Hi - house we have purchased has cedar weatherboards with a blue stain. Can we apply a new stain straight over the top (wanting to go to a darker charcoal colour) or do we need to sand back/remove the old stain!
daz1968,
Feb 13, 5:25am
No you will be fine to go straight over the top,its when you are trying to cover with a lighter colour it can be tricky with coverage,darker over light as you are doing is fine.Use a waterbased stain,the woodsman is good from dulux,easier to use that oilbased and better cleanup.It doesnt matter what was used before as its weathered,I'm a self employed painter:) just make sure you give it a light wash first (not heavy) as you will damage the cedar as its soft timber.
hatchback,
Feb 13, 8:13am
Waterblast it so its clean then paint two coats of Dulux Timbercryl over it. That will save it from deteriorating any further. Ceder should not be used here as New Zealand is too hot and dry.
Page 4 in the link applies to your question I think :-)
rsr72,
Feb 13, 9:55am
Cedar is an excellent, and traditionally-used, weatherboard timber in NZ conditions. It's extremely stable compared with other timbers and is longlasting due to it's resin content. Be careful waterblasting, and if absolutely necessary only at low pressures as it can be soft, particularly modern non-heart cedars.
malone4,
Feb 13, 8:38pm
x1
be weary about using a dark stain as it attracts heat and tends to split the timber. Also its best to use an oil based for external use to weather proof as it repels water.
chrisw.,
Feb 14, 3:52am
Thanks for the suggestions. We're looking at the Resene 'cool colours' which hopefully might alleviate some of the issues with heat. Any experience with using these! One of the reasons we wish to shy away from a lighter colour is to try and cover the existing blue stain.
max.headroom,
Feb 14, 7:21am
I wouldnt waterblast,, maybe a vicious hosing instead
david_270,
Feb 16, 10:42am
Don't use timbacryl unless it has already had it on. Much easier to restain. We are building new with cedar weatherboards & will use either the Herman Pacific version of Resene Woodsman, or Wood-X Their FAQ's may help.https://www.wood-x.co.nz/faq/
malone4,
Feb 16, 11:00am
no experience with Resene 'cool colours' sorry but a light gold over top of your blue should be fine and may not end up much darker. good luck with your project. i hope you post us some picks of your results.
chrisw.,
Feb 16, 9:04pm
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. Definitely not keen on painting if at all possible; if we stain and aren't happy with either the result or the upkeep needed we might look at that option but feel that once we go down that road then the house will be stuck with paint forever. she's a big house and I aren't too motivated by the idea of stripping it back!
maibuy,
Feb 20, 6:26am
x1
Bought a new 2 storey cedar house 1997. They are great in NZ climates. Put Aquatrol on it in '99 'cos didn't like the grey that cedar naturally fade to. It was very easy like painting on water - no prep of wood. It has maintained it's golden brown colour. It's now 14 yrs and haven't touched it. Cedar is such low maintenance.
ruie,
Feb 20, 8:41pm
x1
Hang on . the first thing you should do is determine exactly what stain has previously been put on.This makes a huge difference in how you prepare the surface for whatever you wish to put on top.Commonly the term 'stain' is used for a whole range of products, some of which form a film on the cedar & are not stains in the common sense.If you have a 'film-forming' stain on your cedar which is quite likely, e.g. Wattyl Forestwood, you will have to remove all of the original before you apply your new stain.This is a huge job, I have done it . otherwise it will not adhere to the previous stain or penetrate the timber making the surface very patchy.Be careful what stain you choose . some stains have a very short lifecyle in NZ.
chrisw.,
Feb 21, 5:21am
Is there an easy way of ascertaining what the original type was! (Seeing as the previous owners had left no old cans.)
fordkiwi27,
Feb 21, 7:40am
forestwood is not a film forming stain. its a penetrating stain. and a good one at that.
fordkiwi27,
Feb 21, 7:41am
x1
and film forming stains are crap. a lot of them have been taken off the market. major major problems.
squeaking,
Feb 21, 8:13am
Totally agree with you fordkiwi27 its a penetrating oil,i have used this product for the past 15 years, a lot of people use the Aqua stains now which are water based but i think the only bonus you get from them it the low odour and you get extra coverage out of them but to me that means it does not penetrate and is film forming stain.
ruie,
Feb 21, 9:24pm
x1
Film-forming stains tend to build up with mutiple coats & in time with weathering they will crack & flake.This is what happened with Forestwood on our house, so much so, we were compensated by Wattyl for the problem. The whole house had to be stripped before we could apply a non film-forming stain.
fordkiwi27,
Feb 22, 4:05am
forestwood isnt a film forming stain! unless its a different sort i dont know of! i know the dulux one was pulled. ive seen it crap out BIG time.
elise24,
Feb 24, 9:04pm
To test for 'staininess' get some timber prep cleaner from resene or something and scrub with that. If it goes back to nice looking new timber then it is a penetrating stain (like forestwood). If it just cleans the surface but keeps the stain colour then it is a film forming stain/paint.
guest,
Jun 19, 8:30am
Hi Maibuy,
Could you tell me where did you get Aquatrol and any other information about application?
bryan,
Aug 28, 11:32pm
x1
A lot of generalizations have been made and you are wise to do your due diligence. First question I would ask is " how old is the stain? " If the existing stain is oil based and under two years it is possible there will be areas where there is still oil residue which means you would be wise to stick to another oil based stain. Dark should cover light no problem.
If it is over 3 years old it is likely that all the oil has gone and it will not matter what type of stain you use.
Film forming stains do have a checkered history and again it is wise to do your homework. Many have been launched with great fanfare and been withdrawn within a very few years. One though stands out as a great success story. Timbakote Timbapro is an acrylic film forming stain that has been around for almost 20 years. If you have a new house you can get a 10 year warranty and there is a good chance you will get years more. That's better than paint. I have personally seen jobs that are 14-16 years old and looking good. My advice though, maintain it! wash 1-2x per year, keep an eye on it, and touch up any damage like chips etc.
mick,
May 26, 7:08pm
We painted our cedar w'board some 8-10 years ago with Flood water based 'Aquatrol', & its crap. Even the oiled based we were given by mistake on a eastern section went black/grey. It was weathered first 4-6 mths as they recommended. Tried cheap water pressure washer, it worked well,cleaning off old film, bar a fury finish when dried off. Still wondering what finish on them now. p.s i'm a reg. builder.& llive in nth vict. Aust.
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