Can Wood Siding Be Saved?
Usually, yes. Wood siding can be saved one board at a time, and that goes for cedar siding in Grand Rapids too. We replace split, rotted and woodpecker-damaged boards with matching profiles, and put on new cedar or wood siding when the house needs it. Everything gets back-primed and stained or painted to suit the house, so the repair blends in and the wood lasts.
A lot of Grand Rapids houses still wear their original wood siding, especially the older ones near downtown and in neighborhoods like Heritage Hill and Eastown. According to Experience Grand Rapids, Heritage Hill is one of the nation’s largest urban historic districts, with about 1,300 homes dating back to 1843.
When a few boards go bad, it’s tempting to think the whole house needs new siding. It rarely does, and as a Grand Rapids siding contractor we’d rather tell you that than sell you a reside.
What Kinds of Wood Siding Do You Work On?
We repair and install the wood siding profiles you see on West Michigan homes:
- Bevel siding, the classic tapered lap board, often in western red cedar
- Tongue and groove and shiplap boards, which interlock edge to edge
- Cedar shakes and shingles, common on gables and on cottage-style houses
- Painted wood clapboard on older homes
On older houses, we match the profile as closely as possible. If a profile isn’t stocked anymore, it can sometimes be milled to match. You’ll see your options before we start, so there are no surprises.
How Do You Repair Wood Siding So It Lasts?
The repair itself is simple: cut out the bad board, fit a new one. What makes it last is the prep and the details.
Here’s what we do on nearly every repair:
- Test first. We check suspect boards with a moisture meter so we know which ones are actually wet and soft, not just ugly.
- Back-prime every new board. A board that’s only painted on the face drinks water from the back and cups.
- Block the stain. Cedar repairs get an acrylic latex primer or a stain-blocking primer so tannin bleed from the wood doesn’t stain through light paint.
- Check for pests. Woodpeckers often go after insects living in the siding, so we look for the cause before we patch the holes.
Priming matters more than most people expect. A thread on the PaintTalk forum lists cedar that wasn’t dried to roughly 8 to 15 percent moisture before finishing, and cut ends or edges left unprimed, among the common causes of tannin bleed.
We fasten with stainless steel ring-shank nails or galvanized nails. Plain steel nails rust and leave black streaks down cedar. Builders on the Fine Homebuilding forum say stainless, hot-dipped galvanized and aluminum nails all hold up on red cedar, because cedar is corrosive to bare steel.
Then we finish with paint or a semi-transparent stain to match the rest of the wall.
New Cedar Siding
When the house needs it, we put on new cedar lap, shake or shingle siding. It’s a good fit for Grand Rapids homes that want that warm, natural look.
On new installs, we can talk about a rainscreen gap, a small air space behind the siding that helps wood dry from the back. Industry guidance often points to a gap of about one-quarter to three-eighths of an inch, and it doesn’t take much space to make a difference.
Cedar needs regular stain or paint to look its best. Angi suggests restaining or refinishing cedar siding every three to seven years, depending on your climate and how much sun and weather the wall takes. We’ll be honest about that upkeep at the estimate, so you know what to plan for.
Wood vs. Fiber Cement
If you love the look of wood but not the upkeep, fiber cement siding gives a painted-wood look on a board that doesn’t rot. For a side-by-side look, read vinyl vs. fiber cement vs. wood siding. To understand how long each material lasts here, see how long siding lasts in Michigan.
Not sure whether to repair or replace? Start with our siding repair page, then reach out for an honest look at your cedar siding in Grand Rapids. We’ll tell you what can be saved and what can’t.
