I hope someone can help us, and if not steer us to someone who might be able to. Thank You.

My wife and I built a house in Southeastern Wisconsin at the end of 2001 and chose to use cedar siding. Construction began at the end of 01 and the house was sided in November. Because of the weather and temperature, the house was not stained until May of 02, so the siding sat untreated for over 6 months. The first contractor gave the house "two coats" of Sherwin Williams Woodscapes stain. Within two years, the stain was peeling and looked embarrassing. In September of 2005 we hired a different contractor and explained our situation. He said that was way too early for that type of peeling to occur and most of the time that doesn't even happen at all, just fading. We also had a rep from Sherwin Williams come to look at the situation because I didn't know what the problem was - contractor or stain. The rep said that it was his belief that the siding was left too long before the first coat of stain was applied and so the stain could not adhere properly. The contractor said they would take care of it and said that the Woodscapes product we used the first time,he would recommend again. So he scraped and refinished our house and it looked great! My wife and I were excited to have the problem behind us. That was Sept of 05. Less than one year later, our house was peeling again severely. Now in February, only a year and a half after the last job was completed, stain is coming off in chunks up to two by four inches at a time! Our house is peeling with a vengeance - much worse than before - it looks awful and it drives us nuts to see our nice home look like garbage. We are desperate, and because of the size of our house, it has cost us over $7500 each time it was stained. We are going on our third stain job in less than 5 years and I have to stop the bleeding somehow. One interesting thing is that the North side of our house looks like it is in great shape for the most part, not peeling at all?! P.S. we can't contact the last contractor because one of his employees broke into our house and stole a bunch of things and we had a long drawn out police and court fiasco...

Can you please give us some guidance? I would like to find out what the likely cause our problem is and the proper way to have it corrected so we can put this recurring problem behind us once and for all. I realize wood siding means upkeep, but I think my situation is on the extreme side of things. Also, can you explain the best option for stripping old stain? What makes a good primer? What are the pros and cons of paint vs. stain? Any recommendations on products? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Dean

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Originally Posted by onatrail

I hope someone can help us, and if not steer us to someone who might be able to. Thank You.

My wife and I built a house in Southeastern Wisconsin at the end of 2001 and chose to use cedar siding. Construction began at the end of 01 and the house was sided in November. Because of the weather and temperature, the house was not stained until May of 02, so the siding sat untreated for over 6 months. The first contractor gave the house "two coats" of Sherwin Williams Woodscapes stain. Within two years, the stain was peeling and looked embarrassing. In September of 2005 we hired a different contractor and explained our situation. He said that was way too early for that type of peeling to occur and most of the time that doesn't even happen at all, just fading. We also had a rep from Sherwin Williams come to look at the situation because I didn't know what the problem was - contractor or stain. The rep said that it was his belief that the siding was left too long before the first coat of stain was applied and so the stain could not adhere properly. The contractor said they would take care of it and said that the Woodscapes product we used the first time,he would recommend again. So he scraped and refinished our house and it looked great! My wife and I were excited to have the problem behind us. That was Sept of 05. Less than one year later, our house was peeling again severely. Now in February, only a year and a half after the last job was completed, stain is coming off in chunks up to two by four inches at a time! Our house is peeling with a vengeance - much worse than before - it looks awful and it drives us nuts to see our nice home look like garbage. We are desperate, and because of the size of our house, it has cost us over $7500 each time it was stained. We are going on our third stain job in less than 5 years and I have to stop the bleeding somehow. One interesting thing is that the North side of our house looks like it is in great shape for the most part, not peeling at all?!?!?!? P.S. we can't contact the last contractor because one of his employees broke into our house and stole a bunch of things and we had a long drawn out police and court fiasco..........

Can you please give us some guidance? I would like to find out what the likely cause our problem is and the proper way to have it corrected so we can put this recurring problem behind us once and for all. I realize wood siding means upkeep, but I think my situation is on the extreme side of things. Also, can you explain the best option for stripping old stain? What makes a good primer? What are the pros and cons of paint vs. stain? Any recommendations on products? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Dean

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There is not an easy answer Dean. Sometimes a light tint clearcoat from the start will last two or three years from South exposure weathering if shellac (Man-O-War) or polyvinyl clear coat (CWF) do their job.

We used to hose the natural siding down with water on a hot day to keep from having too much saturation into the wood. The water in the wood cell pores would keep the lacquer or shellac from soaking in by curing on the surface. Those paint jobs will last about every 3 years in the hot Sierra sun before needing another clear coat sealer. But that was another era and now latex polymers are the new breed. Not knowing what was used on your job, but a good exterior grade latex should last at least the duration of a 10 year warrantee one coat. Have you tried Sears. Their paints always had a great reputation.
I am not sure if primers will help with what you have now without removing the existing surface coat. There are a couple of paint removing gadgets that sand or heat with automatic scrapping tools. Depends on the existing paint that needs to be removed. I hope some of the above helps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onatrail

I hope someone can help us, and if not steer us to someone who might be able to. Thank You.

