Some of the pine corner boards on my house need to be replaced. I want to use Azek. It’s a 2 story Colonial. Is it practical or a good idea to try and use 1 long piece ( 18 – 20 feet) instead of 2 shorter pieces.
I live in New England and really want to go with the Azek. I have already used Azek to replace the pine pilaters beside the front door. Worked out well.
Thank You for any input and advice.
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Replies
Anytime you can do a corner board in one long piece, I think it's a good idea. Less joints to build is less joints to fail. Remember that Azek is quite 'floppy' though. If you prebuild your cornerboards on the ground, they're much easier to handle solo.
FWIW, Azek also makes 'pre-made' one piece cornerboards. A little more money, but no seam, no water infiltration. I'm not sure what sizes are available or what size you're looking for though.
I downloaded the Azek product spec sheet and the pre-made corner boards only come in 5/4 and the widths won't fit either unless I rip both sides down. The boards on my house are 1 x 4 attached to a 1 x 5. Looks like I'll have to get the same dimensions in the Azek and pre-build them. Probably use biscuits.
Any ideas?
You should investigate why your cornerboards rotted in the first place. I expect my cornerboards to last about 300 years. Find out how the moisture got into the boards and fix that before you go ahead. Perhaps they were not backprimed. Perhaps the siding was installed diagonal and the water channeled towards the corners. Perhaps there is insufficient moisture barrier behind the corners. I like felt paper. Pine is not a very rot resistant wood and that may simply be the problem.
The corners boards that are in the worst shape are on the north east corner with no roof overhang. They are #2 Pine and with a horizontal joint that probably could have been installed better. I've also had trouble with exterior finger jointed window trim and door pilasters. A lot of shoddy workmanship. The list goes on. The house was not custom built.
I don't (or try not to) use finger jointed trim on exterior applications. If I can't find the trim in solid wood of some specis, I'll either use a PVC product, or make the trim myself. The finger joints tend to swell eventually, and will fail, or rot. Inside ok, outside, not if I can find another way.
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