Preparing and painting cedar siding

July 31, 2000

Question from: Kaz
Elphinstone, MB

Dear Shell,

The exterior paint on my cedar siding is blistering. The original paint was an alkyd primer and alkyd topcoat. I then switched to a latex paint. Now I find that every couple of years it blisters. I tried to fix this by scraping the paint off, then re-applying the topcoat. There is black mold under the topcoat, this is on both the house and garage (heated and unheated walls). How do I prepare the surface for painting and what kind of paint (primer and topcoat) do I use? Do I use an undercoat for the entire house, or just on the stripped portion?

Thanks, Kaz

Dear Kaz,

If you have more than 4 coats of paint on your home you must remove it by using a heat gun. Wash with my Shell Busey’s Home Cleaning Formula and rinse well. Under all the windows install ¾ ” round vent plugs through to the wall insulation cavity. Apply an all purpose exterior alkyd primer and then 2 nd coat with first quality exterior acrylic latex.

It’s just that easy.

Shell Busey