Painting - Cedar Fascia & Soffit

Hi,

I am in the process of painting the cedar and soffit on my new home. I've caulked the seams and filled the nail holes on the cedar with wood putty. My question is what should I used to fill the staple holes on the Hardisoffit? Someone at recommended spackling. Also, what grit of sand paper should I use to sand the putty? Any comments are appreciated. TIA.

If you use spackling, make sure it's the exterior kind. You can also use painter's putty or glazing. These products will need priming. Caulking doesn't have to be primed but because of the nature of caulking [it will shrink some] it won't completely fill the staple hole.

Caulking isn't sandable but for the others, 120-150 grit will work well.

If you intend to paint the cedar a light color, you will need to use an oil base primer to seal in the tannins. Otherwise the tannins will blee thru the latex and discolor the paint :(

If you use spackling, make sure it's the exterior kind. You can also use painter's putty or glazing. These products will need priming. Caulking doesn't have to be primed but because of the nature of caulking [it will shrink some] it won't completely fill the staple hole.

Caulking isn't sandable but for the others, 120-150 grit will work well.

If you intend to paint the cedar a light color, you will need to use an oil base primer to seal in the tannins. Otherwise the tannins will blee thru the latex and discolor the paint :(

Do I need to use the oil based primer on the Hardisoffit? Can I use water based primer? Thanks for your initial reply.

Latex is fine on the hardi, just the cedar needs oil primer to seal in the tannins [the hardi doesn't have any]

Latex is fine on the hardi, just the cedar needs oil primer to seal in the tannins [the hardi doesn't have any]

Thank you for your expert advice.