Have you ever seen brown stains mysteriously appear on a painted piece of wood siding? Or have you seen the color of a piece of stained redwood or cedar change color or deepen after it has been exposed to the weather? If so, you may have witnessed extractive bleeding stains. These stains originate inside a piece of wood, not from some outside source.

Extractive Chemicals

Many people know that redwood and cedar are excellent woods to use for siding. The reason stems from their durability. They simply resist rot and decay for long periods of time, even when exposed to large quantities of moisture.

The reason these woods perform well under moist conditions has to do with natural preservatives that all woods contain. All woods contain pigments, resin, oil and tannin. These are present in differing percentages depending upon the species of the wood. These are all chemical compounds and act as natural preservatives. Redwood and cedar, however, have large quantities of these chemicals.

Some of these preservatives can be dissolved in water. When this happens, they are extracted from the wood.

In the case of redwood and cedar, the water soluble extractive chemicals usually have a brownish color. A brown stain usually results on a painted or stained surface when water, laden with some of these chemicals, runs across or drips onto an adjacent surface. In many cases, the water evaporates and leaves the brown chemicals behind.

Redwood or cedar which is left untreated will usually darken in color with age. This is partially due to the fact that some of these extractive chemicals are drawn to the surface by water vapor or water that has soaked into the wood. Water vapor in the air can soak into a piece of untreated wood. This water can dissolve small amounts of the chemicals and pigments. Then, sunlight or wind may draw the water to the surface. The water, once again, evaporates and leaves the chemicals at the surface.

Iron Fasteners = Stains

Extractive chemicals, especially those in redwood and cedar, can chemically attack iron. These chemicals corrode the iron and cause a particular black or blue-black stain. These stains can penetrate deeply into the wood and be very difficult to remove. The best solution to the problem is prevention.

When installing redwood and cedar siding and trim, use only double dipped hot galvanized nails or, better yet, use stainless steel nails. Stainless steel offers the best protection, as it is unaffected by the tannins in redwood and cedar. It is possible to chip off the zinc coating of galvanized nails when striking them with a hammer.

Pay particular attention to other metal connectors that you may use in constructing redwood decks or cedar arbors. Purchase the highest quality metal connectors possible, especially if you intend to apply a clear finish or semi-transparent stain.

Minimizing Stains

The best prevention in avoiding stains caused by extractive chemicals is to cut off the water which dissolves the chemicals. This is not that difficult to do. It simply involves encapsulating or surrounding each piece of exterior wood with a coating which water cannot penetrate.

Note that I said surround. This means that the front, back sides, and edges of each piece of wood need to be coated or sealed. This sounds hard and time consuming but it is really not that hard to do.

Painters often refer to this process of completely sealing wood as backpriming. Painters have known for years that paint finishes failed, often with flaking or blistering effects, because of water soaking into wood. When given the opportunity and the financial incentive, painters would 'prime the back' of each piece of wood with paint. This would stop wood from absorbing water from behind. The really good painters would also paint the ends of each piece of wood. This, of course, is where water most easily enters a piece of wood.

Making it Fast & Easy

Backpriming is rarely done. There are several reasons:

• Some builders and painters don't realize what it is.
• Some builders and painters don't care.
• Some builders and painters think it takes too long.

The end result of all these scenarios, if you have redwood or cedar siding or trim, may possibly be stains from the extractive chemicals.

Backpriming is not that difficult to do and, believe it or not, it can actually save you money in the long run. Savings can and will be achieved by longer lasting paint or stain jobs that require little preparation other than washing. Wood which has been backprimed rarely, if ever, has finish problems such as peeling or blistering.

My painter and I developed a system which really worked well. We simply spread out some tarps outside in good weather and set up my saw horses. On top of the saw horses, we would set a long 2 x 10 or 2 x 12. Beneath this board was a scrap piece of plywood that spanned the sawhorses. The plywood acted as a table upon which to set the paint roller pan, roller and brushes. The large 2 x 10(12) was the table upon which the siding or trim boards were painted.

Without the 2 x 10(12), siding set across saw horses acts something like a wet noodle. It is very limp. Anyway, by using a paint roller sized for the siding and trim boards, you can apply paint or stain very rapidly.

