What Type Of Nails For Cement Siding

How to Install Fiber Cement Siding

Updated: Jul. 14, 2021

How to cutting, nail and install durable fiber siding, plus caulking and painting tips.

Family Handyman

Half the price of a fiber cement board siding job is labor, and so yous tin save thousands of dollars by installing it yourself. A siding pro shows the tools and tricks needed for a weathertight installation.

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Time

Multiple Days

Complexity

Intermediate

Cost

$501-chiliad

Fiber cement is tougher than other materials

Installing fiberboard cement siding

Fiberboard cement siding looks identical to wood once it's painted.

When you want the archetype wait of wood siding coupled with lifetime durability, fiberboard cement siding may well be your best choice. Fiberglass cement siding is a composite fabricated of Portland cement, silica and woods cobweb. Once painted, it looks almost identical to woods. It'due south available in many styles and widths, both polish and forest textured, and yous still get the well-baked joints and details that'll brand your home's exterior stand out. In improver, it'due south highly rot and insect resistant, won't burn and paints beautifully.

Jaime Venzor has been in the siding business for more 15 years. He started out installing mostly vinyl, but now 80 percent of his work is cobweb cement. He earned his good reputation with his customers past doing things the right way, and he earned our thanks by sharing some of his knowledge with us. So read on and larn what Jaime thinks are the virtually important tips.

Agree the starter 1/4 in. downward

Create a drip edge

Find your most beat-up pieces of siding and rip them down into i-i/4-in. starter strips. These strips, installed at the bottom, volition brand your first row of siding bending out to match the residual of the rows. Snap a line 1 in. above the lesser of the wall capsule as a guide. Install these fragile starter strips with a 15-approximate trim gun. Snap another line for the bottom row of siding, positioning it so it volition hang downwardly an boosted 1/iv in. from the starter.

Nailing Basics

Fiberboard cement siding tin be hand-nailed, but considering information technology's so much harder and more brittle than wood, you lot accept to predrill holes near any edge. You can relieve yourself a bunch of time by using a pneumatic coil siding nail gun. Unfortunately, a siding gun will set you back twice every bit much as a 15-gauge trim gun, and it's only half equally versatile, and then if installing fiber cement isn't your full-time gig, yous may want to rent one (about $110 a week). Every manufacturer has specific nailing guidelines, only hither are some basic rules:

• Use 6d or 8d galvanized or stainless siding nails and install a unmarried smash nigh 1-in. down from the meridian edge at each stud, no more than than xvi in. apart. due north Nail lengths should be chosen so they penetrate a minimum of one-1/4 in. into the solid wood (wood sheathings like OSB and plywood count toward the 1-ane/4 in., but "soft" sheathings like fiber board and foam don't).
• Don't drive nails into the siding at an angle.
• Fastener heads should be snugged up against the siding, not driven into the surface.
• The end of each plank making upward a barrel joint needs to exist fastened to a stud.
• Nail butt joints last. That way you lot can tweak the ends of each plank then the bottom edges line up perfectly.

Preassemble the corners

Utilize a end nailer for trim

It's a lot easier to preassemble corners on a apartment surface. Jaime uses 2-ane/4-in. galvanized nails in his 15-guess trim gun. He uses the same size nails to install the corners on the wall. Don't use a framing gun or endeavour to handnail the corners together; that'southward a proficient way to break the trim boards. Besides, the trim nails look better where nails will be exposed, specially on a prefinished corner lath. So, if you don't take a 15-gauge trim gun, what a perfect "opportunity" to go buy i.

Install fiber cement using a few special techniques

Photograph 1: Staple building paper to the sheathing

Marking stud locations at the summit and bottom of the wall. Staple building newspaper to the wall sheathing, lapping top pieces over bottom pieces by at least 2 in. Fit and slide paper behind the window trim.

Photo ii: Boom furring strips at the top of the wall

Snap chalk lines to mark the frieze lath location and smash treated furring strips along the lines. Keep the bottom strip 1/4 in. in a higher place the bottom line.

Photo iii: Use a circular saw to cut the frieze board

Cutting the frieze lath to length with a circular saw, using a rafter angle square every bit a cutting guide. True up cut ends with a rasp or a sanding block.

Photo four: Predrill holes for easy installation

Predrill and boom the frieze boards, driving two galvanized box nails into each stud. Hold the nails at least 3/4 in. from the edges. Bulldoze the nailheads snug with the surface of the siding. Do not overdrive them. Apply caulk at the corner lap articulation earlier installing the second piece.

Photo 5: Nail upwards the corners boards

Install the corner boards, lapping 1 over the other with caulk in the joint. Smash every 16 in. with a pair of 8d galvanized box nails.

Within corner detail

Lap inside corners the same fashion as outside corners.

