What would be the best way to mount a wallmount porch light over siding, when the light fixture is longer than one piece of siding? The portion of the light that overlaps the bottom piece of siding would be left hanging in space without some type of correction. I was thinking about using my Dremel tool to cut the top piece of siding, or mounting the fixture to a block of wood first, but I want to know if there is a professional way to do it. Thanks!
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What kind of siding?
Dan,
It is cedar siding, about 8 inches tall and about 1/2 inch thick at the bottom.
Frank
You can either shim as csnow suggests or cut a "window" (complete with flashing on top) into the siding.
Lowes has a siding light box just made for this, allows the siding edge to slip under for clean fit. Its on the siding asle not electrical.
If you mean wood clapboards, one way is to design a mounting block for the fixture, then attach a couple of pieces of clapboard upside down to the house to create a 'flat' area upon which to attach the mounting block. Run a piece of flashing under the clap above and over the top of the mounting block. The advantage here is that the existing weather envelope is not breached (except for whatever it takes to accommodate the wiring).
If you mean vinyl lap siding, you really need to cut in to get solid blocking, and they sell special mounting block panels for this very purpose.