Stumped by cracks in wood siding
I hired a painter to paint and repair the wood sidings on the front of my house. The paint wasn't in poor shape but there were some cracks on the ends that needed to be sealed. I had the whole front side painted back in November, by March of this year, I noticed the cracks were back and even some splits in the middle of the boards.
My painter came back to fix the cracks with the system described below, but a few of the cracks reappeared in just a few weeks. My painter takes full responsibility for his work but is unsure what to do next.
Has anyone else run into this situation? If so how were you able to seal the cracks so they don't reappear in just a few weeks?! Appreciate any tips you can share!!
For context, we live in a region where the temperature is pretty moderate - 30s to 50s in the winter, 60s-80s the rest of the year. Indoor humidity in the raining season usually hovers around 65-70+% and 60% or below otherwise. During winter and spring time, there's usually a pretty thick layer of condensation everywhere until at least late morning. The front side of our house is south facing so it is in the sun all day and gets hit harder during the raining season. The wood panels on the front side look newer than the rest but the rest are holding up better (probably originals).
Steps taken by my painter:
- Remove material from joints and take it down to bare surfaces to start with a clean surface.
- Applied strong bond liquid epoxy to all cracks and joints
- Apply System 3 epoxy sculptwood to the ends to strengthen them
- Apply Sika Flex caulking to joints to seal them and give them flexibility to move
- Apply exterior primer to protect the surfaces
- Apply two coats of paint to the affected areas to blend them