i bought our home last year and the house had neglected cedar shake siding. It wasnt cleaned or treated for years and the siding is now grooved with some pulpy fiber exposed. i power washed lightly and applied cleaners to get off the black mold. now the wood looks almost dead (white or gray, stained and inconsistent in color). i was testing arborcoat on a spot and after one coat it dried inconstent on a shake. the stain couldnt get into all the grooves.
After my initial frustration i wondered what would happen if i sanded a piece with 120 grit on an orbital to get the grooves down a bit. After i did this i found the whitish dead wood came off and revealed some nice golden cedar. my question is, is this safe to do to cedar shake? would it be ok to sand down the entire house? and is there anything wrong with having smooth cedar shake? i know a lot of people like the grooves, but even when sanding down to smooth, the grain appears grooved even if its smooth. will this damage the shake at all? i was planning on sanding, washing off the dust, drying, and applyong arborcoat or cabot to stain it. will sanding it cause a problem with how it absorbs water or anything like that? just trying to be careful here but after sanding a few panels it looked like new wood and gave me hope after a summer of seeing how aged the wood looked and how poorly it absorbed 1 coat of stain. any help would be greatly appreciate
After my initial frustration i wondered what would happen if i sanded a piece with 120 grit on an orbital to get the grooves down a bit. After i did this i found the whitish dead wood came off and revealed some nice golden cedar. my question is, is this safe to do to cedar shake? would it be ok to sand down the entire house? and is there anything wrong with having smooth cedar shake? i know a lot of people like the grooves, but even when sanding down to smooth, the grain appears grooved even if its smooth. will this damage the shake at all? i was planning on sanding, washing off the dust, drying, and applyong arborcoat or cabot to stain it. will sanding it cause a problem with how it absorbs water or anything like that? just trying to be careful here but after sanding a few panels it looked like new wood and gave me hope after a summer of seeing how aged the wood looked and how poorly it absorbed 1 coat of stain. any help would be greatly appreciate
