Painting - 2 questions...

Hello,
Hope someone may be able to help with these..

1) We have an old home with rough cut cedar siding (vertical). The siding has been stained in the past and is chipping off all over the place. The siding itself is in very good condition. My question is as follows : Do we have to sand all the remaimnig stain off? or powerwash? what type of paint can we use to paint the siding if some stain remains?

2) In our home the previous owners choose to place the furnace in the middle of our hallway( not recessed) the unit itself is very large, grey and ugly. Replacemnt is not possible right now. My question is can we paint the unit (grey sheet metal?) and if so what kind of paint do we need to use...The furnace is next to my baby's room and I do not want to run any risk of fumes...

Thank you very much
for response

It is a good idea to wash the siding, but power washing can destroy a soft wood siding such as yours. Try a scrub brush. You can try to scrape lightly some of the remaining finish at the risk of damaging the soft surface.

A good quality exterior primer and paint will take care of the finish.

If the paint is intact on the furnace, you can clean the surface with mineral spirits or TSP or such to clean off the grease and grime. Latex or alkyd products are available for your project, as suits you. Prime with top quality primer. Most of them will go over painted metal, but few are suited for bare metal. Then paint. Almost all paints produce some fumes. Just air out the area before the baby comes home, for your peace of mind.

Sherwin-Williams Woodscapes gets my personal 5 star rating for exterior latex stain. We used this material most of last summer on many projects and it is really awesome.....Mike