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solid color stain problems

| Posted in General Discussion on September 26, 2000 04:15am

*
I have been plagued by the same problem with my solid color stain for a number of years. The house has cedar siding. When we bought the house in 1993 (it was 7 years old at that time) we wanted to change the color. The original solid color stain was acrylic/latex and seemed in good shape. We washed the siding to remove mildew and applied Muralo brand acrylic/latex. The few spots that required sanding to bare wood were primed with acrylic primer. The first winter (central NJ) was bitter with 30 inches of snow. By the spring, the stain on certain parts of the house (the NW and NE sides) had 1 inch to 4 inch bubbles in the paint. In some places the bubbles had formed large blisters and the stain came off completely. Most of these bubbles went down to bare wood, removing the stain we had applied and what was already on the house. This has been a recurring problem. Regardless of the temp. or humidity in which we apply the stain, the same thing happens. I’ve just finished staining the house and within 2 weeks these bubbles appeared. Sometimes the bubbles are down to bare wood and sometimes they are just the last layer of stain to be applied. Some parts of the house are under cover of a porch roof and these areas do not have the problem. The paint salesman has been out to see the house and has suggested mill glazing as the source of the problem but we have sanded down to bare wood and the problem persists. He also has suggested that we applied the stain too late in the day so we varied application time but it didn’t effect the results–still blisters. Any ideas as to a possible source of this problem? My next step is to take a part of the house and use a heat gun to go down to bare wood and do a large enough section that I can accurately track what’s happening.

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  1. Greg_Millert | Sep 26, 2000 04:15am | #1

    *
    I have been plagued by the same problem with my solid color stain for a number of years. The house has cedar siding. When we bought the house in 1993 (it was 7 years old at that time) we wanted to change the color. The original solid color stain was acrylic/latex and seemed in good shape. We washed the siding to remove mildew and applied Muralo brand acrylic/latex. The few spots that required sanding to bare wood were primed with acrylic primer. The first winter (central NJ) was bitter with 30 inches of snow. By the spring, the stain on certain parts of the house (the NW and NE sides) had 1 inch to 4 inch bubbles in the paint. In some places the bubbles had formed large blisters and the stain came off completely. Most of these bubbles went down to bare wood, removing the stain we had applied and what was already on the house. This has been a recurring problem. Regardless of the temp. or humidity in which we apply the stain, the same thing happens. I've just finished staining the house and within 2 weeks these bubbles appeared. Sometimes the bubbles are down to bare wood and sometimes they are just the last layer of stain to be applied. Some parts of the house are under cover of a porch roof and these areas do not have the problem. The paint salesman has been out to see the house and has suggested mill glazing as the source of the problem but we have sanded down to bare wood and the problem persists. He also has suggested that we applied the stain too late in the day so we varied application time but it didn't effect the results--still blisters. Any ideas as to a possible source of this problem? My next step is to take a part of the house and use a heat gun to go down to bare wood and do a large enough section that I can accurately track what's happening.

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