When we built our house we dreaded the thought of installing the 70 sheets of 4×9 T 1-11 siding. Then we saw Roy Rider’s tip on siding hooks, which combines a couple of pieces of welded angle iron wedged under the mudsill to support the siding as it’s nailed to the framing. Lacking a torch, we modified Rider’s idea and built the shelf shown here.
The body of the shelf is a 42-in. 2×4. The two metal straps affixed to it were made from the steel banding that wrapped our framing lumber. We drilled each strap with three small holes, then with tin snips modified the top hole of each strap into a slot. The straps extend 2 in. above the 2×4. Each strap is affixed to the mudsill with a short roofing nail.
To use the shelf, we tacked it to the mudsill through the slot and perched a sheet of siding on it. Then we attached the siding to the framing with a couple of nails at the top of the sheet. Thus hung in the right place, we knocked the shelf off its nails (we marked it with a bold “release” sign to remind us which way to hit it) and bent the siding outward a bit to allow access to the nails so that we could lever them out with a pry bar.
—Jim Finnegan, Tazewell, TN
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #83
