Should I replace cedar siding boards that are split horizontally? I need to repair before staining?

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yellow_hardhat_monster asked:


I need to stain my house. It has cedar sidiing stained with a semi-transparent stain. There are some boards that are split horizontally. Should I replace them so water does not get through? How can I help ensure a uniform look with the stain, across the old and new boards?

Tommy
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    • This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 6:48 am and is filed under siding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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    2 Responses to “Should I replace cedar siding boards that are split horizontally? I need to repair before staining?”

    1. uncle bob Says:
      April 2nd, 2008 at 8:32 pm

      Yes, the reason they are splitting is because the nails for the row of siding above are going through the row that is split. Cedar siding should only be fastened with a single row of nails and the nails in the next course should not pass through the course below. This causes the plank to be trapped and can not expand or contract like it needs to naturally. I would replace split planks before I wasted time staining leaking planks.

    2. Mountain Cat Says:
      April 5th, 2008 at 8:16 am

      Uncle Bob is right, if they are split more than 2″ replace the section that is split, if less then 2″ you can use cedar colored or clear caulking to HELP keep it from splitting further.

      Short answer on uniform look, you can’t. The new stuff has all the lignan intact(the natural glue in the wood) the existing cedar has already lost it’s top surface to the elements. You can try to stain the new stuff twice, but the look will be different.