Everything you need to keep your wood siding in good shape
With its rustic charm and welcoming appearance, wood siding can increase your home’s value and boost its curb appeal—but only if it’s in good condition. Wood siding is prone to impact damage, rot, and pest damage, all of which can leave your home unprotected and exposed to damaging water intrusion. Our step-by-step guide walks you through repairing your wood siding so it looks and performs its best for years to come.
Before repairing holes or cracks in your wood siding, use a paint scraper or putty knife to remove loose paint and any debris that’s accumulated on the siding around the damaged area. Sand down the wood to give yourself a smooth surface to work with.
If you have woodpecker holes in your siding, cracks in the wood siding boards, or other holes, use paintable or stainable wood filler, latex caulk, or wood epoxy applied with a putty knife to fill the hole or crack.
If the siding has a large hole two to four inches in diameter that needs to be filled, use a hole saw to remove around the hole on the damaged board and cut a corresponding piece from a replacement board. Use wood filler to put the replacement section into the damaged board and apply a thin layer of filler over the patch.
If the damage is more extensive than a hole or crack and you need to replace larger sections of siding, use an oscillating saw to make vertical cuts on either side of the damaged area. Using a pry bar, gently pry the siding away from the exterior wall, taking care not to damage the surface underneath the siding. Carefully remove any nails with a claw hammer or the pry bar. Repeat this process for any additional damaged boards.
If the damage is extensive, the sheathing underneath the siding may also be damaged. Inspect the area under the removed boards to see if the sheathing is intact. If you need to replace the rotted wood under the siding, you may need to call a qualified siding professional, since a larger section of siding may need to be removed to make the necessary repairs.
Using the removed pieces of siding as a guide, use a circular saw to cut the correct size replacement boards. Install the new wood siding using ring shank nails, hammering them into the existing nail holes on the sheathing. Use wood filler or caulk to fill in the nail holes and seal the edges of the replacement board.
Whether you’ve filled in holes or cracks or replaced a section of siding, you’ll need to sand the surface to smooth out the filler and create an even surface to paint or stain. Be sure to check the manufacturer’s instructions to give the filler or caulk enough time to fully cure before sanding and staining or painting—this may take up to 12 hours or more before you can move on to this step.
Using a paint brush or roller, paint or stain the repaired section of siding to match the rest. This is also a good time to touch up any chipped or faded paint elsewhere on your siding.
Repairing wood siding is a fairly straightforward process, but there are a few mistakes you might make that could cost you time, money, and effort.
Repairing siding that should be replaced. If your wood siding is near the end of its lifespan or has extensive damage, repairing it may not be enough to prevent further damage.
Not repairing or replacing damaged sheathing. If what’s under your siding isn’t in good shape, it won’t help to repair the siding. You need to fix the underlying problem first before making any repairs.
Damaging surrounding siding or sheathing while repairing damaged siding. If you aren’t careful to only cut away damaged boards, you may cause more damage during the repair process.
Not letting filler or caulk fully cure before sanding and staining or painting. Painting or staining over uncured filler or caulk can lead to peeling paint or prevent the filler or caulk from properly curing.
You can tackle smaller wood siding repairs as a weekend DIY, but for more extensive repairs, or if the damage has affected the sheathing underneath the siding, hire a siding contractor to ensure the repairs are done properly. A local siding repair pro can assess the damage and make any necessary repairs.
If your siding is nearing the end of its expected life or the damage is extensive enough that repair costs are more than half of the cost to replace siding, hire a qualified wood siding pro to install new siding instead of repairing the damage. The cost of wood siding is higher than other materials, but having new wood siding will mean you won’t need to worry about major repairs for decades to come.
The guys at PaveWay are top notch. From the estimate to the job being completed,all was done in a timely and professional manner. I myself was a DOT Engineer Inspector(know what to look for) and got to talking with Cameron and he himself was a Contract inspector for a few years,same job as...
All Star Paving and SealingI highly recommend KTM construction! I will look no where else for anything that needs to be done, in or out side of our property. The level of craftsmanship is 5 star service across the board! The level of detail, knowledge and professionalism is 5 star service across the board! Ken is a...
KTM Construction, LLCI purchased the "Big Deal": $199.00 for exterior pressure-washing of one- or two-story home up to 2,000 square feet. They cleaned the siding only. I wasn't aware when I bought the Big Deal that they would not do any other surfaces other than the siding (i.e. sides of the gutters or stucco). I...
Complete Home ServicesThis brownstone is historical and the carpentry work is very detailed. I was very happy to secure a company in NY and living in OH to complete the request. Wood work on this brownstone has been existing since approximately 1888 and West side did a GREAT JOB. I will not be able to...
Westside Home ImprovementNice group of workers, very friendly. Day 1 covered everything before starting, seemed very organized. Things seemed to be going great. Day 2 they didn't show up until around 10:00a.m. and work crew was cut in half, was told they had another job. Day 3 they didn't show up until around...
CertaPro Painters of ColumbusThe work went great! Couldn't ask for better. Joel set a work start date. About the time of the storms that may have been associated with Sandy. He was half a day late. They set up on a Thursday. On Friday they had a full crew at work. By Monday they were finishing up. Now, the best...
NJW ConstructionA few months ago, a tree branch fell across my car, leaving a series of dents across the hood and driver's side fender. I took it to Rife's after reading the Angie's List reviews. Rife's did a great job! My car looks like new. And they made the process as easy as possible. When I came in...
Rife's Autobody IncI received an email from Angie's List offering Car Detailing 4 U's services for $99. Coming from Angie's List, I expected this to be a highly dependable and qualified company that was known for doing exceptional work. I set the appointment for them to come to my home. They were arrive at...
We first had Mark fix the back patio and liked his work so much we had him make a brick patio on the side of the house. When we decided to change our concrete walkway to brick, we wanted Mark to do the job because his prices were fair and he did such good work on t he other two projects.
Mark Monnette MasonryI was very pleased with the cost and end result. I truly expected this job to cost me 50% more than it did. When you factor quality and cost, I would highly recommend Mark's services and plan to use him in the future. The best part was, I asked Mark to match the paint color in one section...
Fresh Touch Custom Painting Inc.From average costs to expert advice, get all the answers you need to get your job done.
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