Painting Old Cedar Siding

If you do it right painting cedar siding can last for a long time.

Painting old cedar siding.

Unfinished siding exposed to several weeks of sunlight before painting needs to be sanded. Surface preparation is the key to success when dealing with weathered wood. This is necessary if for example the old finish is severely cracked or is peeling. Apply the wood cleaner to the cedar siding using a paint brush or roller.

Remove old paints and caulking. Basic maintenance repair and painting of cedar wood siding using gardner flex n fill and behr premium plus exterior paint. Cedar siding painting will only be successful if you have a clean slate. Exterior western red cedar surfaces only need to be refinished when the old coating has worn thin and no longer affords the wood protection.

Sunlight degrades the unfinished wood surface thus it will never hold paint as well as fresh wood. Step 4 let the cleaner sit on the cedar siding for 15 to 30 minutes. 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. Use a paint scraper to remove any peelings or coatings so that the paint will adhere to the surface of the cedar more easily.

In refinishing painted or solid color stained siding and trim removal of the old coating may be required. While extremely old cedar can be painted it requires heavy preparation. 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. Be careful when painting very old cedar siding.

The problem is many painting contractors do not approach painting cedar siding the right way. Loosened photodegraded surface fibers and any loosened remaining finish must be removed prior to re finishing. The two applications of primer were followed with two coats of high quality exterior latex paint for a clean smooth finish. Do remove all failing paint off of previously painted cedar siding.

The siding must be free from mold mildew and dirt. 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. 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. 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.

Learn how to paint your cedar siding with this guide. Here are the do s and don ts of painting cedar siding.