How to Hang Clapboard Siding

By: Charles Wardell, This Old House magazine

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

1. PRIMED RED-CEDAR CLAPBOARD

2. BUILDER'S FELT: 15-POUND, 12-INCH-WIDE ROLL
for protecting sheathing at water table, corner boards, and around window and door casings

3. BUILDER'S FELT: 2-INCH-WIDE ROLL
for covering the wall at stud locations

4. METAL FLASHING
for covering the top edge of the water table and window casings

5. WATERPROOF MEMBRANE
for protecting the tops of windows and doors

6. 4D AND 7D STAINLESS STEEL RING-SHANK NAILS
for attaching clapboard and flashing

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- Speed Square,
  for marking story pole and swing stick
- Chalk line.
  for premarking courses and for finding and marking plumb lines at stud locations
- Utility knife,
  for notching clapboard and cutting felt, flashing, and waterproofing membrane
- Hammer tacker and staples,
  for attaching builder's felt to sheathing alternative: staple gun
- Tape measure
- Caulk gun with paintable, synthetic-rubber sealant,
  for sealing ends of clapboard at casings, frieze, and corner boards
- Ladder or scaffolding,
  for reaching high spots
- Miter saw,
  for cutting clapboards to length
- Hammer
- Table saw,
  for ripping down the starter strip
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Introduction
Overview
Steps:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8

7: Siding beside windows

6 to 8 hours to side an 8x16-foot wall
about 88 cents per linear foot

Difficulty: Moderate Clapboards are lightweight and easy to cut, but the repetitive nature of the work can lead to mistakes if you’re not paying close attention.

Since colonial times, Americans have protected their houses from the weather with thin, overlapping wood planks known as clapboards. The siding, which got its name from the Dutch work klappen, "to split," was originally hand-split from logs of white pine, hemlock, spruce, or cypress. Later, saws did the work, turning out miles of delicate, tapered strips less than an inch thick.

Today, clapboard siding comes in a variety of woods, widths, and lengths, as well as in such man-made materials as fiber-cement. But as far as This Old House general contractor Tom Silva is concerned, western red cedar is still the best choice for the money. "It takes paint easily, goes up faster than shingles, and as long as it's installed properly and well maintained it can last the lifetime of the house," Tom says. "It looks great, too."