Hello. I’m new here and have a question concerning green treated channel siding [cedar]. A friend of mine from a siding crew recently tried to install some frozen channel siding on OSB vertically without any strapping. The temperature was [-20 Celsius]. It cupped real bad. He then tried to install it horizontally nailing into the studs with the same results. He had air guard with both installations. I haven’t had much experience with cedar siding, but my feeling is that the siding is buckling once the sun hits it. What is the proper procedure for installing this type of siding. There must be a minimum moisture content and also should strapping be applied prior to installing the siding vertically. He used 2 1/2″ hot dipped galvanized nails. Did the air guard have any effect on the siding? Could anybody help us out with this problem? Thanks from Norther Mb.
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I'm not familiar with the exact product your friend used but it sounds like it was treated with a liquid product similar to presure treating. Is that true? If so, the moisture in the wood is the cause of the curling. As it dries first on the side exposed to the sun, it shrinks in that surface. The material should be dried to the average ambiant moisute content before application.
Cedar is an extremely fragile wood, in that it does split easily. Add to that the fact that you have frozen moisture contained within it, expanding and stressing the wood cells and the nails you drive challenge the integrity of the bonds in the wood.
Galvanized nails are falling out of favor for cedar. The tannins in the wood tend to advance the aging of the nail and zinc coating fails sooner in cedar than in other woods so SS nails are becoming more commonly used.
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