Should I prime and paint the bottom edge of my cedar siding?
My house is 37 years old, in central Virginia. The rear section gets full sun from noon to sunset. I have painted it twice. Now I have found the paint cracking in an area forming an arc about 8 ft. around the dryer vent. There are a couple of other sections with a crack or two, but that’s it for cracking. I have scraped the paint off the affected areas, and the siding looks OK to repaint.
But I am unsure about what the cedar needs regarding breathing. I have seen a couple of posts elsewhere stating that caulking the area under the siding edge, particularly the section lowest to the ground, is not good for the cedar. I believe that the posters were saying that the cedar needs to breathe/release moisture.
Perhaps theses two issues- breathing and the hot humid air from the dryer vent- are not related. But I am about to prime the scraped areas and I would appreciate advice on caring for the siding. Thanks.
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Down here in south Florida we refer to cedar as "job security" wood because we just keep replacing it. Lol! Actually, we put up almost none because it rots out so quickly. When I'm forced by circumstances to use it I prime and topcoat all 6 sides and we lay the paint on heavy.
Thanks for commenting. This is my first house with cedar siding. It's not the only one around-there is a lot of brick. But the siding has lasted pretty well, as I said above.
My memory does not work as well as it used to, so forgive me but I seem to remember that the original (I suspect) coat did not include the bottom edge that I asked about. I sort of remember, when looking up at the boards, that I thought the painter had saved some time, money and effort in not painting the bottom edges, and that those edges looked a bit ragged without paint on them. Maybe he knew something that I did not!
Last year I bought a cape built in 1951 in Maine. It has original cedar lap siding, painted on all the exposed surfaces including the bottom. We are having the long-neglected house repainted, and I had to replace only a few rotten clapboards where the water exposure was excessive. Most of the exterior is in pretty good shape. If I were in Florida, it might be a different story...
Don't know if this helps you but 15 years ago I installed cedar carriage type garage doors here in Ohio and the B&M paint guy said to put two coats of good oil based (exterior) primer on them and then two top-coats of exterior acrylic. All six sides. I did all that and just this summer, for the first time, I noticed some paint/wood failing on one small area at a joint. I fixed that area with sanding and new paint. Next year I plan on doing a proper prep and re-paint. All in all - think I should be pretty happy with 15 years.