You remember this little garage door makeover I recently posted?
As I mentioned, this garage door is almost 35 years old. It’s heavier than an elephant, warped and cracking. I’m all for making do when necessary but I’m really ready to throw in the towel and put this door to rest. Speaking of garage doors, I’ve been using this cool new app by Garaga to browse for new doors. Options later. For now, I’m working on the shingles above the garage…my next headache. Are you so sick of my garage door minutia yet?
I stained the cedar shingles white last fall with white stain (yeah, I didn’t know there was such a thing either). It was supposed to fully cover and give the look of paint. The benefit was that it was supposed to last longer than paint (like 25 years long). Over the winter it started to look dingy and blotchy.
I crawled up the ladder for a closer view and realized it was sap from the cedar bleeding through.
Craptastic.
Now what?
Now, many of you said you liked the “weathered” look and I do too in some cases. But in this situation, where the overall look of this older home was looking…well…OLD…some bright white lipstick was what those shingles needed. I scraped the heck outta of it trying to get the sap off. No such luck. Someone who wasn’t so peeved would have pulled out the sander and sanded it down. Me, I went straight to the paint store and bought the most expensive latex primer with a stain block that money can buy and slapped in on up there.
3 coats later and this was my result.
At this point I’m saying some not so pretty things in my head.
I began wondering if I should have used an oil based primer instead. After all, sap is a type of oil that is excreeted out of the tree. 30 minutes of internet research the consensus seemed to be that it’s okay to paint oil on top of latex but not the other way around (still a widely debated topic). Probably why me trying to paint latex on top of sappy oil didn’t work. My dad happen to have a little bit of oil based paint that we experimented with and voila, it did the trick! So I’m off to the paint store today to pick up a quart and get the project done-zo! Oil wins! I takes FOREVER to dry but that’s okay. It’s outside and up high so no biggie.
Hey there! I’m Michelle; I’m an Passionate DIY’er and in constant pursuit of how to bring beauty to my house full of men (3 boys + 1 hubby). Stick around and see what I’ve got up my hard-working sleaves!
I am so sorry you have endured this headache. I grew up in a home constructed of cedar shingles – and yes – if the owner understood the requirements, then they knew to coat the shingles with an oil-based stain. It would seem that the shingles you have should have been coated first with Kilnz or a product like it to ‘seal’ the shingle and prevent bleeding.
Your finished job looks very good!