This is the only way I can think of
- Use a chisel and hammer to bust out the exposed area. 12 feet in this case. I cant think of any way to saw it square.
- Use a narrow chisel to break it out around the nails
- Saw the nails off flush
- Push new plank in
- nail it with exposed nails on the plank above.
Replies
Siding nail cutter, slips behind the plank and cuts the nails.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000WU120
Joe H
Multi master for the sq. cuts. No need to do all 12' maybe.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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You can use a multimaster as Sphere said or, if you don't have one in your vault, you can use an angle grinder with a diamond blade to cut a straighe line in the exposed portion of the plank and chisel out the last inch or so that's covered by the upper plank. Or, you can just cut through the whole plank and repair the slit in the upper board with a slipsheet and caulk. Either that or just remove & replace the whole board. (Why not? You gotta buy a whole board to replace the bad one anyway.) You can make do with a hacksaw blade in one of those mini-hack blade holders to cut the nails by slipping it up behind the plank.
Since you're probly gonna have to use exposed nails anyway, I'd put them just under the upper row. Less visible. And you would avoid nailing through two courses, though that's probably not as big a deal with Hardi as it would be with wood. Use stainless nails, caulk & paint.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Edited 3/31/2008 7:45 am ET by MikeHennessy
Edited 3/31/2008 7:47 am ET by MikeHennessy
The first thing that comes to mind for cutting the hidden nails is a air hacksaw like this one: http://www.irtools.com/IS/product.aspx-en-2815
You can attach a regular 12" hacksaw blade to it which gives you around 10" to 11" of reach. The stroke is very short, maybe one inch or so which makes it easy to control.
Martin