My wife and I built a house in Southeastern Wisconsin at the end of 2001 and chose to use cedar siding. Construction began at the end of 01 and the house was sided in November. Because of the weather and temperature, the house was not stained until May of 02, so the siding sat untreated for over 6 months. The first contractor gave the house "two coats" of Sherwin Williams Woodscapes stain. Within two years, the stain was peeling and looked embarrassing. In September of 2005 we hired a different contractor and explained our situation. He said that was way too early for that type of peeling to occur and most of the time that doesn't even happen at all, just fading. We also had a rep from Sherwin Williams come to look at the situation because I didn't know what the problem was - contractor or stain. The rep said that it was his belief that the siding was left too long before the first coat of stain was applied and so the stain could not adhere properly. The contractor said they would take care of it and said that the Woodscapes product we used the first time,he would recommend again. So he scraped and refinished our house and it looked great! My wife and I were excited to have the problem behind us. That was Sept of 05. Less than one year later, our house was peeling again severely. Now in February, only a year and a half after the last job was completed, stain is coming off in chunks up to two by four inches at a time! Our house is peeling with a vengeance - much worse than before - it looks awful and it drives us nuts to see our nice home look like garbage. We are desperate, and because of the size of our house, it has cost us over $7500 each time it was stained. We are going on our third stain job in less than 5 years and I have to stop the bleeding somehow. One interesting thing is that the North side of our house looks like it is in great shape for the most part, not peeling at all?!?!?!? P.S. we can't contact the last contractor because one of his employees broke into our house and stole a bunch of things and we had a long drawn out police and court fiasco..........

Can you please give us some guidance? I would like to find out what the likely cause our problem is and the proper way to have it corrected so we can put this recurring problem behind us once and for all. I realize wood siding means upkeep, but I think my situation is on the extreme side of things. Also, can you explain the best option for stripping old stain? What makes a good primer? What are the pros and cons of paint vs. stain? Any recommendations on products? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Dean

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We have the same problem in New England, a breandnew house built in 2000 and painted in the Spring of 2001, which started to peel 3 years ago, but the prohibited costs of painting again have prevented us from doing it earlier. Well, this year we decided to go through with it and the first reaction we got from the painters quoting the house was: "Is this a Woodscapes Stain?".

When I said yes he told me that every house he's ever worked that has Woodscape stain on it is peeling. He then mention that there maybe a lawsuit going on, so that's why I decided to look on the Web. I too am going to get an S&W rep, and will take them to court if necessary.

This might be written long after you have hopefully corrected your problem. I love the woodscapes stain line and use it often... including my cedar home. If your home sat for 6 months without staining your painter should have pressure washed it, then allowed it to dry for at least 2 days. If he stained it when the surface was either damp or hot from the sun, then it would eventually peel. I believe your problem is from the surface being hot and then being stain... and that's why the north side of your home looks good. The sun didn't heat the surface prior to staining. I hope this helps you. Tim in atlanta

Hi Dean,
It has been a little over a year since my last response that really wasn't good enough to help you out. This time, regardless of what you have for a current coating, I will suggest something that is not going to be any easier than before. First up, any wood siding will peel paint coatings or even 'stain' coatings eventually if the wood siding did not get a primed sealer coating. The reason for this is that a prime seal coating is absorbed into the wood cellular pores to provide an attachment tooth for the final surface coat.

When I repainted my paint peeling house that is sided with 1 x 10 bevel cedar siding, I subbed out to a handy man to strip all paint down to the wood surface. This was done in warm weather (May or June 1987).

Prior to paint sealing I hosed the wood surface down with TSP (pre-paint cleaner and degreaser) and water to remove sanding dust or grease in preparation of priming.

Next, I personally coated the wood with a primer sealer with a roller and a brush along lap siding edges to seal the wood surfaces. Took a few days by hand but I wasn't about to let a painting contractor come in and do a thin spray job.

Third, I hired a paint contractor to come in and spray paint the house with a single cover coat latex-enamel based (Sherwin-Williams)paint on a sunny day.

In August 2006 I had to touch up weathered siding on the south wall due to peeling in areas that were filler coated and water leakage from the roof caused deterioration. This meant peeling and sanding down to the primer coating.

Prior to painting, I washed the siding with TSP, before washing the complete south wall side. Instead of paint patching the touch up areas, I roller painted the complete side.

Note that I used the same paint from left over 5 gallons I stored almost 18 years ago so matching the remaining still intact house was not a problem. The paint carries a 20 year warrantee and will probably last another 20 years on the non-weathered sides.

I mentioned in the other post of March 2, 2007 basically the same thing with exceptions of the following,

When I was in contracting, the painting subs would first prime seal coat the siding before applying a final paint coat to the cedar siding. Most homes were painted with a pigmented latex enamel final coat on fir or T111 siding.

On cedar siding, a clear prime sealer was applied prior to a clear finish coat. This was done to prevent peeling due to having moisture in the wood at a later date.

Also note that clear coating comes in a variety of materials such a polyurethanes, shellac resins, and other varathanes. I would take the time to investigate what is best suited for using clear coating again. I know back in the 1970's clear coatings were always needing repainting on the weather sides every 4 years due to UV degradation through clear coats.

My last and most suggested method of fixing the problem is to re-side the complete house to stop the moisture peeling problems. Contact at least two licensed and bonded vinyl siding contractors who can give you an estimate. They will cost more but in the long run your worries will be gone forever! Good Luck, nm