As a homeowner i may need to redo one small area where my wood horizontal lap siding is. Its on the back upstairs.
My question is about corner boards.
On my house , for an outside corner, the boards at the edge are cut at 45 degrees and fit togeteher that way. The other edge of each corner board is of course square and the lap siding butts into it.
I see some houses where the corner boards just overlap each other.
My 45 degree ones sometimes gap open a little probably due to wood warpage over the years.
? –Is there an advantage one way or the other to one style over the other? My instinct is the plain lap over (no 45 angle) might fit better and keep water out better.
Any opinions?
Thanks.
Replies
I see corner boards butted, not mitered, mostly.
If you want additional protection against moisture penetration through the joint, you could shiplap the corner (two intersecting "L"'s) and caulk. That way, the joint wouldn't open up completely with wood expansion/contraction. You would still get some opening at the outside edge, of course- it just wouldn't carry through in a straight line to the siding.
I agree with Strider -- that is, I mostly see butted corner boards.
If you want to have a slightly more elegant solution, do what he suggested and execute the joint with a rabbet so that if any gap forms, it will only open up to the shoulder of the rabbet as opposed to the sheathing.
A simpler way to guarantee that the butt joint doesn't move is to use some exterior grade screws. You could countersink them a tad and fill over them and never know they were there.
Ragnar