He sealed and painted LP siding and lived to tell about it

Reader Scott Powell of Issaquah wanted to seal and paint his Lousiana-Pacific Inner-Seal siding instead of replacing or covering it with another siding material. He submitted an in-depth description of his experience that I want to share here so it can help the multitudes of local homeowners with this siding.

As a disclaimer, Powell pointed out that he has no financial interest in any of the products named and no professional construction, painting or siding experience.

He (and I) also recommend getting into the Lousiana-Pacific (L-P) siding claims process (800-245-2722; or www.lpsidingclaims.com) and having the siding inspected, both by the court-appointed inspector and a separate building inspector. The inspections are particularly important for an unbiased opinion of which sections, or individual pieces, should be replaced before proceeding:

"Pretty much every siding company I spoke with recommended replacing my siding," Powell said.

What follows is Powell's step-by-step report, in his own words with minor editing.

"1) Clean. Do not pressure wash, which would force the water into the siding and potentially cause more damage. Instead, wash areas that are dirty or showing mildew with a mixture of 1 cup tri-sodium phosphate mixed with 1 quart Chlorox-type bleach per gallon of water.

"Spray the solution on with a low-pressure sprayer. The type used to spray shrubs in the yard works great. Use a brush to work dirty areas and rinse with hose sparingly. Try to rinse from the top down so you are not spraying up into the siding.

" Let the house dry thoroughly. A hot day or two, longer if the weather is cool. You do not want to seal moisture into the L-P siding.

"2) Wire brush all loose paint, moss and mushrooms. I used a wire brush with enclosed handle. I also lightly brushed under the laps on some of the worst edges to remove lose paint.

"3) Prime. Rez Permanizer Plus is a Pittsburgh Paints product (888-774-1010). There is (as of June 1999) no local Seattle dealer. I went through Emerald Paint & Coatings (360-336-2144) in Mount Vernon. They were nice enough to meet me locally to deliver some primer on one of their trips to the Seattle area. Cost was $140 per 5 gallons. Two 5-gallon buckets was enough for our 2,970 square foot house with liberal application.

"Remember, the house should be completely dry before priming. As with all painting, work the shade. I applied from top of house down. Use the Permanizer liberally on the under laps of the siding where the cracking occurs. I primed all siding including trim. (The house still breathes fine from the gaps between the siding laps.) After 5-15 minutes some running will occur. It is very important to go back and brush these runs out or they will become permanent.

"The product has the appearance of a milky glaze and dries clear with a shine like shellac. It cleans up well before it dries, so rinse brushes, and anything else, in hot water when done each day. Windows have to be scraped with razor blade to clean (trust me, avoid the windows when you prime). You will be amazed at the difference in your siding when the primer dries. It hardens the L-P and makes a nice shell-like surface.

"4) Caulk wherever needed. That means just about everywhere if you want to do it right. Fill in nail holes and other small blemishes.

"5) Our house has a few places where the siding was damaged or had some broken lap ends. These were filled with wood filler, sanded back to the appropriate shape, and reprimed.

"6) We taped the heck out of our house before painting. It takes a little longer, but the painting goes much faster. Taping windows is much faster than scraping with a razor later. We sprayed the house with one coat, which took about 20 gallons. The Permanizer made such a nice coat it seemed to reduce the amount of paint needed. Extra effort was made to spray under the laps of the L-P as much as possible to further seal them.

"Our house has weathered its first winter since this work was done and has the same appearance as the day we painted. Time will only tell, but we are very optimistic. My only regret was not painting a second coat and/or hand brushing under the laps again with paint for added protection."

Ask The Expert answers readers' questions every Saturday. Send questions to Ask The Expert, Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, or call 206-464-8514 to leave your questions on Ask The Expert's recorded line. E-mail address is dhay@seattletimes.com

Sorry, no personal replies