Repiring cracks in fibrous cement siding

Started by Dave Sparks, June 18, 2015, 12:41:32 PM

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Dave Sparks

I have some 10 inch fibrous cements siding on my house that over 10 years has about 30 places where the siding cracked.  Before I repaint I am thinking of using a sheet metal strip to cover the crack.  The idea came when I saw a similar wood siding house that had these 2" sheet metal covers where siding met on long runs. I would just glue these on with some 3M 5200 polyurethane

I can make these of coarse but has anyone a better idea or has seen these commercially? Any with texture that would match?

Picture at link.
https://plus.google.com/photos/+DaveJAngelini/albums/5107851265436618401/5501648926316690610?banner=pwa&pid=5501648926316690610&oid=100660438498145764786
"we go where the power lines don't"

MountainDon

Have a look here
scrolldown about 3/5 the way.  Look for the "140 Series Retrofit Joint Covers". 

Online sales source here
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


Dave Sparks

Thanks Don!  The wood textured ones on page 16 of your link look almost perfect but only 1 inch wide if I am reading correctly. I really need 2 inches total width in a few places. I bet I could use 2 of these and be fine. Appreciate it!
"we go where the power lines don't"

Dave Sparks

A little more on this repair.  I ended up using Home Depot for a 36" sheet of .016" aluminum and cut my own widths to cover the cracks in the siding. The aluminum has a leather finish that looks pretty decent against the wood finish hardie board. Most of my cracks/ wide joints were straight but a few were curved and needed a 2" wide strip for the 8.25" laps.

I chose 3M  marine polyurethane but I suppose the best liquid nails that won't harden would work.  I know the 3M stuff from decades and chose it.  I also only glued one side of the crack to the metal to allow expansion.

The links Don gave me really helped me.
"we go where the power lines don't"

MountainDon

Glad to hear you have a resolution, Dave. 
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


Dave Sparks

I think I need to ask another question on this.
I am using the 5200 adhesive and it is working as expected but since it takes so long to cure (24 hours) and I have some places high up on the wall that are not easy to spend time on a ladder.

I would like some way to temporarily hold the thin metal strips to the fiber cement for 18 hours or so.
Duct tape, masking tape, makes a mess from the sun, and does not work well. Nailing the strips thru the crack in the siding up on a ladder is a pain and not real safe.  :(

Any ideas on how to do this? There are 70 of these cracks that the 1.5" wood texture metal cover. It is looking like a great way to make this repair.
Thank-you!
"we go where the power lines don't"

ChugiakTinkerer

Only things that come to mind are Gorilla tape or leaning the ladder against the wall with the feet (?) providing pressure.
My cabin build thread: Alaskan remote 16x28 1.5 story

garyc

Quote from: Dave Sparks on August 17, 2016, 06:01:09 PM
I think I need to ask another question on this.
I am using the 5200 adhesive and it is working as expected but since it takes so long to cure (24 hours) and I have some places high up on the wall that are not easy to spend time on a ladder.

I would like some way to temporarily hold the thin metal strips to the fiber cement for 18 hours or so.
Duct tape, masking tape, makes a mess from the sun, and does not work well. Nailing the strips thru the crack in the siding up on a ladder is a pain and not real safe.  :(

Any ideas on how to do this? There are 70 of these cracks that the 1.5" wood texture metal cover. It is looking like a great way to make this repair.
Thank-you!


This is some stuff that I have used on metal roof & siding this stuff will stick to anything. I like to use the brush on! The best part is that it will not crack.You should be able to use this stuff like glue.        http://www.sashco.com/products/through-the-roof/
If it wasn't for bad luck . I would 't have any luck at all.

Dave Sparks

Thanks Gary!  I looked at the site but can't tell how long this would take to stick enough to hold the this metal strip to the wall?
I have used this companies big stretch caulk and it is excellent.

My problem here is the time to set is too long and the metal strip is not staying flush to the wall.

I was thinking of something that could work with my 5200 adhesive to hold until it sets in 16 hours or so.
"we go where the power lines don't"


garyc

What I was thinking was using Through the roof instead of of you'r  5200 adhesive.It douse set up really fast and if you'r siding does move any it should stretch and not let go of your metal strips.
If it wasn't for bad luck . I would 't have any luck at all.

Don_P

A dot of hot glue would be another option.

Dave Sparks

Great Idea !  I will try it this am!  Thanks Don!
"we go where the power lines don't"

Dave Sparks

Quote from: garyc on August 18, 2016, 10:34:56 AM
What I was thinking was using Through the roof instead of of you'r  5200 adhesive.It douse set up really fast and if you'r siding does move any it should stretch and not let go of your metal strips.

I ordered a tube and will try it out on the lower floor of the house.  Trying to never go up on the ladder in 5 years! I am going to only use it on one side of the gap in order to let the siding move.  Everything moves alot up here in the mountains, alot!
"we go where the power lines don't"

garyc

If it wasn't for bad luck . I would 't have any luck at all.


