The southern gable ends of my 2 story colonial (the main house with 12′ attic; the garage is just 1 story and 10′ attic) present a huge surface to the southern sky and, consequently, absorb a good deal of heat. Many (probably 20%) of the pieces of the 25 year old cedar that comprise the siding have warped – some dramatically so. The cedar has been stained since installation, although I can’t say how often.
I want to repair the two sides. What caused the cedar to warp in the first place? Nailing doesn’t seem to be any different for the pieces that did warp versus the pieces that didn’t.
Can I get away with just removing those pieces that are warped and replacing them, or should I replace everything? If everything, any special technique to re-installing the siding – I know about pre-priming all sides before installation. Thanks.
Replies
Griff, this is my experience from having to do repairs to homes with the same situation. Most often the siding was not backprimed. Was hung over foil faced foam on 24" centered framing. In addition, way too long was spent between recoatings of the stain. The siding absorbed the rain (blew up) and then got quickdried with the baking sun. That much expansion/contraction pretty much ruined the siding. To try to remove just the bogus boards might work, but this stuff gets so brittle and is so thin to begin with, more often than not, you're best off to strip it all off to the beginning of the damaged area or start over. There are a few different methods of siding with wood that may work for you if you take it all down. Someone that does a whole lot more siding than me will probably step in an advise you of methods that work and last. You used to be able to do a search for siding/clapbds and you would come up with all sorts of ideas. You might try a search using "rainscreen" either here or on the net for a different approach. I think the neglect the siding rec'd and the extremes it went through did the most to ruin it. Best of luck.
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