I would like to hear about methods for on-site prestaining of siding shingles. Dipping methods, rolling or brushing off the excess, drying racks, any and all ideas will be appreciated, and photos would be good, also.
For my 3200 sf of wall to be covered, I am looking at $2,000 to $4,000 premium, depending on number of coats and suppliers, for factory stained, versus bare.
Edited 4/9/2003 4:03:55 PM ET by Mr. Micro
Replies
I hope you have a lot of free time on your hands.
I started my project (30 sqs.) last fall...it's still going.
I'm using Penofin oil finish with 16" WRC. So far most productive way for me is to grab 5-6 shingles in each hand, and using my fingers as spacers, dip all 10-12 shingles into the 5 gallon bucket. The oil covers 75% of the shingle if the bucket is 60-70% full. I remove the shingles from the bucket, still placed between my fingers, and let the oil drip back for about 10 seconds. Then I quickly place the shingles into a standard painting pan with the but ends facing up and the top part facing downhill. This allows the oil to drain towards the unfinished shingle top.
Next I use a painting sponge pad to uniformly brush the oil into both sides of the shingle. Now its time for drying. I just line them up along anything I can find outside. For example: My truck in the driveway, the belguim blocks outlining my driveway....They need to dry for about 1 hour and then you can get ready to put them back into the box.
Its not fun. Get yourself a good respirator if you use Penofin or any other oil product, your nose and throat will thank you. Good luck
I came up with a good system last year when I had about 8 square to do. I made a "dipping station" out of 2x material, basically a 10'x4' table with no bottom. Staple chicken wire on the bottom and up over the outside edge. Cover that with plastic sheeting. Find the low spot I the plastic where your dripping stain will naturally pool, and cut a hole there for the excess to drip into a container for reuse. Dip shingles in a big bucket or storage container(put up at a comfortable height so as to save your back), and place in drying table on ends. You can move right along using this. --Steve
Dip em, soak em, drain em in an old piece of gutter sloped toward a dippin bucket to dry. If your in a big hurry use 1/4" dowels to space em still in bundles and dip the whole bundle one side at a time and drain onto poly sloped towards dippin vat.
There was a good thread on that subject quite a while back. That would be worth using the search feature to try and locate.