Dave Sparks

I will Gary! Prime says it will be here today.
I don't go to the big city on weekends as we are a tourist town into Yosemite.

I tried the hot glue with the 5200 and that worked fine.
I am hoping that your adhesive will set fast enough that I do not have to carry a hot glue gun up the ladder.
"we go where the power lines don't"

Dave Sparks

Quote from: MountainDon on June 18, 2015, 01:07:10 PM
Have a look here
scrolldown about 3/5 the way.  Look for the "140 Series Retrofit Joint Covers". 

Online sales source here

Don I ended up buying some of these that you linked.  I could not get anymore wood texture metal at Home Depot. They no longer carry it and it was just there on the shelf. The link above in your email made me just what I wanted. They even made the extra width I needed to cover some of the wider cracks in the Hardy siding.  Alot of reasons why these cracked but if anyone needs to do this repair (and I am sure there will be others) I will post some pictures next week.  They sold me (100) 1.5 inch X 9" thin aluminum wood texture strips for $60 and they would make other sizes also. They are up in Oregon
"we go where the power lines don't"

Don_P

Is this just from wood textured aluminum trim coil? If so go over to the vinyl siding supplies aisle and wait for a contractor to happen by, he can make those out of scraps or would probably give you some scrap pieces.

garyc

Dave! If you bought this in a calking tube I would use a real stiff paint brush to spreed it out. What i like to do is take a paint brush and cut 1/2 of the bristles off to make it stiffer. The last time I used this stuff I used the brush on that comes in a quart or gallon. The tube stuff is a lot more solid and I thank that this would work better in your situation.Good luck!!!
If it wasn't for bad luck . I would 't have any luck at all.

Dave Sparks

Quote from: Don_P on August 20, 2016, 05:12:19 PM
Is this just from wood textured aluminum trim coil? If so go over to the vinyl siding supplies aisle and wait for a contractor to happen by, he can make those out of scraps or would probably give you some scrap pieces.

I would say you are right Don. We don't get to the big city very often and our small town does not have a "vinyl supply aisle"  We don't have a stop light in the whole county....
"we go where the power lines don't"

Dave Sparks

#19
[embed=425,349][/embed]
Quote from: garyc on August 20, 2016, 08:04:23 AM
Let me know how that worked out.

The through the roof silicon works fine but does not set fast enough to hold the metal strip.  I tried goriila tape and it was better than regular tape but not that much. I am just going to use a finish nail through the crack to hold the strip/5200 adhesive that I have so much good experience with.



???  I need help with this pix please!
]https://goo.gl/photos/6iJwbH9zPAr4ugfV9]  (Fixed 8/26, see below -- HP)



EDIT:  I have trouble with google images here into the forum, google has ruined me for this exercise...
but here's a link to that image, opens in another tab

https://goo.gl/photos/6iJwbH9zPAr4ugfV9

"we go where the power lines don't"


garyc

I'm sorry that  through the roof did not work for you. Question for you! Why are you having all of these cracks in your siding.   
If it wasn't for bad luck . I would 't have any luck at all.

Dave Sparks

#21
I appreciate the advice Gary and will use it for something soon.
There probably are 3 reasons why this is happening.

This siding is by Certainteed not Hardy but they both have had problems up here in the Sierra.  (lot's of temp change and it can be rapid)

When it was installed in 2003 they were not advising to only nail to tops. My pix is low resolution, but do you see the exposed nails on the bottoms?

Certainteed has stopped making it    >:(  and there are lawsuits and settlements. :(

The nail height in the fiberous cement was often too deep where the cracks are.. :o

Thanks HP for the fix to my pix and what did I do wrong?  Will it go away if my link breaks?

I still am very happy with it as it has burned  (plastic deck chair) near the foundation during a wildfire and could not catch. I now do a much better job of removing anything flamable outside - I bought metal deck chairs.

I am going to repaint it a cedar color in the next few years and want this to be decent looking. There is a link to pix on my web page that showed the fire and just life at my offgrid home. There are embedded captions that are still there but not the way they were when google supported Picasa - gotta fix that next week.


"we go where the power lines don't"

MountainDon

Thanks for the image help HP.

We have the Hardie and don't quite have the high temperatures you do, but it does get below 0 F in winter. So far (2009-10), so good.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Dave Sparks

What did I do wrong on the pix and will it go away if my google link goes?
"we go where the power lines don't"

Don_P

Can't help on the pix, I'm seeing several addresses on the various links under right click> properties I think  ???

The thermal coefficient of these sidings is pretty low, certainly not zero. They do contain wood fiber which has a much higher potential for movement with moisture change. Was it by any chance wet in the pack when installed, in other words pinned to the wall when the wood fibers were in a swollen condition that later dried and shrank? I've installed certainteed on one house, about 5 years ago, top nailed only by hand, about 100 degrees F max total temp range, dry storage. Do you see more cracking as time goes on or is it done?