Installing Cedar Siding in Rain

[No]

Will, or is, the siding painted or stained or will it be natural, untreated?

If left natural and untreated you will probably be OK although not ideal in my opinion.

Is the siding is goinng to be stained or painted (I recomend stained) then you should treat all 6 sides before its installed. (Have some of the stail available to the installer to creat cut ends. This will also make it much less water permiable and I would be even more hesitant to install it over soaking wet tar paper.

I had good results with Sikkens Cetol 123plus on my cedar siding. I did the step 1 on all sides before install then finished with the 23plus steps after installed. It was installed over a dry substrate though. The sikkens product I used was natural. Its also available in solid color or semi-transparent IIRC.

So, to boil it all down. 1, I would wait till it dries to install and

2, prestain all sides before install.

[bby]

Hi,

I would really appreciate some wisdom. I am at the end of finishing our new home. The contractor has kind of abandoned it for other projects. That is a seperate issue.

I am working with someone to install cedar siding. We have tar paper or sheathing (that black paper). It is now raining constantly. Some of the paper is wet, other places it is somewhat damp.

Do we have to wait before installing the cedar planks/boards till the paper is dry. The contractor for the house said that you can install it in when the paper is wet and the heat from the house will dry it up quite quickly. I asked him how the moisture will escape once boarded up. He told me that with cedar it is not a problem.

:?: My problem is that the contractor has made up so many things to date, I have no idea when he is lying. Is it OK to install while the paper is wet? I think it will continue to rain for a few weeks. Any other website references, tips etc. will be helpful.

:?: Also do you usually stain the cedar boards before or after installation?

thanks .

[FACE]

Hello,

I am NOT mr. construction.

I do not have wisdom but do have some limited experience. I am sure that others here will have the wisdom necessary.

If you have not bought the siding yet as raw, you can buy it by the bundle pre-stained by pressure staining. Mine was bought 23 years ago and it sat in the then muddy yard several days.

The siding was put on in the spring, and it and the house was wet.

Being attached to the studs, there is some space beneath it and the tar paper, insulation, etc. That space should allow your paper room to dry out. If it is cedar lap (not tongue and groove) there is a small space between the boards where they lap. Your moisture laden air should escape there because although the thin edge of the lower lap board is against the thick edge of the next upper board lap it is not airtight.

However, if this is not enough for your comfort, you could leave off for a few weeks either the top lap board or the final piece of trim (1 x 3 or 4) that catches the top lip of the top board -- both under the eave of course.

(I also have siding questions so take this as what I said -- limited experience.)

FACE

[Harry]

Cedar

1973 - I built a completely cedar home from a kit. It had cedar walls inside and out - cedar shakes on the roof - cedar windows. Cedar wood is full of air bubbles that make it excellent insulation. It also is resistant to rot and bugs. Cedar wood breathes well. For 30 years - I did not put a drop of paint or stain on that cedar wood - and it held up perfectly. A simple pressure washing would bring it back to its new appearance. The wood always dried out immediately.

You may have several problems with your builder - but wet cedar wood is not one of them :-)

Here is my cedar home when I sold it last month -

Harry