@thomasarchibold6678 Yes, you wouldn't want to sand (at least power sand) the ridged cedar shakes, as you are correct, you will damaged the ridges. That is the toughest material to prep. Best practice there is to use a small flexible scraper, and a wire brush combo to knock off any loose/flaking paint, amd you can skip the sanding in that case. You can try some manual scuff sanding with a block or paper for trouble areas, but thatvis cumbersome with the ridges. Scrape/brush and then use a great primer to spot prime Amy area with raw wood

@thomasarchibold6678 Also, are you referring to caulking the joints of the cedar shakes where they meet? Or do you also have horizontal clap board? You dont want to caulk between all those shakes...if gaps are that large you honestly need to consider replacement of the shake

@@braunspaintingnetwork Thanks for the reply! I've replied here twice, but it seems it gets removed - maybe because I posted a link to a photo of the siding on Google Drive. Yes, I am referring to the vertical gaps between adjacent shakes. I asked if I should scuff sand, caulk the larger gaps, spot prime, then paint, or not caulk the gaps, scuff sand, prime everything, and then paint? It would be better if I could post a photo...

@thomasarchibold6678 Can't say about the other posts, must be a KZfaq policy on removing those, I didn't see them. Regarding those vertical seams between the shakes, those are not suppossed to be caulked. The butt joints in the video was referring to horizontal, clapboard style cedar siding where there are a handful of butt joints on horizontal runs of siding. With cedar shake, the number of seams are substantial and not intended to be caulked. If you have large gaps between shakes, you may need to consider replacing those shakes with a piece that fits tighter. If it's only a few, you could caulk for aesthetic reasons but don't caulk all of them. Regarding the prep, important to wash, then scrape/ brush away loose paint, you can scuff sand manually with a sand block or paper but I'd just worry about the areas with exposed raw wood. As you said, a power sander will damage the ridges. Then spot prime the areas where raw wood is showing. I hope that helps. If your home was built before 1978, make sure you know whether or not you could be disturbing old lead paint before you scrape/sand

Thanks for the feedback. I will continue to work on improving the content. I do agree the early portion of the video is talk heavy, that's why I kind of went with a podcast style presentation because I didn't want to gloss over some important details regarding safety and the house wash. I wish I got video of the washing process and more caulk video but I tried to be as informative as possible with the available clips I had. I'm working on improving my planning and process for content. I'm glad you found some good info. We did do a short on prep that is all video and music and no talking