I own a circa 1986 ranch style home in the often cold & snowy northwest (Buffalo, NY) area. It is cedar board & batten as you see below. Size is approx 40' x 65'.
I believe the color is original, it may have an additional coat or two (hard to tell but the stain peels off thick). I may opt to vinyl side it, but asking for tips here as I'm leaning towards keeping the look and my main question is what methods of "expedient" preparation make the most sense for this condition cedar?
Some of it is in very good shape, but I'd say 85% easily looks like below.
I've considered using chemicals. Is it worth the additional investment or is pressure washing or scraping or planing outright - more sensible? Must it be sanded anyways?
I've pressure washed it with 45 degree in some areas and find that a pre-wetting and follow up blasting does loosen up some of the stain but I'm finding it is far easier and quicker to have the wet stain "peeled" off by hand like a banana. When it is dry, it adheres pretty well, but again, if I grab a flake, I can peel off 2-3 even 6' of it, and it is definitely taking wood with it. Basically, there doesn't seem to be any way to get the stain off without taking wood with it. Sanding is SLOW. Can I use a power wheel (since it appears it needs to be sanded anyways)?
I've never owned a cedar sided house, and I know cedar is soft, in fact some of it is split apart or rotted and must be replaced. Is what I've pictured below worth salvaging? I believe it is, but would like to hear from some pros.
Here was a test with the new color applied over the top of the old to check for bleeding. It was scraped and sanded in some spots as well, and the coverage looks good. When it dried, it adhered well, and didn't rub off:
Here is one of the existing stain seen where the wood is already significantly pitted, While I did pressure wash the surface, the removal of stain was done by hand. It is seen how much wood and wood grain is damaged and this is not from the washer:
Area that was washed/peeled, and the batten sanded with 80 grit, looks like it will turn out fine after quite a bit of work: