Painting Wood Shingle Siding

If you would like to paint shingle siding consider some critical points.

Painting wood shingle siding.

Use an acrylic latex paint. To determine how much you ll need overall measure the space to be painted and calculate the area in square feet. Painting cedar however calls for some preparation. Sunlight degrades the unfinished wood surface thus it will never hold paint as well as fresh wood.

Divide the area by 400 to get the number of gallons per coat. Some sections of old unpainted shingles and siding may look darker than others. Start at the top of the house and work your way down aiming the nozzle downward and keeping it moving constantly. Cedar siding shingles provide beauty for any home but they must be properly coated to ensure a long life.

For old paint in good condition or primed bare wood you ll need about one gallon of paint per each 400 square feet. Powerwash the siding to remove any excess dirt or paint with a low pressure pressure washer. Before you paint condition the siding with a specific type of bonding primer or the final coating will ultimately flake and peel. You ll have to remove the mildew and prime the wood with a stain blocking primer.

Cedar shingles contain extractives that bleed to the surface when the wood becomes wet and then darken as the wood dries. You must be careful not to damage the wood while doing so as the water pressure is strong. Preparing wood siding for painting cleaning the siding scraping and sanding loose or peeling paint. If you are going to be staining or painting horizontal siding then pine is a good wood to consider as it is easy to finish and will look great.

How to paint wood shingles step 1. Unfinished siding exposed to several weeks of sunlight before painting needs to be sanded. The best way to prevent extractive bleed is to select a paint or stain that forms a seal over the cedar. Whether it is composed of wood or asphalt your shingle siding is ill suited for adhesion.

Those extractives can even bleed through many types of paint. Sand off any extreme protrusions from the shingles using a sanding block but do not sand the shingles to. Wash down the shingles. If the unfinished wood was exposed more than 3 to 4 weeks lightly sand the surface to remove the thin layer of degraded wood before applying paint.