How DO You Prep Cedar Shakes?

lowfatcat

We are painting our house this year and we have run into an issue! The front of our house faces south so it gets weather beaten. Some of the shakes are peeling in big sheets, which is great, but halfway up the shake to 3/4 of the way up the shake is stops peeling! Do we just primer and paint even though the line where it stopped will probably show through or do we need to strip the whole thing? The shakes really need to be replaced, but we can not afford that at all!!!! Help! Or is there a way to hide the line where the adhering paint stayed and the bare shake ends? Does this make any sense? LOL Thanks for any help!

mark942

Hi Lowfatcat
I have done quite a few homes with just what you are describing. 3 choices here.
1. Replace shakes
2. Prime and paint shakes and live with the line just under the edge or lip of the shake.
3. Take a grinder and grind off the ridges and prime and paint to make for a smooth shake.I use a buffing grinder,with a #36 grit disk.It is adjustable with speeds and makes quick work of paint removal.Just be very careful to not make big cuts or lines in the shakes or they will appear in the final product.I will also hand sand any other imperfections in the shakes.It is a time consuming task and a lot of skill is needed,but it does make for a good paint job with out having the added expense of replacing ceder shakes. I used a good Oil base primer then applied latex for a top coat,No spraying. Use a brush for better penetration and build up.
Good Luck to you.

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Jason@API

Another thing you want to keep in mind is the old weathered exposed wood if any at all may be grayed and that gray wood is dead wood. Any primer applied to dead wood followed with paint will come off. Oil or latex primer, it will start pealing during the winter months. Be sure to use a 50/50 water/bleach solution and scrub the surface good to remove any dead wood and rinse with water. Once you have returned the shake to raw good wood, you can use Duration paint from Sherwin Williams as it is a primer base and will not peel or blister on any wood surface. No Primer needed.

I like the "replacing shake" option, it may take the same amount of time to replace it compared to all the prep you have with the pealing.... At least you can paint the new shake before you put it up if you still wanted the painted look.

J