Staining a cedar shingle house

Bumper · 03-05-2012, 04:38 PM

I have a cedar shingle house that is five years old and the stain is starting to show it's age. I was quoted $16,000 to stain a 4100 square foot house with semitransparent stain and paint all trim. Is this a lot? Seems crazy expensive to me! My dad says to just hold off as cedar is weather resistant and I wont do and harm by putting it off a few years as money is tight. What are the thoughts of the group? Will delaying cause more harm and end up costing more in the end or is the stain mostly a cosmetic thing since cedar roofs never get stain and last for 30 years? I live in CT. Thanks all in advance for your help!

schamp · 03-05-2012, 04:42 PM

Not so sure about cedar. But I have a friend with a large log home. Kept getting high prices for treating the wood, trim etc. He ended up getting logs of used transmission fluid for free. Mixed it with linseed oil and sprayed his place. Gave the wood a red tint. Helped with bugs etc.
You must have a really big place for it to cost 16K. I would keep getting bids.

Bob Kontak · Bob Kontak's Garage

I would drop $1000 into a pressure washer and do one side per year yourself. That is so, so much money.

motion · 03-05-2012, 05:05 PM

Seems pretty high to me, but that is a large home. I'm having my cedar home refinished this summer. I had bids from $5K to $15K. Keep checking around.

mepstein · 03-05-2012, 05:18 PM

I bet you have neighbors with cedar siding. Ask them for referrals.

john70t · 05:30 PM

Is this the roof or siding? Two different things.

I don't know much about cedar except it is a soft wood which is generally rot resistant. A powerwasher can damage it if used too closely.
After a few years, it develops a greyish patina which is nice.

$16K is a lot of money for painting, extremely high I think for the square footage, but perhaps not out of the ballpark.
-Some painters spend a lot of time detailing and lose money on a job. Getting down to the details takes a lot of time if done right. Those guys are true artisans.
-Many just hack it, or subcontract, though.

I'd ask for references to previous jobs and/or owners. The siding isn't going anywhere for now.

Or do it yourself, and buy a new car.

john70t · 03-05-2012, 05:39 PM

The perfect time for painting is a dry 80 deg afternoon in the shade.
All else is sub-perfect.

Zeke · 03-05-2012, 05:45 PM

Whatever you do, buy good stain. In fact, buy the stain yourself. Have the local paint supply quote you a price based on the quantity.

Semi stain can be applied with a garden sprayer. It's messy whether you do that, use an airless spray rig, or brush it on by hand. I recommend at least back brushing if you use either of the other methods.

Keeping the stain off trim and decks is labor intensive. Sometimes a painter can only spray for 3 hours because of wind. This can take days.

Trim is also labor intensive as you may know. Most painters are going to start the bid on windows at 100 per. That will get you some sanding, some primer and a full finish coat. Personally, I'd go for 2 coats.

Painting is one trade that anyone with a ladder and not much equipment can be in business. It brings out some of the worst sorts. I know, I did it for 10 years, 4 with the union starting back in 1970. I still keep enough gear to do a job and I can get it all in a station wagon. So, there's not much to it until you find out what a real pro knows.

A friend of mine has been painting full time since I started. 42 years and he's terrible at it. I recommended him for a job last year and had to donate 2 days of my time fixing his work to salvage a relationship.

I digress. I always tell folks to hire contractors that are working along with the crew. The boss needs to be on the job. And remember a company is only as good as the people working that day. Labor turn over is very high, so what someone did a few months ago is not necessarily what they will do for you. Go see their last job, not the one they would rather have you see.

Had I followed my own advice, I would have known my "friend" was not doing very good work lately.

dipso · 03-05-2012, 05:53 PM

Well, lets see. I am imagining it's a 2 story.
800.00 in stain/ per coat 1 pressure wash/clean
200.00 trim 2 per side mask and stain
100.00 tape, paper plastic 4 per side trim, per coat
3 clean windows
100.00 gas/detergent 2 clean up/touch up
400.00 miscellaneous.
1600.00 16 x 450 7200
1600
8800.00

9500.00

LakeCleElum · 03-05-2012, 06:30 PM

My neighbor is a school teacher that paints houses in the summer. He did a cedar sided place in semi-transparent for a friend of mine last year....It was 2,500 sq st, but two stories......Total price: $4,000...

But, like Milt Sez, not all are qualified......Keep shopping.....

