Dear Bullamanka-Pinheads,

          As I told you before, my cousins and I have inherited a house
          from our grandmother.

          The house is 72 years old.

          We have not decided what to do with it yet.
          My cousin Estelle is living there for the time being.

          Most of the house is sided with wood shingles, which
          were last painted some years ago.

          The old paint looks dingy now.

          Each shingle has a surface of straight but varied
          vertical ridges or grooves.  I mean, the shingles are
          not smooth to the touch, but rough.

          The old paint has stuck to this surface pretty well,
          but in some places it has peeled off and bare wood is
          showing through.

          Last year, we had some repairs done to replace some
          broken or missing shingles.

          There are (I counted) 55 new wood shingles in various
          places on three sides of the house.

          The new wood shingles exactly the same surface
          texture as the old shingles.  Estelle insisted on that.
          They are a perfect match.

          The new shingles have been up for a year and have not
          been painted.

          Yesterday, a neighbor told us that we should "power wash"
          the shingle siding to remove the loose paint, then paint with
          primer to cover the old and new bare wood.

          He recommended that we use spray paint because he said
          it is less work than brushing or rolling.

          But if we power wash the shingles, what happens to all the
          paint chips?

          Don't old houses have lead paint?

          Isn't it dangerous to just scatter lead paint chips around?

          If we "power wash" the house, should we just do the places
          where paint is peeling, or should we also do the places where
          paint is not peeling?

          How much does it cost to "power wash"?  What equipment would
          we need?

          If we spray paint the house, how do we keep the spray out
          of places where it doesn't belong?  It gets windy here.

          What should we do?  Please answer!

                                       Very truly yours,

                                       Philip McPherson
                                       Toledo, Ohio