I’ve spent the last couple of days replaced damaged siding.
It’s masonite 12″ lap siding on a 15 year old house and I’m replacing the bottom row
I use my skil saw to make a cut at the top of the siding I’m removing.
I make the cut and then pull off the damaged piece.
What’s taking a lot of time is digging out the top
(the part which is over lapped by the second row of siding)
I’m tearing up the second row of siding more than I want to when I pry it outward to try to pull the nail.
How do you guys do this?
I’m removing masonite and replacing it was hardi siding
(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Replies
Saw the nails with a hacksaw blade.
Thanks I appreciate itI've got a long hacksaw blade in my sawzall and I've been cutting the nails that wayBut I can't seem to cut them off flush with the sheatingI cut it and the remaining nail is 1/4 to 1/2 inch longSo then I use a grinder to grind the nail down flushIt's workingIt's just really slowThanks again(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
>>>"But I can't seem to cut them off flush with the sheating"Get a piece of steel bar etc and lay it over the cut nail, smack it with a hammer till the nail is flush to the sheathing.
Thanks I will try the steel plateI've got the old fashioned shingle nail puller and it is kind of a flat bar and I'll try it(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
I spent today (9 hours) working on a chimneyI guess you would call it a chase It has masonite sidingI was asked to tear all of it off and replace it.the two ends measure about 2 ftthe front is five ftthere were 17 rowsWhen I bid the job I said to myself "I can do the chimney in one day"So today I pulled onto the job and grabbed a hammer and prybar and proceeded to remove all of the masonite siding.For some reason, these types of chimneys seem to really develop moisture problems.Anyway, most all of the siding on the END were severely deteriorated.When I did the front, I found the bottom two rows had some damage, but then as I worked my way upward, most of the rest of it was not damaged.BUT HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?When I got to the top piece, it also had some rotting. So I replaced the whole section.After nine hours I was not finished.I was very tired and put roofing tar paper over the area that was not yet finished and I came home.I have about 6 pieces remaining.Anyway, for anyone who is bidding this type of job, I DON'T THINK ANY ONE MAN CAN REDO A CHIMNEY LIKE THIS IS ONE DAYIt will be one and a half days or maybe two.One other thing, when I removed all the siding from the chimney, THERE WAS NO HOUSE WRAPThe siding was installed directly over OSBI spent a lot of time putting 15 lb tarpaper under the siding I installed todayI feel like it was the right thing to do.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Masonite is deceptive. Sometimes it looks fair, but you can poke a hole in it with your pinky. And everything takes longer than I seem to expect. Maybe I'm optimistic. So I figure how long it should take, multiply that x3, and usually I'm about right or even still low. I don't think your shingle bar will work well to drive down the nails because it is probably too springy. I have a piece of 1/4" x 2" bar stock that works OK.
I bought a ryobi skil saw 6 mo's ago ? and had not used it.So I have been using it a lot for three days now.Yesterday every time I would pick it up from the ground and try to use it to cut another piece of siding, the fence had slipped and it was set on an angleSo all day long I would reset the fence so that it was at a 90 degree angle to the bladeToward the end of the day it seemed like the saw was cutting a crooked line.I looked at the blade vs the fence and it is crookedHow in the world did that happenI have not dropped the saw or mis used it in any wayThe metal they used to make the fence and sliding adjustment pieces does seem really thinthis was a mistake to try to use the ryobi skil saw to do accurate cuttingI really need a power mitre saw that will cut these 12" hardi boards accuratelyI talked to a guy and he said he bought a cheap one at harbor freightThree days ago I bought a hardi saw blade for $19 and put it in my $29 ryobi skil saw and thought "wow, new saw and new blade, hey you can't beat that"(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
I'd pound the saw base into alignment, and find some way to lock the bevel at 90 if possible, even if you have to epoxy it in place. Get a swanson "Big 12" speed square or make your own sled and it will be as accurate as you could want. I wouldn't want to use a heavy miter saw for a few hardi cuts. And the Harbor freight one may not be any more accurate than a speed square and a circ saw. Plus you would have to buy another blade.Note: Diablo hardi blades are not any good, the Hitachi one is.
Tomorrow I will wrap up the siding replacementIt turned out really well and I wanted to thank everyone who made this all possible.Seriously, looking back I spent a lot of time trying to dig the siding from behind the lower edge of row number two.Why do we have to waste all this time and energy?Why not just remove the first row of siding by cutting it where it meets the piece aboveThis would be at 11" if the lap is 1 inchJust make the cut and then rip the new piece of siding at 11 inchesCaulk the joint and wala you are done.This would reduce the labor by 25% or more? which is required to do this job.Or if people are worried about moisture penetrating the caulking, how about some specialized type of Z bar flashing.This would eliminate the moisture issue.are people already doing it this way?I wasted a lot of time on this the past 3-4 daysHere's the flashinghttp://www.constructionmetals.com/Flashing/FlashingPDF/CMI-Z-Bar.pdf(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Edited 9/29/2008 10:51 pm by Wichita_Realtor
I think you did it right. I would have done it the same. Caulk and rip, probably asking for trouble. Z flashing would work, but would look a little strange, and I don't think it would be any faster.
