"Tim and Steph" wrote in news:Unn5e.2135$Xm3.190@trndny01:

Posted this already over at alt.home.repair, which so far has spawned
an absolutely fascinating discussion of a collapsed deck, but no
useful answers, so here's the deal:

I've got a house with vertical board and batten siding. I want to
build a deck, so I need to hang a ledger board. The only issue is the
flashing. With normal siding, there's an obvious place to put the top
edge of the flashing - it goes under the siding. But, with vertical
siding, I haven't a clue where to put it - do I fire up the circular
saw and run a kerf across the siding, and put the flashing into that?
It seems somewhat counterintuitive to do this, but I don't see any
other way to do it.

I've also been considering anchoring the ledger board somewhat off the
siding by using several of those "giant fender washer" type things.
I'd guess that this would give the water somewhere to go rather than
staying between the ledger board and the siding, and would prevent
rot.

Thoughts?

-Tim

I've had similar impressions in my visits to alt.home.repair.

The thought about standing off from the siding has my vote, but I think
I'd go further than a few fender washers. Maybe a couple of spacers
made of pressure treated materials, in 2x thickness. With the lag bolts
sealed with a good silicone caulk, or similar, you should be able to
keep the water out. "This Old House" did a short bit on this a while
back, but it's in the subscriber section of their website, and I'm not
going to do that again. thank you.

This may be a good time to talk to the building permit & inspection
people at the planning stages. (Stated at the risk of firing up those
who believe that these folks are the enemy.) I'd rather have a permit
and inspection, should I need to deal with my insurance company later
for some reason.

I don't see kerfing the siding.

Patriarch