# Prep Peeling Cedar Shakes



## phahn (Jun 1, 2015)

Hi
How do you prep peeling cedar shakes so they are smooth enough for painting.


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

Replace them


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## PNW Painter (Sep 5, 2013)

Those shingles look pretty bad. Is the wood rotting?

You can sand them with 60 grit or use a wire wheel on a drill.




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## phahn (Jun 1, 2015)

PNW Painter said:


> Those shingles look pretty bad. Is the wood rotting?
> 
> You can sand them with 60 grit or use a wire wheel on a drill.
> 
> ...




I'm not a carpenter to be replacing them. And there's quite a lot of peeling around the house.
The orbital sander will damage the profile. Won't the wire wheel do the same?


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

You'll have to get creative and fashion your own scrapers. I did a 130 year-old cedar split shake home and ran into the same dilemma. Keep a bench grinder close, get a quality set of files, and make some magic!


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

There's no easy way around it. You're in for a whole lot of scraping and sanding. I use carbide blade scrapers and an orbital sander with 60 grit in situations like that. As far as damaging the profile... Stuff gets old and there's no way to make it young again other than replacing them. We can however do a little aesthetic surgery and apply the latex makeup to make it look.... Better.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> You'll have to get creative and fashion your own scrapers. I did a 130 year-old cedar split shake home and ran into the same dilemma. Keep a bench grinder close, get a quality set of files, and make some magic!


Not to split hairs, but those aren't split shakes. They're a milled shingle, often sold under the name "Sidewall Shakes". Those can be fine with a ST stain, but once the owners start with paint, it can turn into a nightmare.

I'll agree on the part about having to get creative.


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

Media blaster? Walnut shells perhaps.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

epretot said:


> Media blaster? Walnut shells perhaps.


WRC is so soft, it's tough to find media that isn't too hard. Even corn cobs are too aggressive.


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

Gough said:


> WRC is so soft, it's tough to find media that isn't too hard. Even corn cobs are too aggressive.


Cotton balls?


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## kdpaint (Aug 14, 2010)

I used corn sugar media blasting on shingle before. Its soft enough for sure.


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## stelzerpaintinginc. (May 9, 2012)

Gough said:


> Not to split hairs, but those aren't split shakes. They're a milled shingle, often sold under the name "Sidewall Shakes". Those can be fine with a ST stain, but once the owners start with paint, it can turn into a nightmare.
> 
> I'll agree on the part about having to get creative.


Not splitting hairs at all. Thanks for the clarification. I've been calling this siding by the wrong name forever.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> Not splitting hairs at all. Thanks for the clarification. I've been calling this siding by the wrong name forever.


The CSSB calls them machine-grooved shingles. They are R&R #1s (blue label) shingles that are run through a machine to give them that look. They call the "Certigroove".












They sell them by the box, not the bundle and they are $pendy. The good news is that they are installed with much greater exposure, so the coverage is higher. The bad news is that they are double coursed, there is a second layer of shingles (undercourse) underneath each row. 

They are a Royal Pain to patch if you damage them:whistling2:

We haven't had to deal with a house sided with them in at least 25 years. I've thought that, if we did, I'd price it for a full chemical strip.


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

Has anyone media blasted with table sugar? Pretty soft from what I understand.


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## PACman (Oct 24, 2014)

Why not use Peelaway stripper? It's made specifically for jobs like this.


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## AlphaWolf (Nov 23, 2014)

i redid a job like this. I pressure washed them to get off most of the flaking. Light sand and scrape to any areas that needed it. I primes entire surface with Peel Bond after. Than top coat. Peel bond makes world of difference.


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## [email protected] (Jun 13, 2021)

PACman said:


> Why not use Peelaway stripper? It's made specifically for jobs like this.


Wow never thought of that till u mentioned it and u are a life saver I tried smart strip from shirwin williams no peel paper needed and wow it can peel up to fifteen layers of paint I used it on a shake roof that had only been painted for the last 35 yes the paint peeled and bubbled as it did when I painted it two years ago after I was hired to re paint and found this forum so I applied the striper with my airless sprayer and it let it set for about 1 1/2 week due to rain but it recommends 48 hours it actually works best after two weeks power washed it to wet the product continuously and it literally peeled the paint off in sheets some scraping needed but it did take it down to bare wood on the shakes the whole roof is now completely stripped ready to be treated and stained I recommend this product to use on anything that you're trying to restore thank you so much


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