Hi everyone

I've been looking at numerous web pages about the steps in prepping a house exterior for repainting. Many suggest washing as the first main step.

But my mobile/manufactured home's pressed-wood siding panels have some small crumbling areas (around some of the nails). Those need to be gouged out (for those nails where the wood isn't already gone) so I can repair with an appropriate filler.

Plus the paint has flaked off entirely at several places on the siding panels. I see small areas of exposed bare wood.

Also, there is no visible caulk along the vertical seams where panels meet and slightly overlap.

It seems like water would end up entering places where it shouldn't (especially at those nails and seams), even if I hand wash instead of pressure wash. Do I just go ahead, and then wait a couple days, hoping it all will dry out?

Or should I apply the wood filler before washing, at least?

My understanding is that the caulk should be applied to cleaned and primed surfaces. Should I do a special clean & prime & caulk of those seams, before washing the rest of the siding?

Basically, I'm unclear about the best order of steps for a situation like mine.

Thanks very much for your guidance!

 

Could you post a few pics of the damage - http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...your-post.html

Normally you want to wash a house first but with that type of siding and it already damaged I'm not sure if that would be advisable. How dirty is the siding? any mildew?

Is it possible to replace the damaged portions of the siding? For a repair to have a chance of surviving long term you need to remove the damage and coat the repair with an oil base primer. Pics will let us see how bad the damage is. The seams weren't caulked at the factory because they wouldn't survive the MH being transported. It should be ok to caulk them now.

 

Sorry for the delayed reply; I finally got a camera to connect to my computer to upload.

The damaged areas are all about 3/4 inch tall and even narrower. So they are not that much bigger than the staple or nail head where they happen.

 

I'd carefully scrape the affected areas and apply an oil base primer over them. If you caulk the seams make sure you do a good job especially higher up so no water can enter and get trapped behind the siding. I'd wash the siding after the primer is applied/dried. While a pressure washer speeds up the cleaning process, using a garden hose might be safer and more novice friendly. Apply the cleaning solution with a pump up garden sprayer.