Caulking Wood Siding Before Painting

Before beginning a do it yourself painting project learn the proper preparation procedures or you may end up making the job harder than necessary.

Caulking wood siding before painting.

If doing so exposes bare wood recaulk all cracks between any two nonmoving materials. The different kinds of caulking for your home. The tiny hole lets out just enough caulk to fill typical small to medium size cracks. Work efficiently by following each step.

Don t caulk the horizontal joints on siding where the siding courses overlap. The next place would be the soffits or the plywood underneath. Though you can prime before or after caulking under normal circumstances priming first yields better results. Caulk should dry before painting over it otherwise it can cause new paint to crack and warp.

Similar to paint previous coats of. When you re filling small cracks to prepare for painting cut the tip carefully to keep the hole tiny about 1 16 in. Old caulking that has failed and allowed water to migrate behind the siding can cause wood rot decay and if left undetected mold will most likely grow in your walls. The nails holding up the siding should not be caulked.

There are several different types of caulking on the market. Scrape away any peeling paint adjacent to the caulked areas. Particularly at the corners where they are mitered together. Also any butt joints and joints at the peak of diagonal fascia boards.

A common mistake is to cut off too much of the caulk tube tip leaving a hole that s way too big for most interior caulking work. The places on the exterior of the house that need careful caulking before painting would be the fascia board joints of the overhang. Is the old caulking removed before new coats are applied. For caulk that will be painted over a latex caulk should be used.

Let the caulk cure for a few days before power washing the exterior.