Renovation 4th Edition

by Michael Litchfield

  The corner boards described thus far cover

  screwed to both. Give the epoxy a day to cure (or

  outside corners. Inside corners aren’t as exposed

  whatever the manufacturer suggests), and you’re

  to weather, so wide trim boards aren’t necessary.

  ready to sand and paint. Alternately, you could

  Instead, nail 1-in. by 1-in. strips (or 11⁄4-in. by

  use polyurethane glue or Titebond III as long as

  11⁄4-in. strips) to the inside corners, and butt the

  both pieces of wood being joined are sound.

  siding to them. That’s much faster than cutting

  in-place epoxy repairs are appropriate when

  compound miters in the clapboards or inter-

  P R O T I P

  the rotted area is relatively small (epoxy is expen-

  weaving shingles.

  sive) and the trim would be difficult or costly to

  replace. Rotted windowsills or sashes, for exam-

  Some pros align shingles by

  REPAIRIng ExtERIOR tRIM

  ple, are tough to remove. Epoxy applications vary

  tacking up a straight 1x2 for

  each course and resting shingle

  Although it may be tempting to rip out exterior

  considerably, so visit manufacturers’ websites

  butts on it. this allows nailing to

  trim that’s badly weathered or rotten, repair is

  (try Abatron, ConServ Epoxy, and Advanced

  go a bit faster, but you must still

  often a better option if the original trim would be Repair Technology, for example) for specifics or

  snap a chalkline or measure up

  difficult to remove or replacement trim is too

  get recommendations at your local home center.

  from the bottom course periodi-

  expensive. Before deciding, survey the extent of

  Use a chisel to dislodge loose, crumbling

  cally to level the 1x2. Most pros

  the rot and address the root cause. Otherwise,

  wood. Suck up debris with a shop vacuum. Allow

  prefer to snap a chalkline and

  you’re treating only the symptom.

  the wood to dry thoroughly before proceeding.

  then barely cover that line with

  Although it’s desirable to cut back to solid wood,

  the shingle butts so the chalk

  replacing rotted sections is a reasonable

  soft, punky wood can often be reinforced by

  doesn’t show.

  option when the bottom of an otherwise sound

  impregnating it with a liquid consolidant.

  trim board has rotted away. Flat and square trim

  Typically, you’d drill a series of small-diameter

  is easier to replace and match than molded trim.

  holes into the wood and then inject consolidant

  Rotted bottoms of corner boards and splash-

  into them until the wood is clearly saturated.

  boards are usually easy to cut free and replace,

  After the consolidant cures, the impregnated

  whereas punky doorsills or windowsills are prob-

  wood will become as hard as a rock.

  ably best replaced or repaired in place using

  But, for the best bond between the consoli-

  epoxy, as described in the next section.

  dant and the two-part epoxy filler that follows,

  Replacing the bottom end of a rotted board is

  apply the puttylike filler while the consolidant is

  straightforward. Draw a line across the face of

  still tacky. Avoid getting epoxy on your skin, and

  the board, 6 in. above the bad section. After set-

  by all means wear a respirator when applying or

  ting your circular-saw blade to the thickness of

  sanding it. After the filler dries and you’ve sanded

  the board, use a Speed Square to guide the saw

  it to its final shape, prime and paint it. Although

  shoe, making a 90° cut. Wear safety glasses, and

  otherwise tough, some epoxies are degraded by

  use a demo blade because there may be hidden

  UV-rays, and whatever original wood remains

  nails. The replacement piece should be the same

  still needs protection from the elements.

  thickness, width, and—preferably—species as the

  Exteriors

  163

  lAYIng Out WOOD

  Siding

  ShInglES AnD ClAPBOARDS

  This section shows how to install four of the

  more common types of siding: wood shingles,

  For clapboards and shingles, the two most

  wood clapboards, fiber-cement siding, and

  important parts of the layout are establishing

  stucco. Vinyl and aluminum siding also are cost-

  level for the bottom course and varying the expo-

  effective alternatives; they’re durable and virtual-

  sure of subsequent courses so that they align

  ly maintenance-free if correctly installed.

  with door or window trim, if possible. If a leveled

  Consequently, vinyl siding in particular continues water table has already been installed, skip the

  to gain ground when homeowners faced with

  next section.

  replacing wood siding take a close look at vinyl’s

  Establishing level. If there’s no water table (see

  benefits. However, vinyl siding is most efficiently

  p. 161), the bottom of the first course of siding

  Wood siding is pleasant to work

  handled by specializing contractors and isn’t

  typically overhangs the sheathing by 3⁄4 in. to 1 in.

  with and requires few specialized

  addressed here.

