Hi,

I would really appreciate some wisdom. I am at the end of finishing
our new home. The contractor has kind of abandoned it for other
projects. That is a seperate issue.

I am working with someone to install cedar siding. We have tar paper
or sheathing (that black paper). It is now raining constantly. Some
of the paper is wet, other places it is somewhat damp.

Do we have to wait before installing the cedar planks/boards till the
paper is dry. The contractor for the house said that you can install
it in when the paper is wet and the heat from the house will dry it
up quite quickly. I asked him how the moisture will escape once
boarded up. He told me that with cedar it is not a problem.

:?: My problem is that the contractor has made up so many things to
date, I have no idea when he is lying. Is it OK to install while the
paper is wet? I think it will continue to rain for a few weeks. Any
other website references, tips etc. will be helpful.

:?: Also do you usually stain the cedar boards before or after
installation?

thanks .

Will, or is, the siding painted or stained or will it be natural,
untreated?

If left natural and untreated you will probably be OK although not
ideal in my opinion.

Is the siding is goinng to be stained or painted (I recomend stained)
then you should treat all 6 sides before its installed. (Have some of
the stail available to the installer to creat cut ends. This will also
make it much less water permiable and I would be even more hesitant to
install it over soaking wet tar paper.

I had good results with Sikkens Cetol 123plus on my cedar siding. I did
the step 1 on all sides before install then finished with the 23plus
steps after installed. It was installed over a dry substrate though.
The sikkens product I used was natural. Its also available in solid
color or semi-transparent IIRC.

So, to boil it all down. 1, I would wait till it dries to install and
2, prestain all sides before install.

Hello,

I am NOT mr. construction.

I do not have wisdom but do have some limited experience. I am sure
that others here will have the wisdom necessary.

If you have not bought the siding yet as raw, you can buy it by the
bundle pre-stained by pressure staining. Mine was bought 23 years ago
and it sat in the then muddy yard several days.

The siding was put on in the spring, and it and the house was wet.

Being attached to the studs, there is some space beneath it and the
tar paper, insulation, etc. That space should allow your paper room
to dry out. If it is cedar lap (not tongue and groove) there is a
small space between the boards where they lap. Your moisture laden
air should escape there because although the thin edge of the lower
lap board is against the thick edge of the next upper board lap it is
not airtight.

However, if this is not enough for your comfort, you could leave off
for a few weeks either the top lap board or the final piece of trim (1
x 3 or 4) that catches the top lip of the top board -- both under the
eave of course.

(I also have siding questions so take this as what I said -- limited
experience.)


FACE




On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 17:02:08 GMT, lid
(bby) wrote:

Hi,

I would really appreciate some wisdom. I am at the end of finishing
our new home. The contractor has kind of abandoned it for other
projects. That is a seperate issue.

I am working with someone to install cedar siding. We have tar paper
or sheathing (that black paper). It is now raining constantly. Some
of the paper is wet, other places it is somewhat damp.

Do we have to wait before installing the cedar planks/boards till the
paper is dry. The contractor for the house said that you can install
it in when the paper is wet and the heat from the house will dry it
up quite quickly. I asked him how the moisture will escape once
boarded up. He told me that with cedar it is not a problem.

:?: My problem is that the contractor has made up so many things to
date, I have no idea when he is lying. Is it OK to install while the
paper is wet? I think it will continue to rain for a few weeks. Any
other website references, tips etc. will be helpful.

:?: Also do you usually stain the cedar boards before or after
installation?

thanks .

Cedar

1973 - I built a completely cedar home from a kit. It had cedar walls
inside and out - cedar shakes on the roof - cedar windows. Cedar wood is
full of air bubbles that make it excellent insulation. It also is
resistant to rot and bugs. Cedar wood breathes well. For 30 years - I
did not put a drop of paint or stain on that cedar wood - and it held up
perfectly. A simple pressure washing would bring it back to its new
appearance. The wood always dried out immediately.

You may have several problems with your builder - but wet cedar wood is
not one of them :-)

Here is my cedar home when I sold it last month -
http://homepage.mac.com/nancyeverhart/PhotoAlbum49.html

Harry