The layout process is exactly the same every bit for wood siding. Mark the stud locations with a pencil on the soffit and foundation where they won't exist covered past the edifice paper. Install the building newspaper (Photo 1), then follow your stud location marks and snap chalk lines (Photo two) to guide both your nailing and your placement of siding joints. We're also using cobweb cement trim boards. Since they're simply 7/xvi in. thick, rip 3/8-in. thick strips from treated 2-past lumber and apply them to fur out the frieze boards (Photo ii). Now they'll sit almost one/eight in. higher up the lap siding.

Cut the frieze board to length (Photograph three). Fiberboard cement siding is highly abrasive. Fifty-fifty a carbide tooth blade will last for simply function of the day. At home centers, yous can buy diamond blades made specifically for cutting fiber cement. These blades cut quickly and create less grit. Merely we had success with a less expensive dry-cutting, diamond masonry blade. Drill cutouts for electric boxes and pipes with regular twist $.25 or spade bits, and make interior or even curved cuts with a jigsaw fitted with a tungsten or carbide dust blade (these blades are available at abode centers and tile stores). Cutting fiberglass cement siding raises a lot of silica grit, then piece of work outside and wear a grit mask.

Nail up the frieze board by drilling 1/8-in. pilot holes and driving two galvanized box nails at each stud (Photo 4). Your smash length may vary from ours depending on the type of exterior sheathing used on your abode. In general, use nails that penetrate the studs at least 1 in. Drive the nailheads snug against the fiber cement board. If driven as well deep, the heads volition crush the fiber cement lath and reduce the nail's property ability. Don't nail fiber cement corners together (Photo 4). A smash driven into the border of a fiber cement lath will divide it.

Next make the outside corner (Photo 5), following the same steps as for the frieze boards. Be sure the bottoms of the corner boards cover about 1/2 in. of the foundation.

Tip:

If you don't have access to a tabular array saw, purchase a sheet of one/2-in.treated plywood and rip furring strips with a circular saw.

Caution!

Cut outdoors, wear a dust mask to avert breathing the dust, and keep others away.

Layout the siding courses

Photo 6: Mark the siding course locations

Mark the top of each siding grade using the story pole as a guide (see "Making a Story Pole."). So snap chalk lines to keep each course straight.

Photo vii: Install the first course of siding

Nail a 3/eight-in. treated starter strip along the bottom of the wall. Then cut and nail the commencement course of siding forth the layout line. Exit a 1/8-in. gap at the end, and nail at each stud with a single 8d galvanized box nail held 1 in. downwardly from the top edge.

Barrel joint detail

Butt the siding courses tight together.

End articulation detail

Leave a small gap between the siding and the corner trim.

With the trim boards completed, lay out the siding courses with a story pole. (Run across "Making a Story Pole.") Concur the summit of the story pole snug confronting the frieze lath and mark out the siding courses (Photo 6) at all corners and around windows and doors. Following these layout marks, snap horizontal chalk lines. Recall that these layout lines represent the superlative of each siding course.

Rip and blast upwardly a 3/8-in. thick treated wood starter strip along the bottom of the wall (above the foundation). This strip will tip the first piece of siding to the proper angle. Measure and cut to length the offset piece of siding and boom it in place (Photo vii).

Leave a 1/8-in. gap where the end meets the corner board (Photograph 7, inset) and make sure the other end lands on a stud line. Install the next piece so its terminate butts lightly confronting the first (Photo seven, inset). Continue with the siding courses, adjustment the pinnacle edges to the layout chalk lines. Be sure to stagger the butt joints and then they don't lie on elevation of each other every bit yous work your way up.

Tip:

Pros use pneumatic coil nailers (you can rent 1) designed specifically for fiberboard cement siding. They cut nailing time in half. If you go this route, practice first to make sure the nailheads will be set up flush.

Making a Story Pole

Cut a straight 1×two so its length runs from the frieze board to the bottom of the showtime siding course. Mensurate upwardly from the lesser of the story pole to mark the full width of the showtime course of siding. Remember, this marking represents the acme of the siding slice, not the bottom of the second form.

From this point, brand marks up the pole at the recommended exposure for your siding. The top course should be at least ii-thirds the width of the lower courses. Check your layout marks against window and door openings and other features around the business firm, and suit the exposure to avoid having to rip narrow pieces.

When the terminal layout is OK, draw heavy lines on the face and both edges of the story pole using a square. Now concord the story pole tight confronting the frieze board at all corners and alongside windows and doors. Transfer the layout marks to the wall and snap chalk lines. This will ensure that all the siding courses go on straight and uniformly.

Remove the plastic final

Protect prefinished fiber cement board

Prefinished fiberglass cement siding boards come with a protective plastic coating. To protect the paint from getting scratched during installation, exit the plastic on and make your cuts correct through it. Pare away the plastic after the lath has been attached to the wall.

