# flaking sikkens cetol 1 cetol 23



## brushnroller

Greetings all,

I'm starting a project to update a 15 year old sikkens cetol 1 cetol 23 finish on rough sawn cedar (northern Minnesota). The finish was refreshed with a coat of cetol 23 about 8 years ago. The finish is mostly in good shape except the western side, which has some flaking here and there. My thought was to clean the other 3 sidess and top with the clear cetol maintenance coat. I'm not sure what the best process would be to handle the west wall with the flaking. Any and all comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. I've attached a picture of the flaking. Thanks for your help!


----------



## premierpainter

Strip it and start is again. We did a home that had African Mahogany. We stripped it and then went with the cetol. Looked great.


----------



## ExcelPaintingCo

It looks like it needs to be completely stripped, brightened and refinished. Then sell him on a more frequent maintanence schedule.


----------



## NCPaint1

What's their budget and what are they expecting? I'd base my estimate on that. Do they want the proper fix or a band aid? Since they let it go for 8 years, I'd assume that a band aid fix is probably what they want.

Yes, more frequent maintenance. 3-5 years for a clean and maintenance coat.


----------



## brushnroller

Thanks all!

I'm sure a proper fix would be best but that would be very expensive and time consuming. I'd enjoy giving my customer the band aid as an option...it probably would be good enough. Please do tell about the band aid.


----------



## NCPaint1

Tsp, bleach and water. Spray it on, agitate, lightly power wash off. Light sand after on the peeling areas. Its rough sawn so don't go crazy and smooth the boards out. Just get the flaking off as much as possible until you get a good surface that isn't peeling. Might have to touch up with color (log and siding), in some areas, or over everything ....it'll have to be a judgement call by you. Then a coat of Cetol Maintenance over everything.

Try to get them on a maintenance schedule. Send a reminder card, email, phone call, etc etc. Its much less costly to maintain than to redo. At least every 3 years on the heavy exposure sides,(south and west). Can squeeze 5 years probably out of the other sides. 8 years is just too long. Even though the coating looks good, its too late and should be recoated sooner.


----------



## paintpimp

Agree with NC Paint1 on his post. Unfortunately they are doing damage to their home by letting it go too long and it'll keep looking like crap the longer they let it sit. The siding is wood and Mother Nature tries to take back what's hers.


----------



## brushnroller

NCPaint1 said:


> Tsp, bleach and water. Spray it on, agitate, lightly power wash off. Light sand after on the peeling areas. Its rough sawn so don't go crazy and smooth the boards out. Just get the flaking off as much as possible until you get a good surface that isn't peeling. Might have to touch up with color (log and siding), in some areas, or over everything ....it'll have to be a judgement call by you. Then a coat of Cetol Maintenance over everything.
> 
> Try to get them on a maintenance schedule. Send a reminder card, email, phone call, etc etc. Its much less costly to maintain than to redo. At least every 3 years on the heavy exposure sides,(south and west). Can squeeze 5 years probably out of the other sides. 8 years is just too long. Even though the coating looks good, its too late and should be recoated sooner.


Thanks NCP...I will do as you describe. Just curious, maybe I'm reading too closely..."might have to touch up with log and siding". Because I will be removing the flaking material, there is no "might" about it, right? I have to apply log and siding to replace flaking material that I remove before I top with the clear cetol maintenance coat.

I agree, I wish cust had called me sooner. Despite the abuse you should see how beautiful the sides of the cabin not exposed too direct sun still are 15 years later, with only a single refresh of cetol 23 midway. Cust got lucky and sikkens did a good job.


----------



## NCPaint1

"Might" means maybe it will need the log and siding with pigment or just the maintenance clear. You'll have to be the judge and determine if color needs to be used, how much, and which one. Sometimes you have to use more than one because the colors change over time naturally. Plus, when people applied the "Cetol 23 plus" as the maintenance (before clear cetol maintenance was available) it would also darken the color, making touch ups and wood replacement more difficult. 

So when I say "might", that's exactly it. Maybe you can get away with just the maintenance clear, and maybe you'll have to get some colors. You can also intermix the various Log and Siding colors to help blend in your touch ups. Sort of playing "mad scientist" 

Good Luck, shoot some pics of the finished job, or more pics if you need more help.


----------



## brushnroller

I guess I was confused was in regards to the maintenance coat adhering to the flaked and cleaned areas without first replacing what flaked away with L&S. But if I can get away with just cleaning and brushing the flakes away then topcoating with a clear maintenance coat I would be happy. A little bit of discoloration is the least of his worries. Cust is not in good shape financially and just wants to preserve whats left of his sikkens cabin without breaking the bank. I feel bad for the guy, sikkens is not a good choice unless you can afford it. It's beautiful but it comes at a such a price. I would not recommend it to anyone close to me who would rather do something else (like go fishing) with his limited time and resources! 

But I have a plan now and if the weather cooperates it won't be long now. Thanks again to you all, especially NCP and I'll keep you posted!


----------



## brushnroller

I'm beginning to feel a little better about this project...liking Cetol Maintenance so far. This is the good (east) side of the cabin, no flaking on this side.


----------



## NCPaint1

Big difference. Looks good. Glad its working out.

Its all about knowing what products can do, understanding customers expectations, and defining what the end result will be. As long as everyone is on the same page, things go smoothly.


----------



## 6126

brushnroller said:


> I'm beginning to feel a little better about this project...liking Cetol Maintenance so far. This is the good (east) side of the cabin, no flaking on this side.


Looks much better. Good job :thumbsup:


----------



## Faron79

Yeah, Cetol-Maintenance is a good alternative to adding a new "Color-layer" of 23+ or L&S, if customers don't wanna get any darker.

As NC says, blending colors on "must sand" areas can be tricky. If a lake-home was in the shade all the time, these peeling problems would be more infrequent. The sun is obviously what causes most of the peeling, due to the warming effect on the wood, which tends to "draw-out" a structures moisture....thereby causing most of the lifting.

Faron


----------



## brushnroller

Moving right along thanks to good advice, good weather, good luck and a good helper. For the first time I used a scaffold set up on a paint job. Wow is that helpful...saves a lot of up and down the ladder...wish I had more scaffold available.










The Cetol Maintenance on the east side, which was not sun damaged, made the rich beauty of the 15 year old Cetol 123 really pop. We are all stunned with how nice it looks. 










The west side is another story...sorry no picture yet It was sun damaged and in worse condition that we realized. We ended up scraping a lot of it off. We then did a complete recoat with Log and Siding. The next day we feathered in more L&S onto the specific spots that were scraped. It looks good, but not as good as the east side. We are hoping that we were successful at salvaging the west side...time will tell.

Thanks again everyone for all your help!


----------

