Hi –
So I have a peeling problem on the outside of my house. At least I think I do considering the product that was used is promoted as a stain. I would think a stain would not exhibit the peeling that I am seeing around the house is various locations – does not matter what side the house is facing.
Some details:
I live in New England and the house exterior is the original 1935 cedar shake shingles. I am a recent owner but was able to find in the basement left over paint from the last time they painted / touched up. It is Benjamin Moore “Moorewood Solid Stain” alkyd solid siding stain. I assume they used a primer but I can not find any leftovers. The house has medium exposure to the sun, at least 6~10 hours a day depending on the season so I do not think I have a moisture problem. I have some pictures attached to illustrate the problem
So before I go ahead and scrape / powerwash the loose paint off I have a few questions…
1. Is there an ideal way to remove the loose paint? I was thinking of using my powerwasher with a cleaning solution (and yes I would be careful not to damage the shingles)
2. What cleaning product should I use – TSP?
3. Is there an ideal primer brand that I should use- Behr, BM, or something else, Kilz?
4. I was planning on using the leftover BM paint for doing the touch up but is there a better brand that I should investigate?
Thanks!
-Mike
Edited 9/24/2009 3:52 pm ET by MikeNH <!– MIKENH2 –>
I’ll resize the attachments in another post. Sorry about the size.
Edited 9/24/2009 3:53 pm ET by MikeNH
Replies
DIALUP WARNING!
Here is one pic resized.
another one
last one
DONT POWER WASH!!!!!!!!!
Resized images attached.
I hope you don't feel bad when your myths are yanked out from under you.
Those are cedar shingles, not shakes, probably red cedar.
That looks like a moisture problem, it is very common to trap wind driven water in the backsides of stained or painted cedars and see just this very thing.
Those are not your original cedars
Going forward - you cannot use a pressure washer on cedars without damaging them and causing more moisture problems than you already have. This is a simple sand and scrape job.
The product you have is a good one and opinons vary as to weather you need a primer. I am on the no primer side.
But I am also against solid stains on cedars with one main reason because this problem you see is so common with it.
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No harm done since this is new to me, 1st house that is non-vinyl. :)Moisture problem...? Makes sense with what you describe with water being trapped behind there.What makes you think they are not original..? The cut or something else? Just curious why.Actually I have not even started yet - scrapping or washing. So what are the cons with powerwashing.. possible damage to the shingles, adding to the moisture issue..? Now you have me wondering if I were to use a non-solid stain for touching up.. Would the difference be noticeable to the point that you could tell the difference between the two by just eyeballing it..original solid stain and the non-solid stain? I would assume so. Thanks for the reply.
In order for a pressure washer to cut the solid stain off the wood, it will be turned up high enough to cut the fibre right out of the wood. Cedar is very soft. I have seen a lot of wood ruined by zealous power washers.Reason I say these are not original is that cedar erode over time and these show no erosion.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
If they've been painted their whole life, they wouldn't show signs of erosion, would they?
The solid color stain may only be the most recent product that was applied and I'm not a big fan of it either. I know it's supposed to resist peeling, but I see plenty of peeling solid color stain.
To the OP: I would scrape and sand anything loose, prime with an oil-based primer (I haven't found a difference between brands, BM and KIlz are both good) and topcoat with paint. For all of the labor involved, I wouldn't trust old paint. I really liked the old "oil-fortified" exterior paint that BM used to sell, but their new 100% acrylic is pretty good too.
And your assumption about seeing the difference between solid and non-solid (I assume you mean semi-transparent) is correct. They will look quite different.
I have Moorewood solid stain on the cedar shingles on my garage, in fact I think it's even the same color. I'm surprised that it's peeling - I stained my garage close to fifteen years ago and the stain is merely wearing away as it ages; it still looks pretty good but it's just about time to put on another coat. No primer was used, just the stain. In your case I wonder if there was a coat of paint on there first - Benjamin Moore does sell a Mooreguard latex paint in the same color, perhaps there's some of that underneath.
Benjamin Moore no longer sells a product called "Moorwood" (at least around here). Was the stain you used alkyd (oil-based) or latex/acrylic? If it lasted 15 years, I'm guessing it was alkyd.
Yes, it was alkyd. I just looked at the Ben Moore website and it does appear they don't have Moorwood stain (at least by that name) any more.
That is funny I was just at their site also (BM) and found thisBenjamin Moore Alkyd Solid Siding StainWhich seems to match the description on my can.So does anyone recommend 'cleaning' the areas that I free of loose paint before I reapply a new coat?Thanks
I'd have to do more research but I suspect it's the same product with a new name.
So does anyone recommend 'cleaning' the areas that I free of loose paint before I reapply a new coat?
If you get down to bare wood, there's no point in cleaning it because you'll just keep removing the wood itself. If the wood has been exposed for a while, a light scrubbing with TSP and a garden hose rinse should be sufficient. Be sure to wait for the siding to dry before re-staining.
If you find a layer of paint/primer/stain, clean that pretty good because too many people paint over dirt which may be the reason for the peeling.