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Nails for 5/8”x 6 square, poplar, siding

Started by chainsaw_louie, March 17, 2023, 09:02:45 AM

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chainsaw_louie

I'm making a small 12'x7' shed.

I have a bunch of 5/8" thick x 6" wide poplar boards which I'd like to use for clapboard siding. The wood is quite dry and flat.

My questions:

- I was thinking to use a hand-nailed 3" galvanized, ring shank nail. Is there something that's better and faster ? I've always been underwhelmed by the holding ability of small pneumatic fasteners, trim nails and the like. 

- Since the profile of these boards is square and not tapered, would it be worth it to remove one corner of each board so as to make the siding sit flatter and tighter.  Or doesn't matter?

Thanks.

doc henderson

no taper needed. flat is fine.  you can get ring shank in pneumatic.  I also like staples across the grain of the siding board.  have you ever tried to pull pallets apart put together with staples.  you may want a start board at the bottom, maybe an inch wide, then with an inch overlap for each row.
Timber king 2000, 277c track loader, PJ 32 foot gooseneck, 1976 F700 state dump truck, JD 850 tractor.  2007 Chevy 3500HD dually, home built log splitter 18 horse 28 gpm with 5 inch cylinder and 32 inch split range with conveyor powered by a 12 volt tarp motor

Don P

Put that gun away  :D

The yellow box of Maze "splitless" siding nails is the best thing I've found. Used to be a 25 lb box but you can now buy 5 lb boxes for the same price  :). With battery drills and my arms, I drill it all anyway.

No need to knock the corner off but check your trim details. Typically there is a shim strip under the starter row to give it the proper "kick".

Tom King

I was going to post a reply until Don posted the exact same thing I was going to say.  

The stainless steel siding nails are good, but the heads will stay shiny forever.  The Maze hot dipped are double dipped, and I don't remember any ever rusting.

chainsaw_louie

Thanks, a couple more questions:

Should I nail the bottom edge, say 1/2" up from the bottom?  I assume the answer is 'yes' to keep the clapboards tight and prevent curling.

If yes,  should I nail both top and bottom edge on each board as I go up the wall or just do the top and then come back later and do the bottom edge?   I recall reading somewhere that the boards need to acclimate with just one edge fastened for some period before being fastened at the bottom.

btulloh

Never ever nail the bottom edge. Seasonal wood movement and wetting/drying cycles will cause most every board to split if you nail the bottom edge.
HM126

Don P

I lap about 3/4 and nail about 1-1/4 up from the bottom, that is the only nail.

btulloh

I should have said never nail both edges. 
HM126

chainsaw_louie

OK, thanks,  glad that I asked, it would have been a disaster otherwise. The small details

When I was 19,  a local guy hired me to finish nailing up the vertical siding on his barn. The first half of the siding  was half put up 6 months prior. The owner showed me the stack of 1x14"x16' boards,  gave me all the tools and nails and left.

The job looked simple enough, there was a 1/2" gap between the installed boards, which i thought was strange but it was pre-cell phone era so I was unable to ask. Some barns, I knew have air gaps in the siding for air circulation and drying crops.  Wanting to do a good job, I repeated this inter board gap until finished.  Unfortunately, I was later informed (again and again) that the boards should have been installed with no gap, the gap was from the boards drying and shrinking.  The boards I installed later had a 1" gap. 

Moral: the devil is in the details. 

Tom King

Cut your top board first, drill the holes for the nails, and use that board as a guide to drill all the ones below.  That puts all the nails in a perfect line.

Use a preacher to mark the ends to the corner boards to be cut by.  Eliminates measuring and allows for any out of plumb for a corner. I cut with a 10 pt. handsaw, but not many do any more.  I mark with a sharp no.3 or 4 pencil depending on the wood used.

You can't cut one a little long and force it in, or it will open up the one below.  The ones in the picture are 27 years old, but protected by a wraparound porch. You can push on any one end with a finger, and it will move in and out a little.  That's the way you want them to fit to start with even if they are stained or painted with caulking.


 

 

 

 

I use a small piece of metal flashing behind butt joints that laps over the board below, but stays above the bottom edge.  I flash the corner boards too.  Mostly I use leftovers of vinyl coated aluminum, but any sheet metal that doesn't rush should be good.

Coat the ends of the boards after they're cut and before it gets put up.

chainsaw_louie


chainsaw_louie

Is there any sense to this approach of doing the 7x12' shed walls:
1.  nailing on the siding boards to the shed walls while horizontal before raising vertical
2.  run a saw along the ends of the nailed up siding boards so ends are all straight and even
3.  raise walls
4.  install corner boards against the ends of the siding boards

... is this more work or asking for trouble ?


Tom King

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth, and something will move in the raising process.  It shouldn't take long at all to side one of those walls, so I'm not seeing any time savings.  It's hard to improve on what has worked so well for so long.

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