My painter would roll the paint on all surfaces of each piece of siding or trim. On the side which was to be exposed, he would do one extra thing. After the paint was applied with a roller, he would take a paint brush and walk very rapidly down the board, never lifting the brush. He would make as many passes as necessary to convert the orange peel texture created by the roller to a brush texture.

The siding or trim board was then set aside to dry. We always painted the shorter lengths first, so that they could be leaned against a wall beneath the void space of each successively longer piece of trim or siding.

When priming new wood, always make sure the wood is dry. Remember, if you backprime wet wood, you will definitely have a problem. Just as soon as that wood is installed and the sun hits it, the trapped moisture will work its way to the surface and cause the finish to fail. Make sure that wood siding and trim stays dry while in storage before it gets painted.

To achieve a really first class paint job, often three coats need to be applied on new wood. If you decide to do this, give serious consideration to applying your second coat of paint 'on the ground' as just described. My painter clearly demonstrated that he could paint more square feet faster on the ground than by constantly moving ladders around a house.

Preprimed Wood

Several wood siding manufacturers offer preprimed wood siding and trim. My experience with these products has been somewhat unfavorable. The primer that was used always seemed to be very thin and always required another coat of primer once it was on the jobsite.

There is a possibility that within the past two years the quality of the paint has improved. But even if it has not, it still may be worth purchasing, as this wood will have a tough time getting wet during shipping and handling.

Sealing Cut Ends

The best backpriming job can be torpedoed by an uninformed carpenter. Just because a painter seals the ends of a piece of wood doesn't mean they will stay that way. Just about every piece of wood siding or trim gets cut to size.

These cuts expose what is called end grain. This is the same grain that is exposed when you initially cut down a tree or saw a log into firewood lengths. End grain exposes the channels through which sap and other nutrients travel up a tree. After a tree is cut down and dried, these channels still exist. In fact, they readily look for water and soak it up like a sponge. This is the primary reason you frequently see paint peel from wood siding or trim at or near its end.

For these reasons, you must make sure, or instruct, your carpenter that he or she must seal the ends of all cut pieces of wood before they are installed. Remember, it is impossible to seal this end cut once another piece of wood has been butted against it.

I always used to keep a paint can and a brush on my cutting table. After I cut a piece of wood and checked it for proper fit, I would then dab some paint or stain on this fresh end cut. Yes, this did take a an extra minute per cut, but I can take you to some of my jobs where the paint finish hasn't peeled for 15 years. You make the decision. Is it worth it or not?

Conclusions

Backpriming is the key to a long lasting, stain-free siding finish. Invest in this process and you will reap large dividends. Good luck on your project!

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Siding Associations - - Sources of Literature

• California Redwood Association
  (www.calredwood.org)
  

  The California Redwood Association is a leader in siding installation and care. They have done extensive research in determining just how and why siding (redwood in particular) works. They know about nails, paint, stains and other finishes. They have excellent product literature, especially helpful planning guides for deck construction and other redwood projects. Check out their web site before you purchase and install your next piece of redwood. They may be able to save you some money.

• Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau
  (www.cedarbureau.org)
  

  These guys are the source for information regarding cedar siding and trim. Rough sawn cedar can be extremely attractive, however, it needs to be protected from the weather in order to retain its beauty. Read the product support documents on this web site. They are full of helpful tips and information.

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Vinyl Siding - A Definite Advantage

Plastic Housing

Many people are turned off by plastic. They think it is an inferior material. For instance, would you want a plastic desk or a solid walnut desk? You probably chose walnut, right? Well, let me add a little twist. What happens if I said a desk (or desktop) made from Corian®, a popular plastic solid surfacing material? Maybe some of you would go for the Corian®. It is a wonderful plastic material.

The point is this, some plastic, or synthetic compounds offer advantages as home building materials. Vinyl siding is one of these. Synthetic building materials often take the work out of maintaining a home. I'll go for that any day!

Vinyl siding is made by using various Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) resins. Often other ingredients are added to improve performance. Acrylic resins are added to improve flexibility. This is important for vinyl siding that is used in colder climates or any environment where impact damage (hail stones, baseballs, rocks, etc.) is a possibility. Don't discount the capability of hail to ruin vinyl siding. Just this year, a house near mine was ruined during a hail storm. The vinyl siding (obviously a poor quality one) looked as if it was shot with a giant shotgun blast. Seeing that damage was one of the reasons I decided to write the column on vinyl siding.

