles, yes siding is too close to the shingles I'd agree with that.