Washing Wood Siding Before Painting

Potential of siding damage water injected under siding or dirt remaining on house.

Washing wood siding before painting.

Clean the entire surface with soap and water or a pressure washer to remove any dirt and grime that s built up over time. Primer helps paint stick and improves the coverage so you can dramatically change the color of the old. The same holds true of washing your house s siding before painting the very best results will be achieved by hand washing with soap water and brushes. Houses painted before 1978 may have paint that contains lead according to the centers for disease control cdc lead paint should be removed by contractors who are certified by the epa.

If you plan to paint sand or power wash the wood to smooth siding that has been exposed to the weather for more than a few weeks. When you schedule the painting job keep in mind that it may take your house two or three days to dry after you pressure wash it depending on the siding material. Before weathered wood can be painted it will require extensive prep work to ensure that the paint stays on for more than just a couple of years. If you plan to paint or use a solid color stain set any nails that the carpenters missed below the surface and fill the nail holes with caulk.

Prepare the surface with old buildings such as my 130 year old barn water blasting the loose paint is not a recommended practice. But realistically it is very difficult and time consuming to wash an entire house by hand and a pressure washer can do an adequate job in a manner that is much much easier. If the surface is previously painted you should expect to repaint after cleaning with tsp see next. Work down from the roofline taking on one 10 foot square section at a time.

There are ways to safely clean your house before painting using a pressure washer including using lower psi pressure washers widening the spray and standing at least two feet back. Or tree branches both before and. Preparing exterior wood for painting isn t difficult but it does require some prep work to ensure that your new paint has a smooth stable surface to adhere to. Step 2 point your pivotpro hit the trigger and start spraying cleansing water against your dirty wood siding.

Washing decks and cleaning exterior siding. Stain bonds well to unpainted weathered wood. Work a paint scraper from every direction keeping the blade flat against the wood so you don t create gouge marks.