Painting - Repaint or replace Mansonite siding

I am working on a house that has Masonite siding and, although this seems like a general question, I'd like to hear from people who have specifically worked with this stuff. This is 12" tall "flat" lap siding that is made from a wood composite (sort of cheap looking stuff really, popular in the 60's & 70's I think). One southfacing wall is pretty badly "alligatoring" and cracking and I'm debating whether or not to replace the siding or take the paint off & pepaint. It's about $340 worth of siding, plus my labor to take off & replace. Otherwise, I'm estimating about 25% of paint will come off with pressure washing and I have to sand/scrape the rest. Any recommendations on getting the paint off this stuff? My main concern is the durability & longevity of this stuff, it seems like in a few years it may just self destruct anyway or it may not stand up well to sanding. Is it worth the effort to try and salvage it?

Thanks,
Mark Biederbeck

I can tell you what I have done. If the siding is alligatoring and cracking into the siding, the siding is no good. It can be repainted but you will still see the alligatoring and cracks. Of the areas that just have peeling, scrape the peeled areas and apply a good latex primer and then one or two coats of latex top coat. I used a pad for painting. It really worked fast and there were only a few overlap marks. Redo the siding as is, don't take it off the house unless you are going to replace it.

Mark,
I've worked with a lot of it. Don't power wash, except to clean. Don't scrape excessively or you'll further compromise the integrity. The "finish" on the stuff is the glaze (for lack of a better word) that is on the surface of the product when new. It has to be installed EXACTLY per mfg. recommendations and primed front, back up and down.

If given the chance, I'd recommend replacing it with a cementitious siding. Hardie makes one. I've personally been involved as consultant on projects where all the stuff was replaced. You may not be aware there are litigations and payments being passed out by all the major manufacturers of the product to consumers whose houses are falling apart even tho' the stuff was installed correctly. Problem is, you can't install it correctly, so payments are sometimes being issued anyway.

In the interim, I'll say this, you must seal all edges completely. Use a Whizz roller or brush to get plenty of paint under the overhung edges. Prime, then caulk all butt joints and joints in corners. Then follow painter's rec's. Careful with the scraping, just hit the paint, not the siding underneath.

Wish I still had the URL for the sites I visited to learn of the litigations and description of the process involved in manufacturing the product. You could also post via http://www.jlconline There's a forum there for exterior construction including a bunch of siding installers. Maybe further info for you there.

good luck
Sonnie

YOUR HOUSE IS COVERED WITH A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT. GOT IT?
There are class action lawsuits on defective siding, plumbing, insulation, windows to name just a few. I don't hesitate to tell my customers that they are throwing good money after bad. In fact I will not attempt to "work around"
a known defective product. Replacement now or spend the rest of your life asking members of a forum how to "fix it"

Mark, I found a link you can start with (thought I'd deleted it), I believe somewhere on this site is a description of the manufacturing process and the problems you're facing.

Anyone else reading this that has or is coming in contact with the product might want to take a look...
http://4w.com/siding/


sonnie