'89cab · '89cab's Garage

I have a two story Cedar shingle house. I put the shingles on in the 70's (and on later additions as well). At first I would pressure wash and apply a water seal (with garden sprayer) every five to ten years and finally said "to heck with this." Since then I've simply left them alone. The darker color that develops, as I understand it are wood cells dying which doesn’t bother me. I haven't cleaned or sealed them in probably fifteen years and I don't intend to ever do so again. The rest of the house and property – trim, windows and doors, roof, and garden are very well maintained.

This is my experience very near the coast with lots of exposure in central CA. Not sure about your weather in CT.

The pic shows new shingles that were necessary after installing a new front door. After three years, they are darkening, but no one would ever notice the difference.

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bumper

I was quoted $16,000 to stain a 4100 square foot house with semitransparent stain and paint all trim.

what?? is it 30 stories tall with a small footprint???

Jeez - everybody here does it them self -- at least up until age 75 or 80

speeder · speeder's Garage

The beauty of Cedar is that it is one of the "outdoor woods", the other common one is redwood. You don't have to do anything to it and frankly it's unwise to treat it, IMO and experience.

look 171 · 03-05-2012, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipso

Well, lets see. I am imagining it's a 2 story.
800.00 in stain/ per coat 1 pressure wash/clean
200.00 trim 2 per side mask and stain
100.00 tape, paper plastic 4 per side trim, per coat
3 clean windows
100.00 gas/detergent 2 clean up/touch up
400.00 miscellaneous.
1600.00 16 x 450 7200
1600
8800.00

9500.00

I love how you come up with that? I am not trying to bust your ball or anything. Who's paying the insurance?

Evans, Marv · 03-05-2012, 08:39 PM

Do a search for TWP (Total Wood Preservative). As I understand it, it's one of the few solvent based stains around. It's the best I've found, and there are several choices to in terms of color and types of stains for different uses. Not cheap, it runs around $30/gal. I've used it on decks and the wood roof and support structure for my patio. I discovered it after staining a deck with a few different water based stains that lasted only a short while. This stuff lasted more than 3 times longer, and that was out in direct sunlight.

dipso · 03-06-2012, 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by look 171

I love how you come up with that? I am not trying to bust your ball or anything. Who's paying the insurance?

Insurance isn't that expensive. The contractor carries that, not the homeowner.
1100.00 a year for 1,000,000 liability.

That was just a blind rough estimate. 9,500 sounds good. 12,000 sounds better. I imagine it would be somewhere between the 2.
Depends on terrain, trim type, window type.
No employees, no comp.

skunked · skunked's Garage

The cabin has cedar siding and a large deck that wraps around the side. They do some sort of prewash on day one and come back and stain the whole place a day or two later. It's a 3 story 2400 sqft home and runs about $5K for the job. These guys do houses all over the Tahoe area and stay pretty busy with reoccurring clients. No paint on the house with exception of the exposed foundation and simpson ties, maybe a few hours of paint work there.

Bumper · 03-06-2012, 01:23 PM

Thanks to all for the thoughts and advice. The house is two stories and is a nantucket style home. I think I am going to keep getting estimates as $16,000 is way more than I am willing to spend.

So If I do nothing and just let it weather am I going to damge the siding?

look 171 · 03-06-2012, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipso

Insurance isn't that expensive. The contractor carries that, not the homeowner.
1100.00 a year for 1,000,000 liability.

That was just a blind rough estimate. 9,500 sounds good. 12,000 sounds better. I imagine it would be somewhere between the 2.
Depends on terrain, trim type, window type.
No employees, no comp.

You have a cabinet shop, right? The insurance cost should pass onto the home owner. I suppose you can do a whole house by yourself? You have to have some help unless the owner is willing to allow you to work at alone at it for the next two months. This is over 25 to 30 %.

dipso · 03-06-2012, 01:38 PM

No I don't have a cabinet shop. I am a painting contractor, C33 And yes I do entire houses by myself all the time, it's what I do. 3 to 6 weeks per project is about right.

Quote:

Quote de dipso

Insurance isn't that expensive. The contractor carries that, not the homeowner.

1100.00 a year for 1,000,000 liability.

That was just a blind rough estimate. 9,500 sounds good. 12,000 sounds better. I imagine it would be somewhere between the 2.

Depends on terrain, trim type, window type.

No employees, no comp.

You have a cabinet shop, right? The insurance cost should pass onto the home owner. I suppose you can do a whole house by yourself? You have to have some help unless the owner is willing to allow you to work at alone at it for the next two months. This is over 25 to 30 %.