Hi to all… new here

We’ve recently purchased a 1700 sq ft bungalow w/ a dbl car attach garage. The house has vertical cedar channel siding on it and it’s varnished. The varnish is flaking in several areas and I’m looking for suggestions.

I’m hesitant to strip the existing material w/ a high pressure water hose as I’m afraid to impregnate the cedar w/ a lot of moisture and “furring” the wood. Although I’m told that FLOOD makes a good product for stripping varnish. However, removing the existing finish by hand isn’t too appealing either. If this is the route to take though does anyone have a suggestion on a power tool to use for this purpose – a power sander would work for the larger agea but getting into the channel will pose a problem.

On the resurfacing side… should I even revarnish? By the looks of what was left behind the current finish is BEHR exteior varnish. A fellow suggested taking off the old material and applying something he called pole oil – used for finishing log homes. Apperantly it’s a combination of different oils and finishes that will not flake nor need stripping – just re-apply when needed.

Thanks for any help

(PS this note comes from Alberta, Canada so if there is any temperature considerations we get -35C each year)

Monte