How To Match Old Wood Siding

Manufacturers recommend nailing modern resawn bevel siding through a single board to allow for wood movement at left.

How to match old wood siding. Scoring prevents the wood from chipping when you cut it with a handsaw cut the new piece of siding on the waste side of the line. Show the clerk the piece of siding and tell her the brand and manufacturer. Here s how to make sure you have a patch that s a perfect match before you begin. She can put your sample side by side to stock siding to get you a matching piece.

Wood aging solution based on vinegar to age new wood to a natural silvery gray to grey brown or black patina depending on the wood let a small piece of steel wool or a few non galvanized nails sit overnight in ordinary white vinegar then dilute the vinegar solution 1 to 1 with water. Install the new boards. Bevel siding and bungalow siding are 20th century versions that are generally resawn from boards producing random grain to obtain widths of 8 and more. Keep in mind that stain can look different on different pieces of wood.

Measure the butt edge thickness and the widths of the exposed faces of a few courses on the wall. When you replace the boards use a homemade reveal set jig to match the reveal of the existing siding. After you remove the rotted courses use a small hacksaw to cut any protruding nail shanks or if you have a very strong grip use a good pair of wire cutters. If you are milling more than one piece of siding i highly recommend running all of the pieces through the router table before changing bits to make the rabbet cut on the bottom of the siding.

For more information on vapor retarders see section 5. Just bring in a sample piece to be matched. Add an inch to the face width to account for the overlap of the piece above. Painting sounds like an option but in this case we re talking about painting old wood some of which is reaching the end of its lifecycle.

If you used 1 4 cup of vinegar add 1 4 cup of water. So if you re doing trim for example don t just bring in the piece that s easiest to remove. If you want everything to match replace everything. Bringing a length of old siding with you to the lumber yard is the best way to match grains and styles.

Choosing nails and siding. Score the cut line with the utility knife guided by a square. Choose a sample piece that has the color and tone you want. Line up the ends and using the old piece as a guide mark the new clapboard with a utility knife.

Otherwise you will always be chasing trying to immediately match the existing as other pieces of siding degrade in the future. Running all of the pieces through the router consecutively will guarantee a uniform cut and appearance on all of the pieces that are being milled.