ok so here’s the situation. this summer I want to re-side the house. It’s ceder shingles. some questions are as follows
1. can I shingle in sections. ie rip off a few feet at the bottom, re shigle, then more rip off higher?
2. to make the line accross do I, use a chalk line, or use strapping. If I use strapping, do I nail it into the shigles or trim?
3. roofing nails or staples? I’m going pneumatic, is there a gun that shoots ring shank
4. at the gable you know this side of a house: / : do I put the trim on first, and cut shingles up to it, or put shingles on it?
5. Typar, or tarpaper?
6. Use a starter I belive.
more questions as they come up
Look ma, no jigs!!!
Replies
Andy, study THIS.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Thanks that answers a lot of questions.
Look ma, no jigs!!!
Edited 4/18/2008 10:39 pm ET by andyfew322
1. can I shingle in sections. ie rip off a few feet at the bottom, re shigle, then more rip off higher? Yes, but it's more easily done to rip off at the top cuz the shingles are overlapping each other like 3 times. To remove lower courses or one shingle even is pretty difficult. You need a tool called a "slate ripper" or "shingle ripper" which is a long flat bar with a 'hammerhead' looking set of sharp hooks at the end which you can cut hidden nails with.
2. to make the line accross do I, use a chalk line, or use strapping. If I use strapping, do I nail it into the shigles or trim? Chalklines are fine, especially on your black 15lb felt (see ? # 5) to keep your courses level, but strapping (which I think is what you Left coasters call 1x4 or 1x6?) is nice. You can make yourself a gauge--long straight piece with two "feet" that come down and have a stop that butts against the bottom of the shingles one course down. Then you have a ledge to place your next course on and they'll be straighter than you could ever get holding them up by hand on your lines...
3. roofing nails or staples? I'm going pneumatic, is there a gun that shoots ring shank Roofing nails are a no way. They have too much thickness and split the shingles... There are two guns that I'd rec. one is a siding nailer that you can get a stainless or HDG ring nail - 6d or 7d for, like a bostich N66 or Hitachi's NR83 Or whatever number iteration it is now... The other is a 7/16" crown 'utility' stapler used for sheathing and whatever. I like it better than nails. Staples hold the shingle better than nail heads. Get Stainless staples for it.
4. at the gable you know this side of a house: / : do I put the trim on first, and cut shingles up to it, or put shingles on it? One easy way to do it is to lay in some "packing' first, which is what you call a piece of 'strapping,' and then shingle up to it. This is a 1x board to space out the trim. End result looks like the photo I att.
5. Typar, or tarpaper? I like tarpaper, because it seems whenever I tear off old siding and find it, things are in good shape. There are more modern products too. Cedarbreather.. and whatnot.
6. Use a starter I belive. Starter course you mean? Yes, this is a first course of generally '####' shingles run across first that is covered completely, no reveal, by the first course of 'nice' shingles.
more questions as they come up One of my favorite things to do...Have fun. Also, there's a right way to nail 'em too. Calvin's post to the cedar society website will outline it but basically, narrow 2 staples, wider 3, wider yet, 4, but put em to each side of the middle.
Mike Guertin has put out a lot of good articles on the topic.
"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing..."
thanks to you too
Look ma, no jigs!!!
bump
I would like some more imput please
Look ma, no jigs!!!
come on little buddy
waters covered it pretty well
before you start.... look at what is there
are the courses well planned out? do they hit the tops & botttoms of the windows and door trim.... especailly on the front ?are the courses level all the way around the house ? what kind and size of shingle will you use ?
if they were 16 " WC on the original .... and none of the courses are more than 5" , and you are going to do the same...
