Tim and Steph wrote about
snip a house with vertical board and batten siding. . . . The only
issue is the flashing. . . 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

Just cutting a kerf will defeat the purpose of the flashing, and using
fender washers is no guarantee you won't get rot behind the washers
(though I've seen it and done it myself).

If it were me, I'd go to the trouble of cutting away the siding (board
and batten), exposing the sheathing, to the depth of the ledger plus a
1/4", flashing the joint, and hanging a double ledger (or spacing the
single ledger out from the wall with blocks) so you've room to attach
the decking. Before flashing the joint I'd also use a good quality
primer on the cut ends of the siding (to keep the water out), and make
sure there was building paper tucked into the gap as well.

Be sure to use through-bolts (if you can reach the back side of the rim
joist) or long enough lag screws--don't just nail the ledger: most
deck collapses are caused by improper attachment (you probably already
know this, but I can't tell you how many decks I see nailed to the
sides of houses--it always looks like a law suit to me). Good luck.

Dan