Flash the butt joints

Keep water out

Caulking butt joints is unnecessary, and some manufacturers prohibit it. All the same, you should flash behind the joints. You can use metal, house wrap or whatever other approved WRB (weather-resistant barrier), but Jaime prefers to utilize thirty-lb. felt paper. Information technology'due south easy to work with and cheap, and it isn't noticeable if a seam happens to open up up a piddling. Tack it to the wall so it doesn't get knocked out of place when yous install the 2d piece of siding.

Spacing for Fiber Cement Lath Joints

Fiber cement boards don't expand and contract much, but leave a little room for expansion at the cease joints and then fill the gap with caulk. Barrel joints, still, should be nailed tightly together and should not be caulked. Make sure all butt joints are on studs, and stagger the butt joints equally you work your way up the wall.

Windows need drip cap and a gap on acme

Window and door detail

Whether or not yous're installing trim boards effectually your windows, you'll need to install a drip cap over the window. You'll also need to leave a one/iv-in. gap (no caulking) between the height of the window and the plank or trim lath directly above information technology. This is to allow any water that may have gotten behind the siding to weep out. Tape the baste cap to the wall, only don't tape all the way to the bottom of the drip cap because it will be visible through the 1/4-in. gap. The meridian trim board will as well demand its ain drip cap and 1/4-in. gap. Treat the tops of doors the same style.

It'due south a two-man job without siding gauges

Siding gauges concord boards

Fiberboard cement siding is heavy and breaks if it's bent too much. Installing this stuff by yourself is tough, but it's possible with the aid of siding gauges. These tools not merely create the proper reveal (the part of the siding that shows) betwixt rows but likewise actually hold the planks in place while y'all boom. Even if you exercise just one fiber cement task, siding gauges are worth the money.

Gecko siding gauges

A pair of the SA902 Gecko Gauges shown here costs nearly $90 (available though our amalgamation with amazon.com), merely cheaper versions are bachelor. Most gauges are adaptable to accommodate reveals from five to 8 in.

Painted vs. Primed

We decided to use a prefinished product in this story, simply the other way to go is simple primed siding. That textile is primed and ready for you to pigment. Here are some facts to consider when making your conclusion.

The advantages of primed: Primed products cost 50 percent less than prefinished products. On-site painting looks better up shut because the impact-up pigment and caulked areas aren't every bit noticeable. Primed products are easier and less expensive to install.

The advantages of prefinished: The color on a prefinished product won't fade almost equally fast. Some finishes come with a fifteen-yr warranty. Only the all-time part of using a prefinished production is that afterward installation, you're done and not faced with painting an unabridged house.

Cutting fiber cement boards with a circular saw

Dust mask is essential

When you're cutting this stuff, a dust mask is the blank minimum protection, and this is not a casual warning: The silica grit generated by cutting cobweb cement can exist bad news for your health!

Fiber cement lath saw blade

Yous can buy fiber cement blades sized to fit any saw style or size at nearly abode centers.

Tons of fiber cement cut gadgets are available, just near jobs tin can be handled with but a steady eye and a standard circular saw fitted with a fiber cement bract. If you programme to hang a lot of cobweb cement, though, y'all'll want a chop saw with a proper bract that will let yous to cut several pieces at once.

Vinyl mounting blocks work best

Lights, receptacles and vents

Nigh cobweb cement manufacturers make mounting blocks for lights, electrical receptacles, A/C lines, PVC venting, etc. Jaime prefers to use the vinyl mounting blocks typically used with vinyl siding. They're cheaper and easy to install, and y'all tin cutting the proper-size hole in a plastic mounting cake with a utility knife or a snips. With fiber cement blocks, you lot take to use a jigsaw or a pigsty saw.

MountMaster is one brand of blocks sold at Lowe'due south and many lumberyards. It's bachelor in more than than 25 colors, but you can guild paintable blocks if you want an exact match with your siding or trim.

Paint, prime or caulk all cut edges

Butt joint

Paint cut edges at butt joints.

Stop joint

Caulk edges that butt against corners and trim.

Every time you cut a plank, you create an exposed surface that has no primer or paint to protect information technology from the elements. If a cut edge is going to butt upward confronting a corner post or trim board, it gets caulked. If the cutting edge is part of a butt joint in the eye of the wall, it needs to be painted (effort to use factory edges on all butt joints). Planks that have been cut to fit over windows and doors besides need paint. Order paint kits and caulking to match both the trim and the siding colors. Your siding supplier should take access to both.

