removing nails from timber cladding

[Narwhal]

My builder has clad the first floor of my house in red cedar. It looked great for a bit then it rained and now every nail has smudged the wood with rust marks. I have now researched this and of course the builder should have used aluminium or stainless steels nails. I doubt however whether he is going to change the nails. But I wondered if there is any relatively simple system of removing the steel nails which secure the cladding to battens fixed to the blockwork

[Anonymous]

No, there's no short-cut and I very much doubt the guy will warranty his work. Sand the rust smudges off, pry it all off from the top to down, remove wrong nails and re-install with Stainless Steel (nails or screws, screws are very much better)...preferably in new holes, but the old ones can also be drilled clean and re-used with bigger new nails or screws.

- Number each board and map it on paper so you don't mess up the order and end up with gaps that weren't there before. Then, get into the practice of slathering it with "One Time Wood Protecter" (

) every 7-years...to keep it looking new. The only thing I use anymore. Never needs stripping, has an unlimited shelf-life and actually does what it says.