In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva explains how to repair clapboards.
Repairing clapboards
- Pull loose nails from clapboard siding.
- Tap flat bar under siding to loosen nails.
- Secure old siding by driving ring-shank nails down at an angle through the old nail holes.
- Pull nails from split clapboard.
- Grab butt edge of damaged clapboard and lift up sharply, snapping it off.
- Use flat bar to carefully pry up the siding course above.
- Drive flat bar into nails to bend them, then tap siding to wall, causing the nail heads to pop.
- Pull the nails using a claw hammer or flat bar.
- Pry the remaining pieces of old clapboard out from behind the course above.
- Use section of old clapboard to mark the length of the replacement siding.
- Use utility knife and speed square to score the cut line onto new clapboard.
- Cut the clapboard using a 10-teeth per inch crosscut handsaw.
- Apply paintable silicone caulk to both ends of clapboard.
- Slide the replacement clapboard into place, then secure it with ring-shank nails.
- Paint the new siding to match house.