Backstory: My home was built in 1931 with the original siding, but the siding needs a lot of work. Firstly it still has lead paint on it, and much of the paint is peeling. I would love to salvage the original siding as we love the character of the home, but getting the lead paint off has been a hassle and very time consuming. We have been doing our best to use the proper tools including hepa rated vacuums and masks, but even so it has been messy and taken a lot of setup and tear down time for the little work we have been able to do. Our goal is to strip it all down to the wood then prime and paint it with quality stuff that will last for decades.
So here is my question. Is it possible to take the boards off, flip them over and use the backside? My best guess is that it is cedar, and it is in the beveled clapboard style. I know there would need to be some boards replaced in this method, but we already know some of the boards need to be replaced anyway due to age and neglect. There is tar paper between the underlayment and the siding, would that pose a problem? We would sand the backsides to be smooth before priming, so would that counteract any issues that may arise from the wood touching the tar for 90 years? And naturally we would fill any old nail holes or cracks. Does anyone have experience or have heard of anyone who has done this?
I cannot tell if this is a crazy or genius idea to save not only time, but also a solution to the lead problem.
Thank you for any help or advice!
Replies
I think you are underestimating the colossal amount of work involved in removing and flipping the siding over. You would be better off leaving the siding in place and going over it with material.
Good luck with the "quality paint lasting decades" no matter how good the paint is if there is vapor drive through the wood it will eventually blister, crack or peel. My experience is that paint is good for 5-10 years and will need to be re-coated.
I agree that the paint will not last that long, but I can dream right? We would love to keep the original wood and not cover it with vinyl, which is why we are looking into this option
I applaud your sentiment to want to reuse the wood. As for removing it and flipping it over you will wreck or other wise be unable to reuse a lot of it. I would encourage you to try to improve your paint removal system or even price having it contracted.
Personally I dislike about everything about vinyl, possibly excepting how easy it is to install. If you opt for going over the old you might consider fiber cement.
Gotta agree with Sawdust_Steve, it will take a ton of time to remove, prep, and flip. You will break a lot of boards. I've removed some 30 year old red cedar clapboards installed over tar paper and sheathing. A lot are blackened from moisture/tar paper. Some are softened due to moisture. There are products that have a wood-like texture that you could apply right over the existing siding. They are very real looking. Something to consider if you will be staying in the house long term as periodic painting costs (unless you do it yourself) can add up.
If you have the time and motivation, your idea is a good one. Life isn't always about the "vinyl siding" solutions - sometimes making the effort to reuse the original materials is well worth it. I've pulled and reused siding, and I got about an 80% yield. Rather than sanding, I've get a planer and a metal detector, as it's a lot less work.
Lead based paint is a great undercoat. It was meant to last.That's why it's such a hassle removing it.
In New Orleans, I see people trying to take it down to bare wood, which is a dirty, nasty, time consuming, and environmentally questionable practice. If it's a nice, even coat, I just lightly sand, and cover with a good, oil based primer. Better to encapsulate it, than release all that dust into the air, and ground. A lot less work, too.
A lot of siding has rough-sawn mill marks on the flip side.
... And, as stated above, a good paint job is only going to last about 5 years, and then it's time to re-paint. If you let it go longer, the prep work is going to take longer, and the whole job will cost more.
Always use the best paint you can afford. I see people using paint that costs $25- $35 a gallon. I use the $75 paint. Yes, it costs more upfront, but it goes on smoother, and you'll get another 2 years out of it. Good luck.
Removing and flipping the boards is an interesting idea, but unfortunately it won't work. As pointed out already there are a bunch of problems you will encounter.
So, you don't want to cover it with vinyl (which I completely agree with) which means you need to get the siding looking good and then painted. I'd look into your technique which you say is taking too long vs what the pros are doing. I've done both the citrus based strip method which didn't work too well, the grinder which was too messy for lead paint, and the heat gun approach which can be a little dangerous if you're generally not a cautious person. Of the three options, the heat gun was the best for me in the end. Try the citrus based stripper on a small section and see if it works for your paint. If it does, great! If not, the heat gun might be the way to go.
It's been 10 years for my house and it still looks brand new.
Another method: Caustic solutions. I've not stripped siding with it, only small projects but what I have used is either lye for drain cleaning (Red Devil Lye is one) or else Easy Off type oven cleaner (the kind that comes as a liquid with a brush, not the spray can).
But you can buy SODIUM HYDROXIDE in bulk.
Painting a lye solution on and then letting it sit can sometimes cause the paint to just slip off it's base as a complete layer. As a stripper, it seems cheaper, cleaner and easier than dissolving the paint. A pressure washer might be ideal for removal afterward if the residue could be contained.
Maybe worth a try on a small section to see. Wear eye protection and watch your skin, it's highly corrosive.
Google Lye paint stripper. I just did and among other things, a product called "Dumond Peel-Away" came up. Sherwin Williams sells it.
Also there are recipes floating around using lye/flour or cornstarch mix. Like many things, it may actually be better than the modern solutions. It's danger is all up-front and once diluted is
The wood needs to be neutralized afterward and oaxalic acid is recommended. Again, test somewhere first to see how it affects your wood as well as how well it works.
One quick note on lye: words like "highly corrosive" don't really convey the danger of this truly nasty, but effective chemical. "Burns like a motherf@#$er" is more accurate.
I've worked with lye solutions before and if you're not careful a tiny drop—not even big enough to see—will feel like a hot wire going into your skin, it burns for 15 minutes or so and then leaves a welt.
Bottom line: if you go the lye route, spend as much money as necessary to buy professional-grade protective clothing and face protection and use it.
Just an update for anyone interested:
After much deliberation and going back and forth, we ended up tearing the siding off and putting up Hardie Board planks. It pained me deeply because I desperately wanted to keep the original siding, but in the end there were just too many cracks to salvage. The flipping idea was interesting, and we tried it on a few boards, but in the end that would not have worked for our siding. Due to the age, all the boards were incredibly brittle and dry, they also had all cupped - making flipping impossible. The cupping mixed with the brittleness would have meant that if we tried to flip them, they would have just broken when we nailed them in. Sadly I believe this siding was neglected for 40-50 years and as such many of the cracks were many feet long and every board had some sort of problem. In tearing it off, the boards also seemed like some sort of pine.
So in the end we tore it all down, put up Tyvek and went with the Hardie Plank. It has been a ton of work, but we are happy with this decision as we have been able to avoid the vinyl siding that we despise - even though we weren't able to keep the original.
Thank you for all the ideas!
Thanks for coming back!
One of the great benefits of Hardiplank is it acts like stucco so far as paint is concerned
I use Benjamin Moore their high end flat on my house in Big Bear, CA (snow and cold plus hot and dry) and the paint has lasted over 15 years.