The fibercement products claim 20 yr paint life or something like that, don’t they? I have to tell you that I’ve seen fiber cement jobs and I think they look great. BUT, I was thinking, when they do require re painting – only chemical strippers would work, right?
Anyone out there come upon a cementitious siding job in need of its second coat?
How did it go?
Replies
Maybe sand blasting. High pressure water blasting, possibly fortified with sand or other abrasives, or heat guns would work on FC boards to remove paint after the first dozen coats or so. Water jets have gotten more powerful over the last 30 years or so. I have seen, at a university lab, a water jet powerful enough to cut solid blocks of carbide. At the same time it was very controllable and capable of being tightly controlled.
>> ... only chemical strippers would work, right?
Why? I don't see any reason why scraping, or sanding, or thermal stripping wouldn't work.
I think Jim is thinking about the dust that would be generated by sanding, or sand blasting. But I don't think you would be any worse off than when you are cutting the stuff. You would simply have to wear the proper protection (which you should anyway) If you were being especially careful you would probably want to collect as much of the dust as possible just like when removing lead based paint.
Am I right Jim? or are you thinking about something else. Justus Koshiol
Running Pug Construction
my concern was not so much the dust, but rather the thought that any mechanical means of removal (sanding, scraping, etc) would remove the simulated graining and leave you with a truly hideous, artificial looking surface. Steelkilt Lives!
jim.. unless the old finish gets built up, and alligators or peels, in the normal course of things.. the paint will just erode.. it won't be there after 20 years.. so i don't forsee any need to mechanically remove the old paint.. what will probably happen is that the surface will be cleaned, full body primed, and a new acrylic ( or whatever the latest and greatest is by then ) finish will be applied...
some of our Australian friends could tell us, since they've been using it for 20 yearsMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I would think one could look at the old asbestos shingles and get a pretty good idea of an answer to the question. Like FC, they always held paint well and the thought of removing the paint and marring the combed shingle surface never seemed to be an issue. Most of the asbestos shingles I've seen removed were done so because the owner wanted a new look, was worried about the asbestos, or the shingles had broken corners in places and looked like hell, or the house had settled badly and the whole structure needed help.
Besides, FC is relatively inexpensive and, if it remains so, replacing it in 20 or 30 years is really not a big deal. And for disposal, it can probably be ground up and used to modify acid soil problems in the landscape industry.
I did not know it has been in use in Aus for that long. I am hope one of them chimes in.Steelkilt Lives!
I just did 47 squares of FC for the first time.
We used factory applied stain (Cabot). I cannot envision this ever peeling or alligatoring, it is thin and I would think you'd just reapply whatever you want when the stain fails. It has a factory 15 year warranty.
Incidentally, we applied a fair amount of the stain for touch up and trim color changes. It is incredibly easy to put on, goes on uniformly in one coat. I would never buy prestained again as it is so easy to do.