Color, Chalking, and Vinyl

Colored vinyl siding is very similar to colored paint. The pigments that create color are mixed in with the PVC resins. The color is solid throughout the product. This offers advantages over other siding products. Aluminum and wood siding, for example, simply have color at the surface. Scratch one of these materials and you expose a different color. Not so with vinyl siding.

Have you ever brushed up against the side of an older paint job on a house? Did you get some of the "paint" on your clothes? Or, have you seen "paint" streaks that flow down onto brick walls from the siding above? That chalk, or dust is actually the pigments from the paint. It is a natural process caused by ultraviolet (UV) light rays from the sun.

The UV rays break down the resin in paints and release the pigments at the surface. This same thing can happen with vinyl siding. Older vinyl siding was very susceptible to this failure. As such, the early users of vinyl siding had bad experiences.

As you might expect, the leading manufacturers responded to this challenge. They began to include chemicals in the vinyl siding that worked just like the sun screens that we put on our skin. These chemical compounds include titanium dioxide. This compound absorbs and deflects the energy in the UV rays. Vinyl siding that has high amounts of titanium dioxide at the surface tends to resist color fade and degradation for long periods of time.

Several manufacturers actually extrude the vinyl siding so that a thin layer of sun screen protection is on the surface of the siding. This extra level of UV protection allows them to offer strong anti-color fade warranties. Color fade can and will happen with most vinyl products. You must choose a product that will keep this fading to a minimum.

Vinyl and the Environment

Many people think that vinyl is an environmental enemy. Not so. It is actually a very environmentally friendly building material. One of its biggest pluses has already been discussed. That is, once it is made, no other natural resource or energy has to be committed to maintaining it. You can't say that about wood siding!

Vinyl siding uses less energy to manufacture than either wood or aluminum siding. It can also be recycled. Jobsite scrap, which usually is a minimum, can be ground up and used to make new vinyl siding.

In the event that vinyl siding is placed in a landfill, it is chemically stable. No harmful chemicals leach from the material to pollute the environment.

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Vinyl Siding Pays For Itself

What would you say is the average life expectancy of an exterior paint job on a house? Two years? Wrong, try again. Six years? Close, but no cigar. Eight years? You're going the wrong direction! Four years? That's it! This may seem like a low number to you. Yes, some paint jobs last longer. But the number is based on what it takes to keep a house looking fresh. I know that you can squeeze eight to ten years out of some paint jobs, but by that time, many areas may have blistered and peeled. You would be the talk of the neighborhood!

Payback Material

There are not many building materials that pay for themselves. Take roof shingles for example. As soon as they are installed, they begin to degrade. Each year they wear. Blacktop or asphalt driveways are another example. Sunlight and air break down the asphalt. Materials like this often do not have the capability to pay for themselves.

Vinyl siding, on the other hand, is a building material that can save you money. How, you might ask, can this be so? If you have an existing house that requires periodic painting, vinyl siding eliminates this need. New homes with vinyl siding benefit as well. You do not have to set aside money or time to paint in the future.

Installing vinyl siding on existing structures can also save energy. This is achieved by installing insulation board beneath the vinyl siding. Many vinyl siding applicators use 1/4 inch thick insulation board. A better alternative is to use 1/2 inch foam insulation board.

If you really want great thermal performance from your existing house, consider caulking all cracks before the vinyl is installed on your old siding. Pay particular attention to any cracks around windows and doors. See these tables that illustrate the savings potential that vinyl siding offers.

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Vinyl Siding and You

Vinyl siding not only is a good economic choice, it looks great too. Many manufacturers offer a wide variety of colors that should satisfy your tastes. You can often choose from a multitude of patterns and styles. Accent trims, accessories such as sunburst patterns, fancy cut shakes, columns, posts, gingerbread, etc. are all available. There is no reason why you can't replicate the charm and character of an older home with new vinyl siding.

Often colors can be closely coordinated to produce dazzling effects. Two and three colors can be mixed and matched to set your house apart from your neighbors'. Be sure to compare the color choices from one manufacturer to another.

Warranties

Every vinyl siding product carries some type of warranty. They are all different. You need to pay particular attention to the warranty when making your purchasing decision.

Check out the warranty section very carefully. Look for information on color fade. Some manufacturers offer a much stronger warranty in this area. Some skirt the issue entirely. Choose the warranty which offers you the highest level of protection.

