Replace One Wood Siding

Repairing wood siding is integral to owning a home with wood siding.

Replace one wood siding. A member of the pine family spruce is yet another option for homeowners who want a softwood that will look great once installed but won t cause them to go over budget when replacing their siding. Ask this old house general contractor tom silva helps a homeowner repair sections of his vinyl siding that have holes. Take the replacement board fit it in place image 2 and nail it in with a hammer using galvanized nails. Make another cut with the knife through the wood but not into the builder s felt underneath the.

You can use a tape measure to mark the reveal of each piece of replacement siding or make a spacer gauge from two blocks of wood screwed together. Instead you can size the replacement using the old clapboard as a template a simple technique that virtually guarantees a tight fit on the first try. Be sure to nail into the existing holes on the adjacent siding. Run a utility knife horizontally along the entire length of the broken wood siding to score it.

Attach the siding with 10d galvanized box nails driven into the overlap at least 1 2 in. The courses should overlap by at least 1 in. Replace siding by working from the bottom up you might need a helper here. Nail straight down on the replacement board in order to hit studs.

Power tools are out for this job. The most important step of any wood siding repair is the final process of weatherproofing the repair area with paint or another type of sealant and caulk. Once all the nails are removed from the adjoining board the damaged one should just pull out. Though wood siding is very strong a sufficient physical impact can split and crack it.

Above the bottom edge. Overlap the boards so each row of new siding has the same reveal as the old siding. Forget the tape measure tom says. The steps involve cutting away the rotten siding clearing out the old nails cutting the new siding to the appropriate length and fastening the siding as well as caulking it to make the siding watertight.

Subscribe to this old house. One problem with spruce is that it does not come in any longer lengths than pine does. When you replace the boards use a homemade reveal set jig to match the reveal of the existing siding. To install the replacement siding start at the bottom and work your way up.

Siding repair is best done with hand tools with one exception.