Redwood Siding - sick over power-washer damage

newenglandguy · 07-29-2007, 05:31 AM

Wasn't sure if this was better put in "Exterior" section - but if so, maybe and Admin can move it. But I figured I'd start in "General".

I have a house that's done in redwood siding and have worked to keep it up. Problem I now have is that my son was going to do me a favor and power wash one side of the house, and brush on Sikkens Cetol 23 - as that is what's on there. It only needed a maintenance coat - but now needs more.

When he power washed he had the nozzle set to zero and gouged the redwood in erratic patterns on 20 - 25 of the vertical boards. Stipping it and sanding it is a solution, but I am concerned about seeing the effects of hand sanding - waviness, etc of the wood.

Whats the thought of some folks here about removing the siding and getting it planed? This might save having to use stripper on it, and it would also solve my concern for what the hand sanding may make it look like.

Also, anyone have any tips on removing it? It's tong and groove, and is nailed - two nails per board every 4 feet. It's 1" x 6" tongue and groove.

Figured this is really a "woodworking" problem, and that's why I wanted to run this by a forum like this - as this is going to take some more serious wood finishing.
Thanks

Daryl in Nanoose · 07-29-2007, 09:53 AM

Well to get it off you would have to start at one side of the wall and thats a lot of work and even then the chance of breaking one is highly probable. I think what I would do is tape some plastic on each side of the infected board then apply a stripper, once thats done I would take a belt sander to it making sure the last sanding is with some finer paper.
To remove and replace you would take a nail set and drive the nails all the way through the board and then take a skill saw and rip a cut all the way along the board between the nails and then very carefully rmove the pieces, then with your new board cut off the back edge of the groove and slip it into place. Now the only problem here is the new board will most likely be to wide so you might have to trim it a bit.