When looking at warranties, check out the size of the company as well. In other words, a small company that possibly produces an inferior product can offer you an unbelievable warranty. Heck, they may promise you new siding, a new car, who knows what, if you buy their siding. But, will the company be able to deliver on those promises? That is, will they still be in business in 5 to 10 years when you might need the warranty?

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Vinyl Siding Manufacturers & Association

Check out as many of these manufacturers as possible. Look at their product literature, warranties and locations of nearby distributors.

• ABTCO
• Alcoa Building Products
• Alside Siding
• Ashland-Davis Co.
• Certainteed Siding
• Crane Performance Siding
• Gentek Building Products
• Heartland Building Products
• Mitten Vinyl
• Norandex
• Rollex Corp.
• Royal Building Products
• Variform
• Vytec
• Wolverine Siding Systems

Vinyl Siding Association

Would you like generic information about all types of vinyl siding topics? If so, contact the following association. They should be able to help you.

• Vinyl Siding Institute
  www.vinylsiding.org

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Energy Savings Table

The following table illustrates that 1/2 inch foam insulating board can definitely save you money. In fact, it can go a long way in helping to pay for the initial cost of the vinyl siding installation. This table shows the benefits after 20 years, a reasonable life expectancy for a vinyl siding job. In other words, if you are going to install vinyl, there is a good chance it will remain on your house for at least 20 years. The heating costs have been adjusted for inflation (the adjustment is minimal and not realistic - the values have been adjusted just 1 percent per year). Actual annual inflation has been higher than 1 percent. Thus, your savings would be greater than those shown in the table if inflation is greater than 1 percent per year.

All figures are in dollar ($) values.

Table Values courtesy of Heartland Building Products

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Oil to the Rescue

Did you know that paint companies employ chemists? These individuals know that you must create a barrier between the oxidized aluminum and the water based acrylic finish paint. It is easy to do.

Virtually every paint manufacturer makes a high quality oil based metal priming paint. This is the product to use to create the barrier. However, it is not necessary to apply the primer full strength. In fact, thinning it down actually helps the primer penetrate more deeply into the eroded paint finish on your siding.

The trick is to thin one gallon of paint with one pint of thinner. Be sure to use the approved thinner! Don't use gasoline, or some other solvent you think will work. The label on the paint can usually will tell you exactly what to use.

Surface Preparation

The key to any successful painting job lies in preparing the surface. The surface to be painted is the foundation. Poor foundations create poor results. This is true in any project.

Clean surfaces are the key. If you remember that paint is simply a modified glue, you will be on the right track. Glue likes to stick to rough surfaces - there is more surface area. Glue doesn't like dust. If you follow some of my painting tips, your upcoming paint job will last and last!

Manufacturers of Acrylic Aluminum Siding Paint

• Benjamin Moore
• Duron
• Glidden Paint
• Kurfees
• Porter Paints
• Sherwin Williams

NOTE:

To learn more about painting aluminum siding, read these highlighted articles.

Author's Notes: The following updated information was received from the Paint Quality Institute.  Debbie Zimmer addresses ammonia in latex paints and the resulting bubbling.

"Hi Tim,

Thanks so much for your questions and comments.  Regarding ammonia in latex paints, it is so low today that the off gassing (resulting in bubbling) is really not a factor.
 
Here are a few detailed points to consider:
 
1. Bare Aluminum: forms a strong oxide layer which is easy to stick to and is relatively inert to ammonia. Some folks confuse ammonia with acid. Yes --- acid will generate some hydrogen gas but there should not be a reaction with ammonia.
 
2. All Aluminum Siding is coated. This again generally results in a surface that is easy to stick to but for all intents and purposes, relatively inert to waterbased paints. Even under poor conditions, incidental exposure to Aluminum should not be a problem because of above (1).
 
Also, on occasion, we do speak about oxygen bleach but typically use the more common (common to homeowners) "bleach" term.  Perhaps we should use oxygen bleach more often.  We don't use brand names (in any of our materials), such as Clorox.
 
Tim, I'm really glad you asked the questions --- it helps us make our educational information stronger.
 
If you are ever in the Philadelphia, PA area, I would love to take you on a tour of our PQI facilities --- we have over 30,000 paint panels on exposure (a few dating back to the '50's) and 1000's with the most recent and forward looking technologies. In addition, our "farm" contains over 200 different surfaces and substrates (painted/not painted) on exposure as well.
 
