CLAPBOARD SIDING
Q: I have an older clapboard house. The clapboard siding always peels. The house always looks like it needs to be scraped. What can I do?
A: This is a frequent problem with older homes like that and a frequent home repair question. The problem is the clapboards are sealed one on top of the other.There is no ability for the house to breathe and for the moisture to escape.
We have had a lot of luck with siding lifter. These are wedges about 1" wide and 1/4: high. They are driven in under the clapboard at intervals across the lower 4 to 5 feet. This will create small ventilation gaps to allow moisture to escape. You can't see them and they really do a great job.
A: This is a frequent problem with older homes like that and a frequent home repair question. The problem is the clapboards are sealed one on top of the other.There is no ability for the house to breathe and for the moisture to escape.
We have had a lot of luck with siding lifter. These are wedges about 1" wide and 1/4: high. They are driven in under the clapboard at intervals across the lower 4 to 5 feet. This will create small ventilation gaps to allow moisture to escape. You can't see them and they really do a great job.
Since colonial times, Americans have protected their houses from the weather with thin, overlapping wood planks known as clapboards. The siding, which got its name from the Dutch work klappen, "to split," was originally hand-split from logs of white pine, hemlock, spruce, or cypress.
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