How To Prepare Siding For Exterior Painting On Hardiplank Siding

Here are the steps to prepare and paint your james hardie siding.

How to prepare siding for exterior painting on hardiplank siding.

After your surfaces are primed it is strongly encouraged to use acrylic exterior paint for your home. Pressure wash entire exterior. Wash down the exterior surfaces every 6 to 12 months with a garden hose to remove dirt and debris gently clean your siding with a soft brush or wet soft cloth in a side to side motion in the direction of the plank siding. The cloth will likely come up dark gray with a layer of fine soot.

But over the years your house will experience paint failure faster than if it were applied to clean siding. Using the proper materials and paint for fiber cement or hardiplank siding a very good latex primer should be used to prepare the surface for paint. If all dirt grime is not removed prior to painting the paint will not adhere correctly. Don t paint in direct sun and add a paint additive like paint extender which will slow down the drying time and give the paint time to level out.

All you should have to do is rinse your siding use a garden hose no pressure washers here to clean off any dust or dirt. As an experiment rub a clean white cloth across the unwashed siding. Prepare to paint whether you ve got a colorplus finish or custom paint on your existing hardie siding you don t have to use primer when re painting hardie. Put on a mask and hold the spray gun about 1 foot from the siding.

A professional exterior painting expert will use a spray application for a smooth factory like finish. Later in the day the surface of the siding can get up to 150 degrees in direct sun light so paint the shady side first thing in the morning. Then make sure the coating is completely dry before applying the 2 nd coat. This step is a very important one.

Stir the paint with a paint stick to blend the color pigments. The siding must then be allowed to dry thoroughly before any caulking is begun. Fill a paint sprayer with exterior acrylic paint. Acrylic paint is best suited for fiber cement stone and stucco exteriors.