I used western red cedar for the siding on the home I built in southern Wisconsin 11 years ago and have had nothing but problems with it since. In addition to requiring re-staining every 3 years and the usual mildew (yes I’ve tried pressure washing, bleach, oil base stain and water base stain and it still comes back) I now have woodpeckers boring holes through it and nesting in the wall cavities. I’ve tried electronic devices that emit a predator’s call on a random basis and have covered the holes, but they just move to a new location on the house and bore a new hole.
The bottom line is that I’m feed up with the stuff and would like to replace it. But with what? Vinyl does not appeal to me. Brick or stone are my first choices as they are relatively maintenance free and woodpecker proof, but they are pricey and not easy to retrofit. Cement board siding may be an option, but I have no experience with it and I’m concerned that it may not be woodpecker proof.
Comments/suggestions on retrofitting with brick or stone or some other product and the durability of cement board siding would be appreciated.
Replies
I for one am totally sold on fiber cement siding. Many others who frequent this site are as well. Dont know about the 'peckers but my guess is that they would not be attracted to it.
Do a search here and you'll find a lot of discussion concerning FC siding.
Good luck, Ken Hill
Yup, I agree with Ken. Fiber cement siding is the bee's knees. You can even stain it now to look like wood. Great stuff, best innovation I've seen in the 30 years I've been around the trades.
Edited 5/14/2002 2:37:17 PM ET by jim blodgett
Thanks. I'll check out the FC siding.
Being from WI. myself I too agree with the other guys.Fiber cement siding is the only way to go.I've talked homeowners out of putting vinyl or cedar on there homes and going with the F.C. siding.There is a good selection of different styles to choose from and you can even have it painted from the siding maker along with a pretty good waranty.You can do your whole house with F.C.They offer it all,facia,soffit window trim and corner boards.Ask your local supplier,they may even have instalation instructions.If not check out the F.C. makers web sites.Good Luck!
I live 5 miles south of the WI stateline, in a heavily wooded area, and I have cedar siding that is riddled with woodpecker holes. I am replacing the siding with pre-finished Cemplank, starting this month. Where about in southern WI are you? If you're interested and are close enough, come take a look.
I would agree that western red cedar siding is a lot of trouble. I face the same problems as the original poster and at this point would replace my siding with the fiber cement siding if I had to. But after 20 years I am going to stick with the cedar siding as it looks pretty good. I live in a woods and the sun does not affect it too much. I had problems with peckers and wood bees. But I have mostlly stopped that. I spray the eaves etc. with Dursban every 3 weeks and it keeps the bees away. The woodpeckers are mostlly after the wood bees so that has helped that. I also have shot about 70 of them in 9 years. I AM going to protect my 125,000 dollar investment. By the way I use Floods CWF and put it on when it is hot and it is thicker and does not run like stain and goes on thicker. It lasts pretty good. Life is a bitch isn't it!! Solving the pecker problem here in Kentucky.
Tony
I bought this house a few years ago, and it had never experienced maintenance before, as far as I could determine. I also have other reasons for changing the siding. In addition to its overall poor condition, the house was built with no sheathing, except wind bracing at the corners (armstrong and furring elsewhere), no water shield/drainage plain whatsoever, and limited insulation. Plus, its vertical, 10" wide and makes the house look more like a barn (personal prefernce). But other than that, its perfect!
Are you certain that woodpeckers have no interest in Cemplank?
Thanks for the offer. I live near Madison. I'm still researching my options. I'll get back to you if I would like a look at your place.
Am I certain? No. I am willing to give it a try on my house. I want to replace the siding anyway.
What I've learned from looking into this, in short is, that the woodpeckers are going for bugs. Keep out the bugs and the woodpeckers stay away. IF the siding on my house way in good enough condition to keep and suited me otherwise, I would spray it with an insecticide regularly to keep the bugs away, repair and refinish as necessary. But it is not in good shape, was relatively unfinished for years(don't know exactly how long).
Would I replace my cedar siding with cementitious soley to deal with woodpeckers? No.
I e-mailed James Hardie about the woodpecker concern. I just received a reply stating that woodpeckers do not like their product. I think I'll post a message asking if anyone has experienced woodpecker problems with C-F siding. I just don't want to tear off the cedar siding and replace it with a wood grained C-F product stained to look similar to cedar only to find out that woodpeckers can bore through it also.
By the way, wood peckers have more than bugs in mind at my place. They bore right through the siding and make nests in the wall cavities. Then the grackles enlarge the holes, drive the wood peckers out and move in. Right now I have 5 nesting cavities in the house and garage. As soon as I repair a hole, they make a new one near it. Drives me nuts!
Since my house has a small amount of stone work, I'm leaning toward expanding the stone on the areas favored by the wood peckers as I know they can't damage it. Then I will probably replace the cedar with a C-F product that looks similar (from a distance anyway) to cedar.
Good luck with your project.
Sounds to me like you need a shot gun rather than replace the siding. After a while the birds should get the hint!