Thanks again,"
Debbie Zimmer
PQI Director of Communications and Alliances
Dow Coating Materials, North America
The Dow Chemical Company

Updated: 08/23/2010

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Multi-Colored Vinyl Siding

Vinyl siding is really fun to install. I especially enjoy how you can transform an ugly or worn-out house facade into something special in a matter of hours. You can't do this with brick, wood or any other material as easily. The vinyl requires no painting or any other treatment. As soon as you nail a piece in place, you never have to do anything again except for periodic washing! If the house is simple and you have a large enough crew, you can complete a house in just 1 or 2 days!

The Impostors

Did you know that you do not have to settle for the solid color vinyl sidings that your neighbors are using? There are multi-colored vinyls that look just like natural wood siding. Any house that requires the look of wood can fool a person easily from the street. The siding products create a look that is very close to that of natural stained wood. Different colored browns, light greens and grays are common. These products would look great on the seacoast, in the woods, or in any standard subdivision.

When viewed up close you may think the multi-colored siding appears fake. Well, stand back about 20 or 30 feet and look at several pieces at the same time. I can assure you that your opinion will change in a hurry. If you are fortunate to know the location of a house that is covered with this product, you are in luck. From a distance, I'm positive you will think that the vinyl is wood.

Long Lasting Color

The multiple colors in virtually every siding are an integral part of the siding. You need not worry about them washing or rubbing off. The pigments that are applied to create the multi-colors are simply integrated into the siding as it is extruded.

Older vinyl sidings were prone to color fade. Many of the high quality (usually higher cost) sidings have solved this problem. There are higher quality ingredients and more of them in the high-cost sidings. Special coatings also can deflect and minimize damage caused by the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays. The most common ingredient that prevents color fade is titanium dioxide. This is actually a pigment commonly found in paint. High amounts of titanium dioxide will absorb and deflect UV rays. To judge the amount of this pigment in the vinyl siding, look for a higher price tag.

If it costs you $300 to upgrade to the siding with the highest amount of UV protectant, do so. Think long term. You will be angry at yourself in 10 years should the color begin to fade on your lower cost selection!

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DIY Installations?

Are you thinking of installing the vinyl yourself? Well, it can be done. The trick is to tackle a very small job at first. One of the best places to practice might be on a community service project. Perhaps a church in your city or town is constructing a house for Habitat for Humanity (I helped build one six years ago....it was a blast!) If so, I believe each of these houses is covered with vinyl siding. You can learn how to work with the material in the presence of experienced people and do a good deed at the same time.

Another great resource to learn about vinyl installation is the actual manufacturer. Most of them publish wonderful booklets outlining the step-by-step process. I have a past edition of Alcoa's booklet. It is easy to follow and contains great illustrations. Heartland Building Products also prints a handy guidebook. You can find these booklets at the local siding distributor in your city. Check the Yellow Pages under "Siding - Materials / Supplies".

Should you decide to tackle the job yourself, you will need some help. Vinyl siding is a two or three person job. The materials often come in lengths of 12 feet or more. On hot days, the material is soft and bends easily. Often, it takes two people to snap and lock a piece into position.

Expansion and Problems

Problems can happen after siding is installed. Vinyl grows or expands as the temperature rises. You need to account for this when you install it. For this reason, you never install it tightly between two other pieces of trim. Vinyl siding overlaps itself and each piece must be allowed to slide past the other. The instruction booklets address this topic in great detail. Do not skip these parts! You will end up with wavy siding.

Wind Problems

The primary reason I wrote this vinyl siding column was because of a letter I received from a reader. Her vinyl siding would keep her awake at night as the wind would blow. Her installer/builder told her this was normal! I guess it was on his jobs! Guess what? It is an easy fix. You do not have to tear the siding down and start over. You can purchase a $5 tool and unlock the siding pieces from one another. Upon inspection, the pieces that rattle will be nailed too loosely. You will quickly see that the head of the nail is probably one fourth or more away from the vinyl siding. These nails need to be driven closer to the siding flange. The manufacturers want to see them 1/32 inch away from the flange.

If your siding flaps in the wind, don't despair. Call your installer or ask a professional to renail and re-lock your siding panels. It is a "breeze"!

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