My 30+ year old house is sided with 1/2″ bevel red cedar clapboards. Over the years I have had to re-nail some cupped boards. My local lumber yard recommended 5d 1 3/4″ smooth shank galvanized nails. I have more to re-nail on the West side, which gets lots of sun and weather. I have read that ring shank or spiral shank nails should be used for a better hold.
A lot of the butt joints are not aligned on studs so long nails may not be of much benefit.
Is there a big difference between ring shank and spiral shank nails?
2″ 6d spiral or ring shanks sound ok?
Thank You
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2 inch spiral sounds about right to me. I seem to have better luck with these over ring shank. The ring shanks seem to bend easier, if you are hand driving anyway.
Also, the hot dipped are probably better than electro plated.
Lastly, you may want to take a look at stainless as they are likely more corrosion resistant.
Stainless steel, hot-dipped galvanized, and aluminum nails are all used for red cedar for their corrosion resistance, cedar is corrosive. Don’t use aluminum, they can bend easily and even with the notches on the shanks they’re still slippery and some pull out over time. Hot dipped galvanized are better, but I would still go with ring-shank stainless steel if you can afford it, because in my experience galvanized nails will still bleed over time. Spiral nails are better, but I haven’t come across stainless steel in spiral form (they may exist). If you have a siding nailer you can get them in coils.
Yup - I use stainless ring-shank nails on cedar. Coil gun is nice, but hand-nail is OK too. Stainless won't bleed over time.