(Re)painting Cedar siding

[rokosz]

Cedar siding on my garage needs some attention. It was painted not stained. And from my best estimate painted at least 20 years ago.

I'll replace the badly cupped/damaged pieces with new, primed cedar. From the pics, you can see the degree of attention rises along with the height off the driveway. When I did the gables I replaced most of the siding except for 1 or 2 courses well protected by the soffit. Those were just lightly sanded, primed and exterior latex coated.

The current effort needs a lot of scraping& sanding. Like the gables I can probably get a way with a light sand and wash for the upper courses. I seem to remember cedar generating alot of "fuzzies". Aside from their annoyance are they bad?/sign of age/needing replacement?

From the pics do you think it all should be replaced? Or can cedar be sanded and repainted for (long-term) benefit? What grit (type)?

And what's the poop on caulking the butt-ends? I read in another thread that priming the cut ends should be enough. Is caulking a true no-no or more of an aesthetic issue?

thanks folks.

 

[WindowsonWashington]

I prefer not to caulk but joints personally but that is only if they cut edges are very well primed/sealed.

 

[DFBonnett]

It's been a long time since I did a house like that ,but the method that served me well was to replace what was really badly warped, lightly sand the rest, prime with a long oil (slow drying) exterior oil based primer, then top coat with a low luster acrylic latex. I would recommend caulking any gaps at the butt ends of the siding prior to priming.

 

[rokosz]

thanks WoW and DFB. "long-slow" oil huh? I don't think that's what I've got (possibly too on the acrylic latex). Suppose I can use the quick oil for the butt ends of the replaced pieces. Caulking i'm kind of middle of the road. I like the idea of extra protection (literally over the sealed butts) -- but, given my less than stellar skill, the application can be a little heavy-handed and it blurs the reveal - a small point since very few people really care or even get that close! Maybe I'll caulkand prime on the lower courses, and just prime on the uppers. Driveway does put alot of splash on the low courses

 

[nealtw]

You might find this article interesting http://homerenovations.about.com/od/Exterior/ss/Painting-Cedar-Siding.htm

 

[rokosz]

Well, that's encouraging. wood is wood, prime it paint it. What I liked is there was the mention of photo-degraded wood surfaces, so sanding is more than just the dirt and loose paint stuff.
Anyone know anything about the fuzzy/duff stuff that does come up when sanding cedar? Is it degraded stuff or...?

And, re: sanding: if unprimed cedar has that "new" wood look -- and it weathers to gray over time. Then the gray is suspect degraded and needs to be sanded back to "new". That's basic wood refinishing. My question: given the thin gauge siding in question and the inherent softness, isn't it more likely I'll be sanding all the way through(!) (Kind of like Stymie of the Little Rascals when he peels the artichoke down to nothing. "It may choke Artey, but it ain't gonna choke Stymie")

 

[DFBonnett]

Cedar is soft. It just does that fuzzy thing. If it bothers you, you can always light sand after the primer has firmed up the surface.
As far as the gray oxidation goes, you're not going to sand that heavily to sand through. Just a quick pass or two with some 120 grit on a quarter sheet finishing sand should be all you need. The primer will penetrate whatever residual oxidation remains and bond it.