My house has 12" cedar siding that has cracked in numerous places over the decades (house was built in 1968). My stepfather talked to a guy at the lumber store, who suggested that cracking is a major problem with cedar siding this wide, and rather than selectively replace the cracked boards (probably 1/4 of the total), it would be better to strip it off and replace the whole thing with narrower boards.
True or is the guy trying to sell more wood? I do like the wide planks, but my other inclination is to fix the problem for good instead of having some more boards crack next year.
Sure, 12" cedar siding is prone to cracking … but the house was built in 1968. Six inch cedar is going to be cracking 45 years from now.
The real question is how the heck are you going to selectively replace the siding? It is usually ship-lapped, sometimes shingled. Part of any piece of siding you replace will be nailed to the wall under the upper piece of siding, which will probably get cracked in the process. How badly is it cracked? Could most of it be fixed with caulking and paint? I am a pretty highly skilled carpenter and could do it but re-siding is what I would almost always recommend economically.
If you choose to replace the siding I would seriously consider something other than cedar. There are many better fiber-cement and engineered wood products out there that are better in almost every way. They all hold paint better, are easier to paint in the first place or come factory coloured. There is also a variety from economical to expensive options.
The only real advantage of cedar is that it has a beautiful natural colour, but that usually ends up being painted (call it stain if you like, but if it is opaque it is paint) because of UV fading.
12" boards of any type of wood will tend to crack, so replacing with narrower boards makes sense. Cedar is among the longest lasting exterior wall coverings, and requires only oil to maintain it’s beauty. Replacing all the siding with new 6" boards makes a lot of sense. The boards are not ship lapped, they have either a rectangular or triangular profile and are simply lapped. An alternative approach is to replace the boards with cedar shakes or shingles which won’t crack as much because of their smaller size, and cracks won’t be as noticeable among the many joints.
My house is covered with what I call ‘shingles’. They’re wood, about 12" long and 9" wide (sizes vary a little). They’re maybe a quarter-inch thick. They’re smooth on the back side, and striated vertically on the front side. The wood looks like cedar, but I’ve no way of knowing. (Cedar is popular and plentiful up here, and suited to the wet climate.)
Are these called ‘shakes’? Or should I call them ‘shingles’?
Whatever they are, the scrap from when I had a chimney torn down and the exterior wall repaired make great kindling.
Cost isn’t a major factor as long as we’re not putting up gold plated siding. My mother and stepfather want to cash out on the house my sister and I live in, so they’re selling it to us with the understanding that they’ll fix all the “deferred maintenance” that hasn’t gotten done at their expense, so we’re looking for a long term fix. I have a nostalgia for the existing siding because it’s been that way as long as I can remember, but sometimes I guess it makes sense to let go.
The existing siding has opaque red stain that’s always been there. Wondering if it would be uncool to put a semi-transparent red or reddish brown stain on new cedar rather than leaving it natural or staining it a more neutral color?
They are most likely shingles. Shakes are hand split, shingles cut on a machine. Cedar shingles will not last as long as shakes, but will still last longer than most other products.
Most cedar siding available or existing here is ship lapped, i.e. it is rabbeted on opposite sides top and bottom. I only rarely see the lapped or ‘shingled’ stuff on older homes. Why would you assume they are not ship lapped if you haven’t seen them?
Mdcastle, painters have usually recommended simple penetrating oil with a U.V. blocker when we have used cedar features and wanted to retain the cedar look. This is a commercial product that they got through their paint supplier and I was never able to source any retail. If you wish to retain the natural colour you have to be really diligent re-staining every couple of years, and even then it seems to grey eventually. There is a wide selection of translucent stains that tend to be pretty far south of the natural red cedar colour, but most people prefer that to grey wood.
Calgary is a dry, sunny, and cold place, really not the best for cedar, so things may be different where you are.
We just finished a cedar shake siding by Lake Nokomis. We’ll be painting it on site. We can get the cedar prefinished, which is what I would recommend if you went with cedar lap or shake. Controlled environment, more consistent end result.
I am also a big fan of James Hardie, a fiber cement product. Very durable, and we use prefinished as well.
I think you’re MN, I could probably be convinced to give you a SDMB discount, you can pm me.
Because I’ve never seen ship-lapped cedar siding, and I’ve seen a lot of cedar construction. Ship-lapped siding is very rare anyway, it leaves seams that hold moisture leading to rot. I’ve occasionally seen vertical boards ship-lapped, but rarely horizontal boards, and never in cedar.
I’m a lifelong carpenter and general contractor, also. I mainly do commercial work, but I will concur with the previous posters on the merits of ‘Hardie’ board, plank, siding, sheeting, etc.
That stuff is awesome, and holds up well in just about any environment.
It looks good painted and is pretty low maintenance. It’s not going to have the look of real wood when stained (IMHO) but all in all, it’s an excellent product. YMMV
