| We repainted my in-laws house a few years ago after doing some remodeling
| work. We scraped the old paint off down to bare wood, sanded, cleaned with
| TSP, primed with Kilz primer, and applied two top coats of latex paint.
| Within a couple years, the paint and primer completely flaked off the
| siding leaving bare wood underneath.
|

Never use Kilz for exterior priming. It's a stain
sealer paint, which means it's designed to dry
quickly without soaking in. The only good primer
for exterior is oil-base linseed oil primer. Benj M.
has one. I've forgotten what they call it now.
It used to be called Moorewhite primer. The can
still says Moorewhite and/or linseed oil somewhere.
I usually add more boiled linseed oil. They've
downgraded that kind of paint to meet EPA
requirements. Then wait a couple of days before
putting on acrylic paint.

You'll see oil base primer and quick-dry oil
base primer, as well as acrylic primer. None of
those soak in properly. The same is true of the
pre-prime stuff they spray on pine lumber. It's
junk that will slide off with water exposure.
Everyone wants fast-drying, but you can't have
fast drying *and* good absorpotion.

Another option is to just put on acrylic solid
"stain". You could even wet the siding first, to get
a good soak-in. At least it won't peel. But it doesn't
look all that great. There's no film and no sheen.

| I don't think it's a moisture issue as we have brand new siding on the
same
| walls and the paint is holding up fine on the boards directly above and
| below the old siding.
|
| There's obviously an oil or something on the old siding that is preventing
| the new paint from sticking. But I'm not sure how to treat the old siding
| so the new latex paint won't just flake off again.
|
| Any tips?
|
| Thanks,
|
| Anthony Watson
| www.watsondiy.com
| www.mountainsoftware.com