The Lowdown on Clearances

Fiberboard cement siding is non bulletproof—it volition deteriorate if exposed to water for a long fourth dimension. Information technology'south imperative that y'all honor the proper spacing between the siding and the roof surfaces and between the siding and the horizontal surfaces, such equally the ground or cement slabs and decks. Check with your specific manufacturer before y'all start. Hither are some general guidelines.

Leave:

• 1/8 in. to 1/4 in. between siding and trim
• 1/4 in. between siding and horizontal flashing
• 1 in. between the gutter and an side by side wall
• ii in. between siding and roofing, decks, patios, driveways, steps and walkways (using PVC trim boards is a good mode to reach these clearances)
• vi in. betwixt the siding and the basis.

Don't skip the kick-out flashing

Boot-out flashing

Kick-out flashing is essential for preventing h2o from running downward a roof and behind the siding on an adjacent wall. You'll neglect your inspection if the inspector doesn't see it on your job. It's a pain to work around, but it helps if you don't smash the flashing tight until yous have your siding cutting to size. It's much easier to get a proper fit for a plank if you can shift the flashing beneath it.

Cutting fiber cement board effectually openings

Mark the siding to fit around windows

Hold the siding snug under the windowsill and mark the window edge location. And then measure out from the chalk line to the top of the siding. Add together 1/8 in. to your measurement. This is the width of the cutout.

Install the notched siding under the window

Cut out the notch with your saw and slide the slice into place, leaving a 1/8-in. gap betwixt the siding and windowsill. Caulk this gap subsequently. Predrill and nail at each stud, including nether the window.

Make cutouts with a jigsaw

Drill a 3/8-in. hole at the corner with a standard twist drill bit. Cut along the line with a jigsaw fitted with a carbide dust blade. And so blast up the slice of siding.

Notch to get around windows and doors. Be sure to allow a 1/eight-in. gap where the siding meets the window trim and sill. This joint volition be caulked afterward. Blast the top edge of the siding along the windowsill at each stud. These nailheads will be exposed, but the pigment will cover them.

Notch to become around windows

Photo eight: Mark the siding to fit under windows

Concur the siding snug under the windowsill and marker the window edge location. Then mensurate from the chalk line to the elevation of the siding. Add together 1/8 in. to your measurement. This is the width of the cutout.

Photograph ix: Install the notched siding under the window

Cut out the notch with your saw and slide the piece into place, leaving a i/8-in. gap between the siding and windowsill. Caulk this gap afterward. Predrill and nail at each stud, including under the window.

Photo 10: Mark cutouts in the siding

Agree siding in place under wall penetrations such every bit this electrical box. Mark the width and superlative of the cutout. Caution: Turn off the power to the receptacle before removing it from the box.

Photo eleven: Make the cutout with a jigaw

Drill a 3/8-in. pigsty at the corner with a standard twist drill bit. Cut along the line with a jigsaw fitted with a carbide grit blade. Then nail upwardly the piece of siding.

Photograph 12: Cutting and install the tiptop course of siding

Cut the top class of siding to width and nail at each stud. Leave a i/viii-in. gap at the summit edge. Fill all 1/viii-in. gaps with acrylic latex caulk.

Notch to go around windows and doors (Photos 8 and 9). Be sure to allow a ane/viii-in. gap where the siding meets the window trim and sill. This joint volition be caulked later. Smash the top edge of the siding along the windowsill at each stud. These nailheads volition exist exposed, but the paint volition cover them.

Water intrusion around wall penetrations can be a problem for any blazon of siding. Lay out and brand the cutout for the electric box (Photos 10 and eleven). The electric box embrace is gasketed to seal out water. For pipes, electrical entries and similar fixtures, fit the siding as tightly every bit possible and and then seal with a polyurethane caulk or not-hardening electrician's putty. Rip the elevation grade of siding to width and blast information technology upwards (Photo 12). Agree these nails one in. below the top edge. Again, these nailheads will exist exposed.

Buy the siding already primed. If you prime it yourself, use an brine resistant primer. Caulk all the joints with an acrylic latex caulk before applying the final coats of paint. Be sure the caulk fills the 1/eight-in. joint completely to go along information technology watertight. Cease-glaze with a 100 percentage acrylic latex paint.

Tip:

If you live in a region of high rainfall or the wall is highly exposed to water, slip a 3-in. broad strip of building paper backside butt joints. Be sure the lesser edge of the paper laps on summit of the lower course of siding.

Required Tools for this Project

Have the necessary tools for this DIY project lined up earlier you start—you lot'll salvage time and frustration.

Y'all'll besides need siding gauges, a fiber cement circular saw blade, a siding nailer and a 15 gauge trim nailer.

Required Materials for this Project

Avoid concluding-infinitesimal shopping trips by having all your materials ready ahead of fourth dimension. Here's a list.

Originally Published: February xx, 2018

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