Caulking of ends of cedar clapboards
I have a Post and Beam house with Structural Panels (particle board/isocyan foam/blue wall sandwich) forming the outside walls. Rosin paper was put under cedar clapboards.
I am going to paint the house and was wondering if I need to caulk where the claps meet vertical sections (windows and corner boards)?
Replies
Hopefully you primed the ends before you installed the siding. If not they need a layer of primer or paint before caulking.
Caulking Ends of Cedar Clapboards
I caulked the cedar claps on my house when I first moved in. I used silicone caulking. Over the years I replaced all the verticals which rotted due to causes unrelated to this caulking, e.g finger jointed boards, non-scarfed horizontal butt joints. The silicone was still attached to the end of the claps and I had to cut a lot of it off with a utility knife. All the clap edges had not been painted or primed and were in fine shape. I had posted a question when I was replacing all the wood concerning how to handle these joints. One of the pros explained that the job of the product between the sheathing and the claps, corner boards, and window trim should channel water away. The caulking I did didn't hurt anything but not sure if it helped anything either.