  tools. Although power nailing has

  Because the bottom edge of sheathing is often

  The information that follows assumes that

  largely replaced hand nailing,

  not level, use a laser level or a water level to

  building paper or housewrap covers the wall

  there’s still plenty of handcrafting

  establish a level base line. (Laser levels are rela-

  sheathing and that windows, doors, and exterior

  and fitting to do, such as the shingle

  tively inexpensive and offer quick layout over

  shaving shown here.

  trim are already installed.

  long distances without the need for a helper.) Lay

  out the front of the building first. Pencil in an

  appropriate siding overhang on one corner

  board. Then transfer that mark to all the other

  corner boards. When you’re done, use a combi-

  nation square to draw light lines through your

  pencil marks, across the faces of the corner

  boards. These lines indicate cut-off lines for the

  zzzzzz Aligning Siding Courses

  corner boards and the bottom of the first course

  of siding. To align that first course of siding,

  stretch a taut line through the marks and “eye-

  ball” the bottom of the siding to that line, or

  simply align the siding to the laser line. If you

  Soffit

  use a taut line, place clapboards or shingle butts

  slightly above, but not touching, the line so it

  won’t be distorted.

  (A) 38 in.

  Varying subsequent courses. By aligning siding

  courses to window and door trim, you can mini-

  mize funky-looking notch cuts at door and win-

  dow corners. (When installing wide-boar
d siding,

  (B) 45 in.

  however, notch cuts are sometimes unavoidable.)

  Achieve these alignments by increasing or

  decreasing the exposure of individual courses. Of

  course, there are physical restrictions. For exam-

  ple, clapboards must overlap at least 1 in. But as

  (C) 39 in.

  long as exposure adjustments are no more than

  1⁄4 in. between courses, they’ll look evenly spaced.

  The following steps refer to the illustration

  at left:

  1.Measure the full height of the wall, from the

  For best visual effect, align siding courses with the top and bottom

  cutoff at the base of a corner board to the under-

  of windows and doors. This may require three separate calculations

  side of the soffit or frieze trim. Let’s say the height

  for exposures, as represented by A, B, and C and explained in the

  is 10 ft. 2 in. (for calculation purposes, 122 in.).

  text. Whether installing clapboards or shingles, it’s customary to

  Because shingle exposures are customarily 5 in.,

  mark course lines lightly on corner boards and then snap chalklines

  that wall will have roughly 24 courses.

  between them.

  2.The wall has three windows and a door.

  Fortunately, their head casings happen to align

  84 in. above the base line. This creates three sep-

  arate areas for which shingle exposures need to

  be adjusted, as shown in the drawing: (A) from

  164 Chapter 7

  Cross-grain cutting is a snap with shingles. Score them

  . . . and snap them sharply over your knee. Use a cordless

  with a utility knife . . .

  jigsaw for complex cuts around windowsills and exterior

  light fixtures.

  the top of head casings to the soffit, 38 in.; (B)

  bundles per square (100 sq. ft.). Always inspect

  from the top of the window head casing to the

  the visible shingles on a bundle to make sure

  bottom of sills, 45 in.; and (C) from the bottom of they’re uniformly thick (3⁄8 in.) at butt ends, of

  windowsills to the base line, 39 in. Total: 122 in.

  varying widths (on average, 6 in. to 12 in.), knot-

  free, and reasonably straight grained. Installing

  3.Calculating exposure adjustments is easy.

  shingles requires a lot of trimming, so you don’t

  Round off each measurement to the nearest

  want to be fighting knots and wavy grain. Shingle

  increment of 5 in. Then increase or decrease the

  butts should also be cut cleanly—not ragged. Feel

  shingle exposure accordingly. Thus area A yields

  a 43⁄4-in. exposure (38 ÷ 8 = 43⁄4); area B is exactly

  5 in. (45 ÷ 9); and area C is roughly 47⁄8 in.

  The easiest way to keep track of these adjust-

  ments is by penciling them onto a story pole, a

  long, straight board (a 1x2 is fine) whose length

  Nails 1 in. above

  zzzzzz Wood Shingle Details

  equals the distance between the top of the water

  butt line of

  next course

  table (if any) to the underside of the soffit or

  frieze. First, mark the tops and bottoms of win-

  Building paper

  dow and door casings onto the story pole, then

  Butt line of

  the adjusted course heights between.

  next course

  Sheathing

  As you work around the house, align the bot-

  tom of the story pole to each corner board and

  transfer marks from the pole to each board. If the

  house has windows set at varying heights, story-

  pole marks will better align with casing on some

  walls than on others; give precedence to the

  house’s most prominent facade. Where courses

  just won’t line up with casing joints, notch the

  siding around them.

  InStAllIng WOOD ShInglES

  Before you start shingling, make sure that win-

  dows and doors are correctly flashed, and that

  sheathing is covered with building paper, and

  that exterior trim is installed. A plastic mesh

  underlayment such as Cedar Breather, which

  Offset shingle

  allows air to flow behind shingles, is installed

  joints 11/2 in.

  for three courses.

  over building paper.

