I am about to settle on a somewhat neglected Sears kit house (Americus model, c. 1922) in Washington, DC. It still has the original cypress siding in remarkably good condition but covered with peeling paint. My question is about what is needed to repaint the siding. The person who will be leading most of the work says that once the loose paint is removed with a wire brush, the siding can be painted. I much prefer this to using heat or a chemical to get all the paint off beforehand, but I would like to hear from someone who has experience dealing with cypress siding this old.

Thanks in advance from anyone good enough to provide guidance.

I don't know, I just want to tell you how cool your house is. good luck

Hi Americus,
Beautiful home.
I have been in the restoration process for about ten years now and I know it will never end until we sell or die.
When I painted I made sure to remove all loose paint, wire brush, paint scrapers etc., followed by hand and machine sanding. The prep is everything. It is best to prime bare wood with oil base primer followed by a high quality water base 100% acrylic latex paint. I used Benjamin Moore but there are many high quality paints out there. Living in So. Cal. I have not had any experience with Cypress siding only redwood. I would imagine that the process would be the same. Here's how mine turned out...

Jeff in OC, you have invested your decade of work incredibly well. Your house is beyond gorgeous, and sets a high standard for the rest of us.

I have no idea how similar cedar and cypress are in how they should be treated, but the Sears catalog page for my house said that either cypress or ceder siding would be supplied. So I am going to assume that your method applies.
Thanks so much.

PS. If you have a "before" pic of your house, it would be great if you could post it.

Thank you Americus, Cedar is similar to redwood and has somewhat similar properties.
Your house looks like a Foursquare design. Great porch and columns. I do have before photos. The first photo was taken right after the roof restoration. The previous owner had removed the built in gutters and cut off many rafter tails. Before I painted I had to remove the asbestos siding (nasty job), which revealed the redwood siding underneath, shown in the second photo.

The photo showing the asbestos siding photo didn't post, here it is.

Jeff, you obviously picked a house that has well rewarded your effort. I LOVE the identical roof lines from the side.

You are right about the house I am buying: Sears basically stuck a craftsman porch on a foursquare for a narrow lot. I will not have the challenges you had, as the house has barely been touched. It will never be anything like as spectacular as yours, but I am still glad for the opportunity to bring it back to what it was.

Cheers and congratulations.

Americus,
Thanks again,
There are always challenges with any historic home. You are fortunate to find a home that has not been touched. There are Craftsman style Foursquares all over the country, Sears did not come up with the idea of a craftsman foursquare.
I have seen many other examples. Is your interior Craftsman style as well? A friend of mine has a Craftsman style Foursquare in Iowa that I had the opportunity to do some work on. Brick foursquare with a Craftsman interior.
You have a treasure, good luck with your restoration.

Hi there Americus, nice house you are looking at there!
As a restoration contractor for many years, I would strongly recomend more than just scraping / wire brushing the paint to remove it. You will most likely end up with an extremely uneven surface where paint is left on the wood and will probably show through the paint. Sanding will help to smooth the areas where paint is left, however you should look into alternative methods such as IR paint removal if you are planning a thorough restoration.

It is time consuming, and should cost more than what your contractor is proposing now, however you will be left with a blank canvas when the paint is stripped and the extra effort will be worth it.

Good luck!

Hi Marty:

Thanks so much for the advice.

I have now settled on the house and have been able to hang around enough to discover that the exterior paint can be sort of flicked off with my fingernail. Whether because it was never properly primed or for some other reason, what is left below the flicked off paint is cypress that is weathered gray but otherwise intact.

The original back door was boarded up (with the outside patched with vinyl siding) and a new door was put in the kitchen. Because I want to restore the original configuration, I looked for and found a source for new beveled cypress siding. I am hoping, however, that most of the existing siding proves to be in as good shape as what I have examined so far. (As the photo shows, the upper level looks to have white paint underneath the tan.) So, could you please tell me what "IR paint removal" is?

Although the house has suffered some neglect, it is largely pristine and it deserves the best I can afford, which means that it may be restored in smallish increments, from the outside in.

In any case, I am delighted to hear from someone with experience in frame houses of this age. If there is a specific name for the vertical pieces at the coners of the outside, I would be pleased to hear it, as I think some of mine need to be replaced.

Cheers and thanks. Americus