Last year we cut some juniper bushes down from in front of the house and there was some green mold or mildew on the siding. A quick scrub with bleach and soap removed in form that area.
Today when I got home after an overnight it looked like the walls next to the garage door turned green overnight.
I’ve posted three pics at the end so you can see what’s going on. Not sure if the photos by the garage are good enough tho….
Facts on hand….
1)The front of the house faces north. Does not get much sun except in winter because of large oak tree in front yard.
2) Siding is cedar claps, original to house approx. 60 years old. I think they are called machine cut or something like that because they are very uniform in size.
3) Claps have several coats of paint on them. The current white paint job is probably cheap
WalMart paint because it is falling off everywhere and you can see right through it.
So…..what to do?
The plan is to paint the house later this summer and I know it is going to take a crapload of work to get it prepped right.
I’ll be asking for advice then…..
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#160;
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there's a fungus among us!
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cambriadays.com
You're funny....
Wanna hear something weird?
We watched Ghostbusters with the kids Friday, you know green slime and all, and then this stuff showed up.
You know all of that rain that we have been getting.I have not seen any rainbows after any of them.But yet they are showing up in the sprinklers. http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=121197.1Sounds like a conspiracy here..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
Bill,
It was freaky, I spent the night at my mom's house because I bug bombed the house, gave three cats and two dogs flea baths. Been real bad for fleas this month.
Anyways I rolled into the driveway and WTF, the garage was turning green.
Have you seen this type of siding in your area?. Think it might be called machine cut shingles. I did see some at the Cash Bargain Lumber last year but it was about 100 bucks a bundle so I didn't buy any. Guy that responded here said there might be Celotex under each row. I know that they last house we lived in about two blocks away had cedar siding and that black masonite looking stuff that comes in 4 X 8 sheets.
I had to cut an new dryer vent hole at the old house and it was cedar all the way through.
Guess I could tear some off.....
I have always called it 'scratch shake'. Expensive nowadays and comes in individual boxes.I did a Google search, though, and could not get a match.
Those are not clapboards, they are a type of red cedar shingles, we used to call them shakes. If you look up underneath you may see the edge of a 3/8" Celotex backer board. These are very high quality shingles but they aren't installed the same way that double coverage shingles are. They are single coverage, a row is placed, then a row of a special Celotex backer with the next row of shingles installed over that, and so on.
The green algae is a sign that moisture is present and there isn't enough air circulation to dry things out. You shouldn't use a power washer when prepping this type of siding since water can be forced into the backer. Originally, these shingles came factory primed.
Prep isn't that difficult. You should use an oxygen bleach, not chlorine. It is applied with a garden sprayer. You use a scrub brush, stroking down with the grain, not across. You will have to judge if one application and brushing is enough. It looks like latex paint was used the last time. This paint slowly washes off over time and gets thin. There is a video at the bottom of this page. It deals with decks but you would use the same approach, just rinse off with a garden hose, gently.
http://www.opwdecks.com/defy-wood-cleaner.htm
Use a good quality acrylic paint or solid color stain for re-coating. The large tree creates it's own little Eco system. Unless it goes, algae will grow when there is enough moisture. You can wash it off every couple years, as needed, with some mild detergent. Don't wait too long before repainting in the future. It will reduce the amount of prep time.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Thanks for the reply, I've already read enough to know not to use a power washer. Did know that there was celotex under there. If you look under the edge it looks like there id two layers of shingles with about an inch under edge of top shible.
I'm assuming that they best way to get the old paint off is to scrape and scrape some more?
Lefty-Not an alge fan
I'm assuming that they best way to get the old paint off is to scrape and scrape some more?
Cedar shakes do not take kindly to scraping. The wood itself is relatively soft and scraping will just as easily remove wood as it will paint. Cleaning, as mentioned before, with a good stiff bristle brush is probably the best that you can do.
On the plus side, using an oil primer before painting will help to re-adhere everything together. Do use an oil primer. Latex primers are not as good. 2 top coats with 100% acrylic latex and you should be good.
Also make sure that the shakes are fully dry before painting. Cedar can hold a lot of moisture behind marginal paint.
Well I have to some scraping this paint job is majorly peeling off especially on the west side that is exposed mostly to sun. Perhaps a leisurely weekend or twenty pick it off with a dental pick.
Sigh, now I know why there is so much aluminum is this neighborhood.
Someboy in another thread reccomended epoxy primer if there is such a thing.