Here is the flashing I was trying to describehttp://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/question/0,,1064764,00.html(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Slide a metal cutting sawsall blade blade behind the siding to cut the nails. Or a handsaw if that vibrates too much
Thanks for the infoWhat's interesting is one side of the home had 2 1/2 gold colored straight shank nails and many of these pulled out fairly easyThe next side had ribbed nails and these are a bugger to pry outIn fact you can't pry them out.They don't "pop" loose like the other ones.Instead, the siding "pops" out while the nail doesn't budge.Thanks again.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Shows you the importance of ring shank nails, for the next time your gonna wanna use someting similar as you witnessed the difference
The other thing I have learned is how much time this takes.Yesterday I did one complete side of the house.It was 44 ft.It took me 8 hours. And I was moving non-stop.I was working by myself and I was not talking to anyone, taking breaks, or taking naps, etc.At the end of the day I looked at it and thought to myself "is that all I got done?"I had worked 8 hours and had installed four pieces of siding.But I don't think superman could have worked any faster.Anyway, I just wanted to throw this out. THIS IS A VERY SLOW PROCESS
(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
That is why ring nails are used, because they work!;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Have you ever pulled off the bottom row of siding and seen swarms of ants and spiders everywhere?I saw three large ant nests with thousands of ants swarming at me when I wrecked their home.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
See all the trails and powder here?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Wow that's what I would call major damageOn the job I'm doing I have pulled off about 75 feet of sidingAll of which is the bottom rowI have seen some damage but nothing like thatSome of the stuff I'm seeing looks bad. But when I experiment and see if I can drive a nail into what's there, it seems to be okay and so I just take a broom and sweep it off and put it all back together.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Last month I decided to replace some Masonite siding on my home. When I realized how long it would take and that Masonite was never any good I decided to go over the Masonite siding. I used some furring strips at the top of each row which I cut at 3/16" thick so that the top of the Hardi board would stick out slightly past the bottom of the Masonite.
I think your house turned out greatCan you imagine the amount of demo if you had removed all of that masonite siding.I have a friend and what she did with her home when the masonite siding went kerflooey, she had vinyl siding put over the masonitePlus they sheated over the masonite with some kind of sheets of insulation She is very happy with the results.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
You need the Malco siding nail cutter. It is made for jobs exactly like yours.
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From only 2 reviews at Amazon. I was looking at these also but not sure now. I have some spiral siding nails that my Fein MM is rapidly ruining metal blades trying to do the same thing as Wichita.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
View Image Florida Residential Contractor, <!---->August 10, 2005<!---->
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D. Brown (Ft Walton Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews I just received this item thinking it would be good for any hard-to-reach stubborn nail. When I pulled the tool out of the box, I immediately noticed the main pivot bolt/rivet was missing in the cutter head. I called Malco and they copped an attitude, so I'm returning the cutter for a refund. From just a cursory look, they don't look as though they'd cut very good anyway based on their design. I think a pair of pruning shears would work just as good...maybe better! Caveat emptor!
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View Image Broke the first time I used it, <!---->June 7, 2008<!---->
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Christine Stone (United States) - See all my reviews I got this product to nip off the pointy ends of 16D nails that were poking through my side of a common fence from my neighbor's property. The product broke on its first use--the bolt holding the cutters together came loose. Would not recommend this for use on 16D nails even though it is advertised as being able to handle them.
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I've seen them, but never used one, so I can't give an objective tool test opinion!
Personally, I use a long Milwaukee Torch blade in a sawzall and don't have any trouble.
For some reason, we have run in to a lot of situations like this lately where we have to replace 12" Masonite siding with the 12" cement board.
I can't say I've seen many bad tools from Malco tho'.
Wow thanks for that tipI have never heard of that tool and would love to own one.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)
Ummm...Slate ripper and a 2-lb sledge.
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Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Thanks - I do have one of those tools and I will give it a try.I wanted to throw out a couple of observations.I installed 230-240 ft of hardi siding and so I bought a gallon of paint.I bought the best Behr paint at Home Depot.The paint is 100% acrylic which is what Hardi recommends I REALLY liked that paintIt's thick paint and it is "lifetime warranty"I painted the Hardi with a 6 inch roller and it turned out really good.The other thing is the paint is BOTH a paint and a primer.One coat was sufficient to cover the Hardi sidingUsing this paint saves you time.(formerly Mr. Fix It ;^0)