installing cedar trim on shed

[cheapdave]

I am putting up some trim on shed project. this is 1x4 cedar. just wondering if regular hot-dip galvanized nails ok for this purpose?

[aemeijers]

Yeah, but spiral siding nails will pop less, if you can get the hang of banging them without bending them. (Board and batten or ship-lap vertical cedar was real popular when I was working construction as a kid, so BTDT way too much...)

-- aem sends...

[cshenk]

wrote

Yes. Be sure to offset them so you don't split the plank.

[homer]

Unless you want big black blobs around all the nails dont use galvanized. Use stainless steel

click on the "click for more information" link to see pictures.

[RicodJour]

Not really. Unless you're painting the cedar, and why would you go with cedar in that instance?

Eventually the tannins in the cedar will eat through the zinc coating and you'll get nasty black splotches at every nail that is exposed to the weather. Even countersinking the nails and puttying the heads won't stop it. There's always moisture in wood and you'll get the black stains.

Stainless is a fairly cheap upgrade, so if you want it to look good for a long time, spring for the extra few bucks.

R

[benick]

Not really. Unless you're painting the cedar, and why would you go with cedar in that instance?

Eventually the tannins in the cedar will eat through the zinc coating and you'll get nasty black splotches at every nail that is exposed to the weather. Even countersinking the nails and puttying the heads won't stop it. There's always moisture in wood and you'll get the black stains.

Stainless is a fairly cheap upgrade, so if you want it to look good for a long time, spring for the extra few bucks.

R

Use stainless steel

[Red Green]

RicodJour wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Didn't know that about galv nails and cedar. Can you think of other lumber that shouldn't have galv nails?

[DD_BobK]

- [e-mail]:

[RicodJour]

- [e-mail]:

Cedar and redwood are about the worst, but oak also has a lot of tannins and will stain. The kicker is that some of the wood organizations still say you can use hot dipped galvanized nails. I have no idea why they are maintaining that position. Hot dipped galvanized is far better than electroplated, but a zinc coating is a sacrificial coating - it doesn't last forever. The tannins in cedar and redwood eat the galvanizing. I found this out the hard and expensive way about 25 years ago. A beautiful installation turned ugly in the matter of a few years. No way in hell am I using anything other than stainless steel unless the wood is to be painted and the nails countersunk and puttied. I'd still probably just go with the stainless as it's cheap insurance.

R

[DD_BobK]

[e-mail]:

oops! I meant any exterior painted or unpainted wood

The fastener will eventually rust & either stain the wood or the streak the paint.

Even "good" heavy hot dipped galvanized will be a problem, driving the nails damage the coating.

SS will out last the wood....why allow the desire to save $50 destroy $1000's worth of wood

I believe the issue is that rust is hygroscopic,

moisture in the wood / air encourages rust, once the rust forms, it attracts more moisture resulting in rot (and wood that is more prone to moisture retention)

which in turn encourages more rust........the process continues until the fastener is consumed and the wood ruined. :(

I discovered this problem when I started redwood sill repair 20+ years ago. SS nails & screws I installed in 1987 are still in "like new" condition in south facing redwood window sills.

cheers Bob