What is the best material to replace rotten wood with on a house?

Hardie Plank siding is also an excellent product and last for decades.  Hardie Trim is also made and is used extensively for wood replacement.  Again, another excellent product and holds exterior paint well.  Hardie Siding and Hardie Trim is a cementitious-based product that weathers very well.  The use of these materials and other permanent materials is state of the art carpentry.  It is a disservice to a client to use wood products which are subject to rotting again.  Yes the material costs a bit more but the alternative is constantly replacing rotted wood.

Which is better?  Brush painting or spray painting my home exterior?

Spraying of siding produces an almost perfect finish.  It is similar to the difference between spraying a car or brushing your car as far as the finished look.  Most siding is perfect for spraying.  The exceptions are siding that has texture or has small pores in the wood.  These surfaces can be sprayed but must be back brushed to work the paint into the small pores and the texture.  Stucco is perfect for spraying except it must be back rolled to get the paint into the texture.  Trim is best sprayed and back brushed so that any small cracks are filled with paint.  Spraying a smooth surface or a surface with no porosity or texture will last just as long as a brushed surface.  A spray gun is not able to force the paint into small pores and into heavy texture, there is a static tension on the surface of the paint that must be broken mechanically with a brush.  It is like the meniscus on a glass of water.  Another advantage of spraying is it takes approximately 30% more paint because the coating is thicker than a brush coating.  A spray coating is about 1.1 mills thick as opposed to a brush coating which is about .7 mills thick.  It actually takes two brush coats of paint to perform for the same number of years that a good spray coating on the appropriate siding or surface does.

Cedar siding, stucco, most wood siding require the spray coating to be back brushed while it is wet.  This method of spraying and back brushing or back rolling is excellent because the spray gun will apply more paint and a brush or roller and will also get the paint worked into the texture.  It is also a faster process than just brushing or just rolling and therefore will save you money.  The general guideline is a surface can be sprayed if there are no cracks, pores or texture.

Please call or email us if we can help with any questions.