Vertical weatherboards and whether to seal

[Shell]

Hi - i am currently repainting the exterior of my house- it has vertical weatherboards and i am unsure about how much to seal between them. There are no eaves so the boards are very exposed and i have already found some rotten spots. I am worried that if i do seal them then the water may get in elsewhere and not be able to dry out.

[seriph1]

hi and welcome to the forum! Apologies for not having replied sooner - the new system is a bit hard for me to get my brain around........ could you post a pic or two of the boards in question? It sounds like the boards may have been left unpainted for a while, but it is hard to tell. happy to have a go at sharing some ideas though

have fun

[Shell]

hi there Steve sorry i havent been on this site for ages - i didnt get any response for so long i made the decision to go ahead - 60+ tubes of polyurethane external filler later and house is all painted! it is supposed to stretch up to 50% and 6 mths later no cracks.
it may not have been the right thing to do but it sure looks better. now i have to get started on the inside.
will send you before and after if you are still interested.

[womble]

you should post some pics here, be interesting to see

[Shell]

Hi Womble
Sorry to reply so late but here are those pics. I now live in Armidale having sold the Grafton house. I regret doing all that work and leaving straight away and will now do up future properties for myself to enjoy (if only for a while).
cheers Shell

[Tools]

Gee time goes slowly in your neck of the woods !

[seriph1]

They look like lining board profile to me .... no wonder they were rotten in parts.... not really any way to stop water getting in.

[Shell]

Hi Seriph1
I'm don't think they were lining board - they were very thick - about an inch and very hard - beautiful wood. the reason i think they were rotten in parts is because they weren't sealed properly on the ends - being vertical i think past painters have just forgotten to paint underneath.
I believe they are waterproof now but only time will tell. A friend of mine bought the place so i'm sure he'll let me know if there's a problem.
cheers
shell

[seriph1]

hi again - I didn't mean they were lining boards .... lining boards would deteriorate immediately! They look like V-Joint tongue ad groove lining board profile though.

I reckon you're right on the money if the bottoms have rotted out .... wicking through remaining unpainted is certainly an issue.

[Shell]

hi Steve
i'm sorry but I'm actually a painter not a woodworker so v-joint and wicking lost me. but i think you're in agreement with me :-)
you only have to look at the treehouse i made for my daughter to know that i am not a woodworker. in the event of any neighbours child being hurt i would definitely be sued for negligence and possibly illlegal use of pallets.
cheers
shell