Refinishing Painted Cedar Siding

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.

Refinishing painted cedar siding. This is a cleaning solution specially designed for removing any stubborn stains or greasy marks on the wood. Clean the siding with a mixture of 1 part bleach and 4 parts water. This is necessary if for example the old finish is severely cracked or is peeling. First painting freshly milled cedar requires a paint stain unless a 100 acrylic exterior primer is used first thereby allowing a 100 solid acrylic paint to be used as final finish coats.

Apply the wood cleaner to the cedar siding using a paint brush or roller. Exterior grade acrylic latex paint is the most dependable finish in terms of protecting cedar. 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. If you do not intend on priming brand new cedar or redwood for that matter a high quality stain paint should be used as 50 of volume soaks into the wood other 50 is left on top as a dried paint mil.

Staining cedar with a solid color stain. In refinishing painted or solid color stained siding and trim removal of the old coating may be required. The type of finish selected is driven by style preference. Step 4 let the cleaner sit on the cedar siding for 15 to 30 minutes.

Use a paint scraper to remove any peelings or coatings so that the paint will adhere to the surface of the cedar more easily. Do not soak the wood. Remove any old caulking as well and replace it with new caulking. The upside is that solid color stains will block most damaging ultraviolet light.

What you do before the finish goes on makes the most differenc. Wash the entire surface with a dampened cloth removing any traces of dirt and revealing the wood finish. Rinse the surface with a second damp cloth and pat the siding dry with a dry cloth. It is not all about protection.

Finishes can be removed by sanding wet sandblasting pressurized water spray electrically heated paint removers and chemicals. Exterior western red cedar surfaces only need to be refinished when the old coating has worn thin and no longer affords the wood protection. Although quick and easy sandblasting and pressurized water spray are not recommended unless extreme care is taken to avoid damage to the wood s surface. Thus solid color stains let some of the cedar s grain show through but none of the color.

For many owners painted cedar siding is a particular style. What you get is a very uniform opaque color. Solid color stains have solid particles but not nearly as many as paint. Apply this to the entire surface of cedar siding making sure that the wood is completely saturated with it.