Replacing Cracked Siding

Fill in the nail holes.

Replacing cracked siding.

Nail straight down on the replacement board in order to hit studs. Gap between siding and shingles. Secure old siding by driving ring shank nails down at an angle through the old nail holes. Tap flat bar under siding to loosen nails.

No matter how durable fiber cement siding is though cracks can still occur. The downside of replacing older vinyl siding is that it can be hard to match the style and color and siding rarely has any identifying marks. Be sure to nail into the existing holes on the adjacent siding. Where siding meets a roof it will rot if the siding touches the shingles.

Pull loose nails from clapboard siding. The best way to get a replacement piece is to take the broken piece to vinyl siding distributors in your area and find the closest match. For larger dents cracks or holes start by cutting out the damaged segment of siding and removing it with a zip tool. Cut out the damaged piece of siding leaving a space 2 inches shorter than the replacement piece.

When you replace these boards make sure you have good flashing along the joint. In this video this old house general contractor tom silva explains how to repair clapboards. Use the snips to cut away about two inches of the top nailing strip and the bottom j profile from both ends of the replacement piece. Consider replacing rotted areas with fiber cement siding.

Install the replacement piece over the existing siding and attach with roofing nails. Install the new siding so there s a 1 in. This chapter shows how to repair most types of siding including stucco. Fiber cement siding is low cost for its rated lifespan and is easy to maintain when compared with other siding choices.

Small cracks can be repaired with a special patching compound before they cause breaks saving you the work of removing and replacing a damaged panel.