We are just installing bevel siding on our house but I have 2 questions.
First you always read that cut ends should be primed which makes sense except for at miters. Will the glue joint at the miter be stronger if the ends aren’t painted first i.e. bare wood to bare wood?
Second should the underside of every board where it laps the one below be caulked?
Thanks
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Replies
What kind of siding? Some prime the end cuts but not many. No you don't have to caulk the overlap. I have only seen mitered outside corners on homes from the 30's. These had some wonderful thick and wide red cedar clapboards. With some clapboards, there are metal corners used when there are no corner boards. Glue is not going to last very long with seasonal movement and end grain. Although it's not very common, corners often get lapped, not mitered. The lapping alternates from row to row, right over left, left over right. Make sure your corners are wrapped with Vycor, or similar, under the siding.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
In our damp area of Atlantic Canada (where pine is the choice for clapboard siding), the code now requires a rainscreen air space (3/8" to 3/4") behind the siding. Better practice recommends that the back of the siding and all end cuts be painted. One manufacturer (Cape Cod) of a high end pre-finished wood siding system paints all surfaces twice and requires two coats on field endcuts.
It is 10" Hem Fir. It has been chosen to match existing. It is pretty cupped and difficult to work with but primed 2 times front back and sides.
"Second should the underside of every board where it laps the one below be caulked?"
No. Would block the escape of water. Be a raindrop.
I use western red cedar siding, already primed from the factory, I add a 2nd coat of primer, and prime the ends also, and use scarf joints to join the sections together. The pine siding I've seen used on some jobs tends to bleed sap 3-6 months down the road.
F