See attached picture. I scraped most of the loose stuff off the rounded shingles today. The rest will not come off as easily. I was thinking it might be better to rip them and start with new material. I’m thinking that once I take them down, I might be opening a can of worms.
While no home can be completely fireproof, implementing these fire-resistant details can increase resilience.
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Vote it will get into several cans of worms...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
At that height a good scrape and fresh paint will look fine. Not like its right in your face. If theres no rot I say leave them, its nice to have original features able to be left thats what makes houses so interesting.
rent a high pressure water sprayer and give them a good blasting. That will loosen any last flaky paint. It's a relativly fast job that given the size of the house should take but a couple of hours.. Then let it dry a minimum of three (dry) days and use a good covering paint.
The detail of those shingles is desirable to restorers and old home fans.. don't try to "update" it with a modern look, you'll lose what makes the house special..
One final note, when pressure washing be carefull to hold the sprayer far enough away so that it doesn't gouge the wood and make things worse. Too far away and there won't be any effect too close and you'll ruin the look of them practice on a hidden spot untill you figure out just how much pressure the washer has and removes the flaky paint and not gouge the wood.
Frenchy that may indeed loosen the whole house! There are other ways that one might go about removing sufficient material to provide for a good base from which to build up from. A possible 2 bucket of worm job, 2w I wood rate it.
I would attempt to remove the paint with a wire brush. As you are scraping you will know if it needs to be replaced. Chances are it does!
I would definitely re-paint before replacing. I have seen a lot of cedar shakes brought back from the dead with a good prep and paint job.
Although I do very little exterior painting, the shakes I have done so far (garages, sheds and my own house) got a good scrubbing with a stiff nylon brush. I found a wire brush to be too aggressive, but that depends on how soft the shakes are.
After that, a coat of oil-primer helps to re-adhere all of the loose bits that scraping/scrubbing didn't remove. I think using an oil primer rather than latex is important.
I have also used a power washer, but pretty much only to rinse. I garden hose would have worked too, but the power washer uses less water and reaches further.
Is that house on LBI somewhere?
Surf City
The problem with all of the suggestions is the resulting longevity of the finish coat, compared to replacing the shingles with new ones where the entire shingle is dipped (Cabot paint - or stain - usually) at the factory before installation. For the labor one job will last 5-10 years (existing) and the other will last much longer.
eta - By the way you should NOT use pressure washers on old wood houses - they can cause a lot of damage.
Jeff
Edited 6/15/2009 12:17 am ET by Jeff_Clarke
I think I'll leave them, and when I repaint 5 or so years from now I'll reconsider replacing them. Thanks to all for the suggestions, particularly the nylon brush. Didn't know there was that option.
I vote for a repaint too.
Scraping would greatly increase the exposure to lead and the cost of properly containing it. And you'd be sinking a lot of money into labor and at the end not have extended the life much. I'd remove all the siding and reside.
According to the energy czar in our current administration, you should paint the shingles white so as to conserve energy. I think you owe that to your nation.
Only in southern (air condiontioning) states Up here in the great North where the majority of our expense is heating you need to paint them black (or brown)
Only if you employ the use of parabolic mirrors as I do for re-directed infrared gain
Any dark color will absorb more infra rays than a white color which tends to be reflective. White is cooler dark is warmer. Good old sixth grade science.. <grin>
However the use of parabolic reflectors will focus the rays should you want to ignite your house <grin>