I’m remodeling a 150 year old home with beautiful, mostly solid, dutchlap wood siding. I’d rather replace the few boards that are beyond repair than reside the whole house. Does anyone know where I can get smooth-faced wood dutchlap? Or where it could be custom milled to replicate the old profile? Could this be done with a router setup? Any experienced advice would be MOST appreciated.
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Is it like German drop siding?
If so, I made a slew with a radial arm saw and regular blade. Just bring the blade out as far as the finished cove needs to be and lock the head, and crank it up so you only take and eighth inch per pass ...push the 1x past the fixed blade sideways.
After the pile has one pass, lower the blade and repeat. Sidways cutting is loud, and you'll have to do some final sanding but it's better IMO than a router. No long tearout problems or big chatter marks.
You can use a table saw as well, but you need to jig it with straight edges and holdowns.
By using tilt and angled fences and diff. blade diameters any cove can be cut.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"
Jed Clampitt
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Thanks Sphere. It has a smooth curve that will be hard to replicate. I've looked around and can't find anything quite like it. Maybe I can try your technique to get the body of the cut, then finish off the final curve with a router.
where are yo???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Upstate New York
Buffalo lumber....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
heart house may still carry it...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
This material is usually considered 'rustic' and is usually available in wood like Engelmann spruce ... not very durable, knotty and not suitable to 'fine' homebuilding. You can find it in rough cedar too.
How much do you think you need? I have a fair amount left over from two buildings on our property - all custom Type 105 German drop siding run, smooth clear vertical grain cedar (CVG) primed with Cabot primer and in some cases with a coat of paint already.
You should post a photo and do a very careful lap measurement - is it 5" exposure or 5 1/8" (older). Or something else? Today what you can get is 5".
Ever in central NJ?? ;o)View ImageJeff
Jeff,It's called German siding in NC, and it's usually in southern yellow pine (SYP). My local lumberyard stocks it (or can order it) in 6" or 8" widths. Although seldom used in new construction these days, it holds up well if it is properly maintained.The differences in regional terminology are interesting -- Dutchlap, German, and novelty siding are apparently the same thing. I thought that lap siding had a continuous bevel, while German (novelty) siding was a type of "drop" siding -- at least part of the siding is parallel to the sheathing when applied.Steve
"Lap", of course, simply means that one course laps over the other -- doesn't REALLY imply anything about the profile. Virtually all horizontal siding is "lap".I don't recall the term (if I've ever even seen it) for the siding with a triangular cross-section, so that the back is flush with the sheathing and the front is slanted like standard lap siding.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
Dan,
This must be a regional thing. Here's a link to a book by Miller and Baker that says that "common beveled siding is also called lapped siding."
http://books.google.com/books?id=5ZNpdmxH2hgC&pg=PA313lpg=PA313&dq=drop+versus+lap+siding&source=bl&ots=ZQCctl_FTO&sig=LCMsRT70KwL3TZUGiIqF_TFI0D0&hl=enei=_WWFSvrJNISHtgf7tJSwCg&sa=Xoi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=f=false
On the same linked page, check out the authors description of "Dolly Varden siding."
Steve
LOL - that's why they started giving it numbers - like Type 105 which means the same thing anywhere.
Jeff
Jeff,Good point. This is akin to the use of scientific names rather than the common names of plants and animals. Should the need arise, however, I will order German siding rather than Type 105 from my lumberyard (grin).Steve
Edited 8/14/2009 11:48 am ET by smllr
Thanks guys--we were finishing and pouring footings all day so I just got back and read all your postings. The rain has been killing us here in the east. The siding on the house is more than a century old and had been covered with cedar shakes for many decades, protecting the original siding so that even on the west side of the house where it would normally have taken a beating it's completely solid except for the bottom two courses. It's really good quality, clear, smooth surfaced, and it curves where most dutchlap angles out. I'll be back out there tomorrow and get exact measurements. If any of you stick with this thread maybe the exact profile will spark ideas. Thanks again.
Do you still have this Novelty Siding?
I'm restoring a craftsman-style house in northwest Jersey, and I need a fair amount of novelty siding to match what is already there. Any luck you still have it?
BTW, please forgive the bizzare screen name. It was assigned to me by the website and I can't seem to edit it.
Thanks.
Tom
Tom
If jeff doesn't have it anymore, I would certainly contact a good full service lumberyard and ask. Oddly, things that seem gone can still be found.
Eventho the post you replied to is over a year old, he's still a member and should get a notification of your question.
Best of luck.
Look for a place that sells "recycled" materials, or find a tear-down somewhere where the owner will let you have a few pieces.
I've made it on th3 table saw (dado blade) and router table (bowl cutter). Isn't that stuff also called Novelty siding? Maybe I'm getting it mixed up...it's been a while since I've had to deal with it.
Sometimes I feel like I've forgotten more than I've ever learned...
I just go to my LOCAL lumber yard, not a box store and pick it up. Here in Fl it is called novelity siding. Don't know why it is called that but it is.
Around here I've only heard "shiplap", and it's fairly common on homes built prior to about 1960. And also common on new homes with vinyl (in a narrow exposure), since the profile doesn't show "plastic sag" as much as standard lap.
As I stood before the gates I realized that I never want to be as certain about anything as were the people who built this place. --Rabbi Sheila Peltz, on her visit to Auschwitz
That is what they called it when I was in Mi, down here shiplap is knotched for the lap but it is smooth on the exterior, much as a hull of a ship would be.