  Materials. No. 2 grade shingles are fine for walls

  Offset joints in

  because they receive less weathering than roofs.

  doubled starter

  Starter course doubled,

  (Roof shingles should be No. 1 grade.) For a stan-

  course by 11/2 in.

  extends below sheathing

  1

  dard 5-in. shingle exposure on walls, figure four

  /2 in. to 1 in.

  Exteriors

  165

  free to send back bundles that look inferior or

  shingles along the bottom is doubled, with verti-

  P R O T I P

  contain mostly narrow shingles. Standard-milled cal joints between the two shingle layers offset by

  shingles usually taper slightly: Their butt edges

  at least 11⁄2 in.

  When snapping chalklines to

  are not perfectly square to sides. Thus, as you

  When buying shingles, lift a few bundles to

  indicate shingle exposure lines,

  nail up each course, you must approximate the

  see how dry they are. Relatively wet shingles are

  use white chalk. Red chalk would

  butt line. If you want a crisper, more exacting

  fine, as long as they’re good quality, but they’ll

  seem the obvious choice because

  it’s closer in color to wood shin-

  look, ask your lumberyard for R&R (resquared

  shrink. In fact, most shingles shrink. Although

  gles than white. But for some

  and rebutted) shingles, whose sides are sawn

  how-to books are fond of telling you to leave a

  1

  reason, red chalk remains vivid

  parallel and whose butts are squared off. R&R

  ⁄4-in. gap between shingles during installation,

  and visible much longer, whereas

  shingles cost more but, being squared, are easier

  many shinglers don’t bother; unless the shingles

  white chalk fades away in two to

  to install.

  are bone-dry, installers assume that all shingles

  three weeks.

  To save a little money, you might want to use

  will shrink some.

  No. 3 shingles for the bottom layer of doubled

  Use two 11⁄4-in. galvanized nails or staples per

  starter courses. In this case, order one bundle per shingle, whatever the shingle’s width. Because

  50 lin. ft. of wall. Typically, the starter course of

  nails must be covered by the course above, place

  the Art of Weaving Corners

  to weave shingles tightly on corners, nail them up and shave them

  shingles tight, dril a pilot hole in 1⁄4 in. from the edge and up 2 in. from

  in place. As you place each shingle, use a torpedo level to level the

  the butt of the shingle. A push dril (also cal ed a Yankee dril ) is perfect

  butt, overlapping the adjacent wall by about 1 in., and nail the shingle for the task. Alternate the edge that overlaps from course to course.

&nb
sp; down. As before, use stainless-steel, brass, or bronze nails wherever

  Because there’s not enough room to use a block plane on the bot-

  the nails will be exposed; ring-shanked nails hold best.

  tom and top course of corners, use a cordless jigsaw to precut shingle

  use a utility knife to rough-trim the excess. then continue with a

  edges or butts. And because the top course of shingles will be quite

  block plane until the shingle edge is almost flush to the shingle it over-

  short (about 4 in. long) and susceptible to splits, caulk the back sides

  laps on the adjacent wal . to prevent splits and to draw overlapping

  with a durable urethane caulk, in addition to nailing.

  Alternate shingles overlap at the

  corners. Nail each shingle up,

  then use a utility knife to trim all

  but 1⁄4 in. of excess before

  finishing up with a block plane.

  Stop planing when the edge is

  barely proud of (above) the

  oncoming shingle. On the top

  course, where a block plane won’t

  fit, use a jigsaw to precut the

  Draw the shingle corners

  shingle to the correct angle.

  together with a single nail

  driven through the overlapping

  shingle. To prevent splits,

  predrill with a push drill.

  Because the nails joining corners

  or finishing the top course of

  shingles will be exposed, use

  either stainless-steel, brass, or

  bronze nails at those junctures.

  166 Chapter 7

  shingle nails in 3⁄4 in. from the edge and 1 in. above

  the exposure line. Where nails will be visible—

  Replacing shiNglEs

  say, on interwoven corners or the top course

  below a windowsill—use siliconized bronze ring-

  ifyousplitashinglewhileinstallingit(orif

  shank nails or stainless-steel nails. Again, 11⁄4-in.

  youneedtoremoveshinglestoinstallan

  nails are fine, unless you’re also nailing through

  exhaustventforafan),breakouttheshards,

  a gypsum layer to reach the sheathing on a fire-

  hammerdownthenailheads,andreplacethe

  rated wall.

  shingle.Toremoveafewdamagedshinglesonan

  installation. If you’ve got a water table, set your

  otherwiseintactwall,useashingleripper(also

  first course of shingles atop it, even if it’s not

  calledaslatehook),showninthetopleftphoto

  level. That way you eliminate unsightly gaps

  onp.150.Slideitshookedheadupunderthe

  along the trim, and it’s easy enough to level the

  surroundingshinglesuntilyoucanfeelithook