I have a customer that wants to put cedar siding on their house which currently has painted concrete block walls. Is this feasible and if so, what is the best way to tackle a job like this? I’m thinking vertical furring strips attached to the block walls with Tapcon screws, but this seems like a lot of drilling. Also, what about spacing between the furring strips to accomodate the different lengths of siding? Any suggestions?
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Spacing is a no brainer. 16" on center. You can customize some of the locations to suit the length of siding pieces you've got to land on center from each end to save some cutting. But that only benefits you every fourth or more course to look right, depending on exposure.
How you attach the strips is a little more interesting. I'd be tempted to try screwing self tapping galvanized screws into the mortar joints of the block, but it may not work. I'd like to shoot powder-actuated nails but that's generally not a good idea with block. Seems like someone on this site had some luck doing it with blocks that had been filled with concrete but it's been a while since I saw that and don't remember the specifics.
Otherwise, drill and tapcon. Not too bad. They don't have to be perfectly OC, plumb or anything, just get them on. Cedar's not very heavy so you don't have to put a million fasteners in, like as with fibercement.
The thing is, if you rip plywood or use typical furring strips, you'll have to use short nails to put on the siding, so you'll probably want to use 2x3's, maybe with some 2x2's or so to fur the walls.