The Worst Thing You Can Possibly Do With Wood Siding

“I can just tack up the unfinished wood siding and stain the face”

RESULT: Total siding replacement caused by not back sealing the wood.

This is the most frequent mistake made by homeowners and installers. Putting wood on the wall unfinished and just staining the face actually CAUSES THE WOOD TO ROT!

Why does this Happen?

Well you are taking a substance that naturally absorbs water – wood – and creating a moisture/mildew incubator behind the wood and then trapping the water from escaping by staining the face. With no place to go moisture sits behind the wood and starts to rot creating an ideal habitat for wood destroying insects. Even cedar and redwood will rot if the water stands on it long enough.

Here is an email I got a couple years back…
===========

Good Morning Buffalo Lumber!
I serve on the ******** Condominium Homeowners Association Board of directors and have been charged with the task of finding ways to cut our exterior maintenance costs.

Currently we have 26 buildings that house 130 condominiums and those buildings are covered by Cedar Siding (rough cut).

Every three to four years we remove those boards that have not survived the weather well, and replace them. I do know that the boards are all pre-dried, but all sides are NOT coated and they are installed with NO coatings and painted after installation.
We would like to see these “mid cycle” (every three years) replacements eliminated and only replace boards every 6 years.

============

This condo association is hoping to increase the life of their cedar from 3 years to 6 years. The wood is being installed without back priming and rotting off the wall within 3 years!
They should get 20 years service life from a painted cedar siding application if they do it right!

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair and replacement that did not need to be spent. How much time, $$$ and headache would it have saved everyone if they had spent a little more upfront and received 17 years of additional shelf life?

This is the kind of stuff I am talking about, damages that go unmentioned and unknown to the unsuspecting, would be, wood lover.

If you are a homeowner contemplating wood siding and your installer says “just tack it up and I’ll stain it – you don’t have to worry about back sealing”, fire him and find someone who knows what they are talking about. Don’t forget that your installer won’t be around in 3 years to answer for the price you pay for his mistakes.
If you are the installer you should know where we stand on this issue upfront.

The Truth as I know it.

Article courtesy of Chris Buffalo with Buffalo Lumber, McMinnville, TN – Telephone 877-960-9663.