Painting Cedar Shingles Siding

Painting cedar however calls for some preparation.

Painting cedar shingles siding.

The natural oils present in cedar make it safe against damage from weather and insect infestations. Cedar siding shingles provide beauty for any home but they must be properly coated to ensure a long life. The paint will begin to peel and the shingles may become stained and they will need to be repainted. In fact painted cedar shingle sidings can easily last for decades if they are professionally done.

Like most wooden shingles however especially when painted they require care and maintenance over the course of time. Test results from the forest products testing lab run by the usda for the forest service show that after 12 weeks of exposure to sunlight cedar siding has lost half of its ability to hold a film forming coating system like primer and paint. Certain areas are peeling and lifting and the color has faded. Even unpainted cedar will last for years.

Cedar is a popular material for shingles and siding because natural oils in its heartwood the dark red wood at the center of the tree make it resistant to the weather and hungry insects. Your freshly painted cedar siding looked so good after it was completed. Those extractives can even bleed through many types of paint. This experience strengthens all other reasons not painting new cedar shingles sidings or roofs.

Cedar shingles contain extractives that bleed to the surface when the wood becomes wet and then darken as the wood dries. Instead of individual shingles a row of shingles was pre fastened to a. But over time the elements have taken their toll and the finish is starting to look weathered. Having an unfortunate experience several years ago gives me a great lesson learned i will never forget.

Allowing fresh siding to weather for as little as two weeks negatively affects coating adhesion. During the 1950s 1970s builders and siding manufacturers sometimes used a shortcut installing traditional cedar shingles. The key to a successful application of paint is surface preparation.