To repair or replace weatherboards.

[kaboobie1109]

Hi All,

Firstly thank you to all those out there who pass on their invaluable knowledge and experiences to people like me who have absolutely no idea..

I will start by giving you a brief rundown of where we are at the moment. We have a 1916 double fronted Edwardian. We are about 3 years off being able to afford major reno.
We find ourselves in the unenviable position of needing to do some work on the exterior now rather than wait till we can renovate. The paint is chalky and we are afraid further damage will be done if not addressed. Besides, we are sick of the placing looking so shabby. We don't want to spend money now only to repeat or replace the work in 3 years time.

The original part of the house will stay intact when we renovate. Therefore we think any work done on the exterior now will not need to be redone later. Someone experienced may be able to confirm or deny this.

The front is in pretty good condition only with a few boards split here and there. But needs to be stipped and painted. Plan to leave that intact and have someone professional come in to repair, prepare and paint. First question, do split boards need replacing or can they simply be repaired? All the boards are hardwood.

Our problem exists on the west side of the house. Some of the boards are split and some rotted. Not a large amount but the ones that are are very long lengths and are the middle boards.

I think that there would be a lot of work involved in replacing and preparing the boards before painting. The paint would most definetly be lead based too. We would need to get someone in to replace the boards. I was planning on preparing and painting myself but have been scared off by all the talk of the hazards of lead paint. (We have 2 young children).

Would it be more cost effective to simply replace the entire side of the house given all the work necessary to repair and prepare for painting? If so, do we replace with hardwood or pine? Everything out there seems to be pine. Is it as good as hardwood?

I would really appreciate it if anyone out there could advise us on what they think the best course of action would be. Or just any general comments would be appreciated.

[totoblue]

In my experience, split boards can't be repaired. The split will open up again later. You might be able to glue a piece of timber to the back of the split to repair it. In repairing a split, the two pieces need to be joined to each other and not to the studs.

In my house, most of the split boards are split because they were originally fixed with two or more nails at each stud (probably replacement boards fixed by a previous owner). That is an invitation to split because a wide piece of timber like a weatherboard will expand and contract quite a bit with the weather. If it is fixed at one nail per stud there is no extra force on the board, otherwise it is likely to split. You will need to predrill using a timber drill bit (a metal "universal" drill bit will stick in old hardwood), otherwise you might split any new boards and the frame will be extremely hard. I suggest hand nailing rather than a nail gun.

You could consider replacing with cedar as that should last longer than pine, doesn't cost a lot more and is readily available.

Timber suppliers should be able to supply a matching profile if you take a piece with you. My weatherboards have a rounded edge and a rebate for the board below - I machine this with a router.

As to your question about whether pine is as good as hardwood. The answer is pine is not as good as the hardwood you currently have on your house (old hardwood). New hardwood weatherboards may be difficult to get I would guess and may not be as good. There are houses near mine where the paint is old and flaking off but the weatherboards are intact - I presume they are hardwood or cedar. My house has pine weatherboards and where the paint starts to break down, the weatherboards rot pretty fast. You need to maintain a good weatherproof coat of paint to keep pine boards looking good.

Replacing boards is not hard to do yourself. It is hard to get end to end joins to look good. Best not to try to smooth joins out with filler as that looks crappy. If you want to DIY, start somewhere out the back not very visible.

I've removed paint with a heat gun from weatherboards which is my preferred choice. Not too sure if that is lead-safe but it certainly creates fewer fragments than sanding or cold scraping. There are also specialist paint removal power tools (that create chips) and of course stripper comes in various guises but pretty messy generally.

If you get all the boards on a wall replaced, you can insulate at the same time. Boards will come in lengths of about 5 to 6m in my experience.

[kaboobie1109]

Totoblue, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. It has been on there for a while and I was beginning to think that this was a boys only forum and was regretting putting my name to it. Was thinking I probably should have signed it Macka or something. Just kidding....

I think we might replace all the boards. It seems to be too much work to repair and then have to strip the paint. The suggestion of insulating at the same time is a great one as there is currently no insulation in the walls.
My husband really wants to give it a go so I have printed a heap of doco that I have found on the forum so that he knows the right way to go about it.

Thanks again.

[peter_sm]

I have only put new boards on or replaced any dry rot or split boards. I am in fact going to replace the whole North wall of the house due to many problems. I find putting new ones on easy and relaxing. It is only about 9m of wall. Also gives me the chance to get some sisalation and insulation in there, as the house never had it originally, and the wall lets a lot of heat in during Summer.

[petermac]

Hi,

I have a weatherboard house in Thornbury and have replaced boards and rebuilt small sections of walls (3-4 metres). I have had no problems with using pine weatherboards as long as they are adequately prepared and looked after. The boards should be primed before they are installed (you can buy pre-primed boards). Also when the boards are cut to size the ends should be primed before fixing.

A builder suggested to me that you also should paint the boards with one coat of top coat before fixing. This is because some boards will shrink within the first year and you will be left with a section of unpainted board that is exposed when the board shrinks. If the boards are not painted you may need to repaint the entire wall.

I use a flexible gap sealant on the ends of the board at each corner and at all butt joints to keep water out of the joints. The gap sealant can be smoothed out with water to created a neat finish.

If you use a good quality paint it should last at least 10 years before you need to repaint and it should only need a good wash and light sanding before repainting.

Replacing the boards is not a difficult job. If you can use a hammer and a saw and can get the bottom board straight they the rest is pretty easy. You will have to remove and re-fit any architraves around windows and doors. Are the current boards straight and has the house been restumped? It might be a problem if you replace the boards now and then restump later as the boards may not be straight after the restumping.

[Honorary Bloke]

If you want more documentaiton or an illustrated guide to repairing weatherboards (we call 'em clapboards) follow this link:

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/know...8709-1,00.html

Good luck.

[kaboobie1109]

Thanks for all the great advise. We are going to give the back section of the house a go. It's part of a lean to which will be removed when the reno goes up but it is a small section that we can practice on. My husbands itching to do it.

I had a builder out today to give us a quote on a few things. He had a look at the 2 sides we are looking at replacing. He was really good and honest. He said that its probably best to wait till the reno in 3 years time.
The boards that are there while looking a bit shabby are in good condition. He said that they would last for at least 10 years. They really just need a little TLC.

Oh, what to do.....May just revisit the painting theory for now....

The link to this Old House was great. We had cable for a while and used to love watching it on a Sunday arvo.

[totoblue]

...lots of good advice snipped...

I agree with all that. I paint the front and the back of the boards before fixing them, as well as the cut ends. If you do that the effect of humidity changes should be more even.

If your boards have rebates on the back of the bottom edge (like mine) so that the top of the lower board sits in the rebate of the upper board, you need to be careful when refitting them that you maintain the same spacing as the existing boards. If the rebate sits hard on the board below then there will be no room for expansion, so you need to leave a bit of a space between the end of the rebate and the top of the board below.