My house has wood planks on the gables on the face. Unfortunately they were painted barn red years and years ago. I suspect they are original to the house.
They aren’t rotted, they are still pretty solid. I’m going to need to repaint them.
I’ve looked around and can’t tell, but is it better to paint these things with something that is more breathable, or is it better to paint them with gloss exterior latex paint to just seal off the face?
The grain on these is really deep and highly textured (earlywood/latewood) and pretty much any well-done paint job would look great. I’ve been thinking of doing an antiquing job on them, which is one of my specialties at my job— applying a dark colorant into the depth of the grain of wood, and wiping it off of the very surface. This would greatly highlight the grain of the wood, but be a HUGE amount of work. But could be great fun .
Depends on what the paint that’s already there is, but I too would use a stain. Just don’t paint the bottom edge pieces together. They should stay open to drain if needed.
I guess I’m not understanding. They already have a ton of brick/barn red paint on them, so staining them won’t do a lot to seal them anyhow. The stain merely imparts color to raw wood and provides a minor amount of sealing so that the wood retains the stain color during rain.
I can’t feasibly strip the paint off of them, the grain is far too deep (earlywood/latewood).
So y’all think though that it’s better to let them breath rather than seal up the faces?
I know with interior woodworking, we typically finish all surfaces mostly equally to prevent any humidity causing uneven moisture content on the parts, but I’m not sure how that works on exterior stuff.
… The Cross of Christ is the anvil upon which the hammer of evil wore itself out.
If they were already painted & have lasted this long I would say just follow ever how they are already painted.
If the wood was not a treated wood it probably would be best to paint them since they will be exposed to the rain.
Matt are you wanting to change the color or keep it the same? If it has that much deep grain, I would think it was left unpainted for a long time in the past, or it’s Cedar planking as you say. Don’t know who would use Cedar for that, so I expect it was Pine, just weathered badly and then painted. I would just get some real good exterior paint and redo it. Home Depot has BEHR Premium Plus Ultra that has the primer already in it. It cuts out one step in the painting process. All you have to do is clean the surface and paint. Use a pressure washer for that. Just don’t get to close to the wood if you use a pressure washer, you can cut right into it if to close.
It’s very possible that it spent it’s first decade with just stain, but the paint on it looks pretty old.
I’ve removed a few shudders from the house to repaint, and I’m certain they are Western Red Cedar. And one of the planks I accidentally split, and the wood was the same color as the western red cedar. Could be fir though, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t pine. I have been wrong before though.
I do have a pressure washer, and I think around early Spring I’m going to wash them off and repaint them. I’ll probably go with something white looking though. I like the barn red color, personally, but the ladies in the house (Momma, and Momma) don’t care for it.
Thanks for the advice all!!
… The Cross of Christ is the anvil upon which the hammer of evil wore itself out.
I guess I’m not understanding. They already have a ton of brick/barn red paint on them, so staining them won’t do a lot to seal them anyhow. The stain merely imparts color to raw wood and provides a minor amount of sealing so that the wood retains the stain color during rain.
I can’t feasibly strip the paint off of them, the grain is far too deep (earlywood/latewood).
So y’all think though that it’s better to let them breath rather than seal up the faces?
I know with interior woodworking, we typically finish all surfaces mostly equally to prevent any humidity causing uneven moisture content on the parts, but I’m not sure how that works on exterior stuff.
… The Cross of Christ is the anvil upon which the hammer of evil wore itself out.
You’re thinking of a semi transparent stain like you use on fences/decks. A colored stain is more of a paint, but soaks into the wood changing the color, but still leaving the “texture” look you’re after. A paint is more on the surface and hide the grain/wood more.
It’s hard to tell without seeing the wood, but sounds like your siding is painted already so you may not get the advantage of a stain and may need to go back over it with paint. Post some pictures.
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