then make a story pole and figure out what you will use as a reference to keep it honestlook at the trim... is any going to be replaced?... do it firston the rakes... with 16" wc, the rake board gets furred out 3/4" ( use furring or 1x3 )
the shingles go behind the rake board... but the rake board is already there
any exposed nails have to be SS and they sould look like soldiers on parade.... nothing random a good SIDING gun would be nice... but hand nailing is not that much slower... and sidewall shingling is very contemplative, grasshopperif you use hand nails and WC, then the best nail is a hot dipped 3 1/2 penny SHINGLE NAIL..... 2d best is a 4d hot dipped box nail
real best is a 3 1/2 penny hot dipped cut nail ( shingle nail )
shingle nails have blunt points and punch the shingle rather than split themif you go gun nail, get some Maize hot dipped ... but you still need SS nails for
ALL exposed nails....... count on any exposed nail which is NOT ss to rustif you don't like the existing coursing or it has errors then come back and tell us... so you can plan your layout
if you are using an 18" shingle ... then the above has to be modified againare you going to do any decorative designs or fancy butts ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Edited 4/19/2008 9:18 pm ET by MikeSmith
You've got lots of good information already Andy, but I'll reiterate something Mike Smith touched on; study your existing siding carefully. If it's done well, then there's more to learn by just looking at your own house than any of us could teach you in 100 posts.
And get a nice block plane if you don't already have one. A block plane is my best buddy when installing cedar shingles, even if they're perfections.
Here's a few practical points to consider before you jump into this one. Installing cedar shingles properly takes one guy FOREVER! You might want to start on a small, easy to reach area, maybe on a wall that doesn't face the street. Take a crack at it and then decide if you are prepared to spend your ENTIRE summer and then some working on this project. Just setting up ladders and staging, ripping off shingles, cleaning up, fixing trim/sheathing as necessary (it's actually a pretty good idea to scrape and paint your trim before shingling) should keep you busy until ~mid-August (if you have nice weather). Then you still have to re-side. This is not something you can do in a couple of weekends.
Have you looked at/considered using any of the shingle panel products? Not for the purist, but they are a very good option that will cut your install time way down.
Oh yeah. Always have a couple of cans of hornet spray handy. Nothing is more annoying than a couple of yellow jackets breathing down your neck when you are hanging off a 24' ladder.
But it ain't rocket science either. The OP is a hungry teenager, eager to learn, willing to work, with a whole summer of days in front of him to fill. I'd put my money on him getting it done and doing a good job of it.View Image
The guy that taught me Cedar shingles had me do this:
We tack on a straight edge (1x3) at the bottom of the shingle. We'd then string masons line about 6 or 8" up and held it out 1/2". This assembly made it very easy to set the loose shingles on the ledger. The string would keep them from falling off or away. This was important because everytime I picked up a shingle, it would be set on the ledge. If the joints were lined up okay, it would stay in place and I'd start looking for the next shingle. If the joints were too close, I'd just slide it off the the side, sometime pushing as many as five or more shingles.
After I'd get a stretch of shingles sorted out and sitting on the ledger, I'd pick up my nail gun (I think we were using a stapler), and mass nail five or ten feet in a row. The string would prevent the un-nailed shingles from bouncing off when I was nailing the neighbors.
It seemed pretty fast to me. I'd hate to be twisting and turning and picking up a nailgun, or my hammer for every shingle. That would add a very significant amount of time to the process.
I agree with others...your knife and block plane will become your best friend on this job.
Bob's next test date: 12/10/07
Lots of good advice here.
Now for some on a part of the job others haven't spoken to .
Best be thinking about how long tear off and clean up will take. If you haven't done it before I can tell you it is dusty , dirty , sliver filled work. Then comes the pounding all the old nails flush or pulling them.
What are you going to be doing with the scrap? Dumpster? Burn pile? Save for the fireplace (actually dangerous to do except for kindling)
Don't forget protecting the garden beds, shrubs etc.
Big tarps that can be dragged to dumpsters or smaller ones that can caught by the corners work best .
Forgot the warning about removing anything hanging on the inside of the walls. Banging around on the exterior has a tendency to make things fall on the interior.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
"Banging around on the exterior has a tendency to make things fall on the interior."
that's a great thing to know, I wouldn't of thought of that
Look ma, no jigs!!!