# Siding staining questions



## ProPaintcrew (Apr 25, 2011)

My dad just bought a wood siding house a few hours away and he wants me to come re-do the exterior. I new-ish at spraying stain on wood siding so i have a few questions...

It is 4 years old and was thinly coated with sikkens cetol srd redwood at construction. The front of the house gets a ton of sun and is pretty faded. Also the stain is cracking/flaking off in some areas on low boards. I have not seen it yet, but my dad says its not cedar siding, probably pine, and its smooth.

The back of the house is shaded and has some mildew stains.
I plan to power wash before staining.

1 - I usually PW with outdoor bleach before a paint job.. is that ok here or should i use something else?

2 - Do i need to remove _all_ the old stain or can i just coat over?

3 - Should i use sikkens cetol srd, or another product?
main concerns are UV and moisture protection, and price. the sikkens cost about $50/gallon. Should I stick with an oil base? 

4 - My sprayers is titan advantage 400 (I only do about 15 exteriors a year).
What spray tip should i get? I use 517 with superpaint but i think oil stain is better with something like 311 right?

Im glad to hear any other tips/suggestions.
thanks
-aaron


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## ejs (Nov 4, 2011)

Contact sikkens and ask them their advice. You can spray the product, rolling and backbrushing is safer, and don't apply in the sun. Overcast and cool is better.


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## Northwest_painter (Jan 27, 2012)

your right on track with a PW but make sure its not over kill on the power on it will ruin his siding. using regular bleach is just fine. light mist on the siding then go back over with clean water to rinse it off. and just spray right over the old stain. I need to did up some of the photos were we did a 100 year old red school house with wood shingle siding we did every thing you asked about and went over it with the new red stain.


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## madochio (Oct 26, 2011)

ProPaintcrew said:


> My dad just bought a wood siding house a few hours away and he wants me to come re-do the exterior. I new-ish at spraying stain on wood siding so i have a few questions...
> 
> It is 4 years old and was thinly coated with sikkens cetol srd redwood at construction. The front of the house gets a ton of sun and is pretty faded. Also the stain is cracking/flaking off in some areas on low boards. I have not seen it yet, but my dad says its not cedar siding, probably pine, and its smooth.
> 
> ...


1. pw is a good way to go but use TSP as well. 
2.just clean it up the best you can
3, use the same product this way you do not need to get rid of it all
4. brush and roll only sprayers cause more issue with the srd vs rolling and brushing


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## 1963 Sovereign (Dec 14, 2011)

If you brush and roll,won't you have too much of a film build up on the existing finish?


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## ExcelPaintingCo (Apr 16, 2011)

Make sure the mold is on the surface and not imbedded underneath the finish. If it's under the finish, you need to strip.

Moisture content need to be below 18% perferably 15%.


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## 1963 Sovereign (Dec 14, 2011)

I am not sure you answered my question....


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## ExcelPaintingCo (Apr 16, 2011)

1963 Sovereign said:


> I am not sure you answered my question....


 2 - Do i need to remove _all_ the old stain or can i just coat over?

You said there was some mildew, so my response was related to that.
I'm sorry if you didn't find it helpful. Good luck with your project:thumbsup:.


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## ExcelPaintingCo (Apr 16, 2011)

ExcelPaintingCo said:


> 2 - Do i need to remove _all_ the old stain or can i just coat over?
> 
> You said there was some mildew, so my response was related to that.
> I'm sorry if you didn't find it helpful. Good luck with your project:thumbsup:.


Sorry Sovereign, my response was to the op, then I mistakenly thought you were the op.


Rolling and back brushing is considered to be an acceptable method to apply stain. Just make sure you back brush quick enough before the stain starts to set up. This is called a wet over wet application.


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## 1963 Sovereign (Dec 14, 2011)

I know what wet on wet is, but srd, says they want no film build ,therefore rolling and back brushing would be a bad choice as to applying,agreed? I assume they want it to soak in. Thanks Man


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## Damon T (Nov 22, 2008)

You're going to want to back brush whether you roll or spray. Doesn't matter how you get it one there. No film build is a bit of a misnomer. I'm sure Sikkens has detailed information on how to proceed. Benjamin Moore offers an excellent course on stain and preparation. You might look to see if they're offering a course near you soon, they also have online info under the Contractors tab of their website. I think staying with the same product is your best bet

Good luck


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## ExcelPaintingCo (Apr 16, 2011)

Damon T said:


> You're going to want to back brush whether you roll or spray. Doesn't matter how you get it one there. No film build is a bit of a misnomer. I'm sure Sikkens has detailed information on how to proceed. Benjamin Moore offers an excellent course on stain and preparation. You might look to see if they're offering a course near you soon, they also have online info under the Contractors tab of their website. I think staying with the same product is your best bet
> 
> Good luck


What about Arbor coat semi-translucent, because it's the best of both worlds:yes::whistling2:


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## ProPaintcrew (Apr 25, 2011)

Job is done.. I only had 2.5 days to do this. Here is what i ended up doing:

Day 1: light pw with bleach. it didnt take anything off but loose dirt.
Day 2: tape/plastic everything, sanded boards that were dark from mildew. sprayed most of the house with sikkens cetol srd.
Day 3: sprayed the rest of the house, stained the deck with deckscapes solid

I wish i would have used tsp on the mildew stained boards. I sanded them to raw wood with no evidence of the old stain or mildew stains. when i applied the sikkens all of the mildew stains came right back. I think the tsp would have solved this problem.
the house didnt have gutters for the last few years which may have been causing the excessive moisture in certain areas.
I didnt back brush but it seemed like the wood soaked in the stain pretty readily. 

My dad is going to replace a few of the mildew stained boards.


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## ProPaintcrew (Apr 25, 2011)

I have one last question..
This house is not caulked. Should it be? and if so, what product?

I know some types of construction (exterior) dont get caulked because of the materials used and/or the style of installation.. (prefabs with pvc siding and trim or tongue and groove)
This house is plywood sheathing covered by tyvek covered by pine siding and trim, so it seams like it should be caulked to keep water from getting to the untreated side of the boards via vertical cracks. Caulking wasnt done at the time of construction and original staining.
After 3 or 4 years of not being caulked, i expected to see some deterioration at the bottoms of the corner boards, but there was none. 
Im planning on going back to visit later this summer, and wondering if i need to take my caulk gun.


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## NEPS.US (Feb 6, 2008)

No caulking needed. 

You should of back brushed. You can see some lap marks from spraying.

Nice looking house!


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