Painting Old Cedar Siding

Reach the high areas or apply cleaner to the less dirty areas using a roller with an extension pole which doesn t allow you to apply as much pressure or elbow grease as a paint brush.

Painting old cedar siding.

Basic maintenance repair and painting of cedar wood siding using gardner flex n fill and behr premium plus exterior paint. While extremely old cedar can be painted it requires heavy preparation. Loosened photodegraded surface fibers and any loosened remaining finish must be removed prior to re finishing. In refinishing painted or solid color stained siding and trim removal of the old coating may be required.

If your siding is already stained painted or treated with a water repellent you must scrape off any of the coatings before you can paint over it. If the unfinished wood was exposed more than 3 to 4 weeks lightly sand the surface to remove the thin layer of degraded wood before applying paint. Apply the wood cleaner to the cedar siding using a paint brush or roller. The two applications of primer were followed with two coats of high quality exterior latex paint for a clean smooth finish.

The first application of primer was absorbed immediately into the wood but the second application of primer did a fantastic job of covering the weathered siding. Here are the do s and don ts of painting cedar siding. Paint or stain dimensional cedar wood siding having cedar lumber wood siding such as 1 x 6 1 x 8 1 x 12 or two inch thickness can be painted with a solid paint stain not requiring primer but still not recommended painting cedar if you can help it. Step 4 let the cleaner sit on the cedar siding for 15 to 30 minutes.

Surface preparation is the key to success when dealing with weathered wood. Sunlight degrades the unfinished wood surface thus it will never hold paint as well as fresh wood. Be careful when painting very old cedar siding. No matter which paint or sealer product you are leaning towards using working with seasoned older cedar wood and siding it is imperative to remove all the old flaking paint or if stained removing all the old dried top layer of wood off by power washing.

If you do it right painting cedar siding can last for a long time. The siding must be free from mold mildew and dirt. The problem is many painting contractors do not approach painting cedar siding the right way. Even then the paint is not expected to last long.

Remove old paints and caulking. Do remove all failing paint off of previously painted cedar siding. Cedar siding can be one of the most resilient beautiful materials that you can put on your home. Unfinished siding exposed to several weeks of sunlight before painting needs to be sanded.

This is necessary if for example the old finish is severely cracked or is peeling. Cedar siding painting will only be successful if you have a clean slate.