Home Improvement Today?

If you’re hand driving then ss or hot dip galvanized ringshank nails
If you’re using a nail gun then ss or hot dip galvanized ringshank nails lol
About 2 1/2 inches in both cases if nailing straight onto sheathing. If there’s a rain screen behind siding then adjust nail length accordingly

then hit it with some paint or hybrid high quality caulk or something

here’s from their website https://www.jameshardiepros.com/get...2-ab6b-38974c62c9cb/hardieplank-hz5-us-en.pdf


you might note they recommend only the blind nailing unless you live in a super windy place so you might be good to go without the face nailing

 

Ditto my house and shop on the siding. Well except mine are decently fastened just the bottom row hangs over a good inch. A rock from the mower has already broken a chunk off. The one weakness is they are brittle. Can you drill and screw?

 

What is blind nailing?

I'll have to post some pictures later. None of the windows or doors have J channel to move the water away; so I have leaks in one window and, occasionally, in the dining room below an upstairs dormer.

 

Great! I just realized that my house now needs painted. All of the Hardie Plank is just primered...even the trim!

 

Blind nailing is probably not going to apply in your situation.

But it's when you would nail the hardiplank 3/4-1" from the top edge of each board. Then the next board would cover those nails. So you wouldn't see any nails

 

Pics are a good idea, water intrusion is no joke as I’m sure u know
How long ago was this siding installed? What leads you to believe it was painted but not primed?

I was just saying your already blind nailed siding might not need the 2nd, or “face” nail unless there is significant wind where you live

it can be beneficial to allow some air movement as long as any accompanying moisture is given a drainage path

 

Siding was installed in anywhere from '13 to '15. I'm also concerned with the gap between butt joints on the siding.

Here's a couple pictures.



Here's an example where the tails are curling. The house inspector actually called this out and even noted that the siding was installed with 20ga x 1" staples.



Here's a piece where the field is bowed out from the wall. I really don't want bugs/wasps building nests behind the siding.


More curling where the fastener has been pulled out.


I also have several places where the siding is broken or a whole piece missing, so my head is while trying to figure out how to replace and blind nail the replacements in place without removing the whole field above the missing/broken pieces.

 

Open butt joints allow for thermal expansion. There is supposed to be flashing behind the joint

Staples lol I hope some good nails will fix it. Are the exposed pieces damp or kind of crumbly? What is beneath the siding?

If you could get a pic showing the top of the leaky window up to the eave
And a pic of where the leaky dormer runs into the roof line
It might could help diagnose leak

as far as fitting new pieces in they will be fine just face nail the next row up thru the top edge and face nail the bottom

again why do you think it’s just primed?

 

No crumbly or wet siding.

Just house wrap behind the siding.

I'll have to get pictures tomorrow, but the house has no eaves or soffits.

While trying to find install instructions, Google brought up places to buy the siding and the Lowes ad showed primered Hardie siding in the same color as the field of the house.

 

Murphy's law came in to play today so I spent most of the day running to the store replacing parts. Couldn't get a 3/8" reducer for the 1/2" supply valves so I just replaced them. Then spent 2 hours chasing a slow leak from both of the new faucet supply valves. But the sink is now 100% operational! Then I swapped out the 80s chrome toilet valve for a matching oil rubbed bronze unit, that also leaked and required 3 re-torques. Cleaned off the old wax mess & sat the toilet in place...only to realize the bolts needed to be replaced. So for now it's in place for the picture, tomorrow I'll tilt it forward & swap the bolts. Maybe even get the shower functional. Wiring the vanity power outlet to the dimmer switch was a dumb oversight on my part, it keeps tripping the GFCI so I need to get in the attic & run it to the J box where the fart fan is hooked to. Me & the ol lady spent a bit of time literally standing in the new shower smiling ear to ear enjoying the new look & space.

 

Well that’s good news on no rotten siding
Get some good nails and have at it. Just try to keep them at least 1/2” back from the edges.

Is there a gap similar to @ the butt joints where the laps butt into the trim running up the gable? If not thermal expansion could have worked those end staples loose

Then you’ll want to caulk everywhere the siding meets the trim with a good flexible exterior caulk such as dynaflex 230 or OSI Quadmax. Do not caulk above or below window trim, gotta leave a path for water to exit.

Also (and this is gonna be a huge PITA sorry) you’re gonna need to install metal z-flashing on top of any horizontal trim (tops of windows,doors, that divider trim). This should take care of leaking window. I bet a lot of water runs back under the siding on top of the trim

and having no eaves makes everything worse

All these issues (no paint wtf)should have been addressed at install. sorry your builder/siding sub was such a negligent POS

On the plus side it’s going to look awesome after repair and paint

 

Your remodel looks great
What you called “Murphy’s law” is what I call the 4th rule of plumbing :
(4) A completed project always means at least 1 more trip to the store

 

Thank you sir. I'll look into all this. Probably need to address all this before we get it painted.

Kinda ticks me off that their is no eaves or soffits. And don't get me started on the gable end vents that they boarded up.

 

Good luck and let us know if you have any more ?

you should also verify that flashing (step and kick out) is installed correctly where dormer walls meet roof pitch if there is a leak there

 

Can I (should I) modify my air handler to accept a larger filter? My wife has allergies, we have 2 dogs. I'm currently using MERV 11 filters and would like to go up to maybe a 14 but I don't want the increased air restriction. The AC is already 10 years old. Would this be a waste of money?

 

Thinking of hoarding fence materials tonight before the hurricane puts the supply back under a crunch.

Prices just got back down too.

 

Today I had to go back into the attic to run another coax cable to the office. Turns out the first cable was no good, so it works as I want it to now. I also ran the cat 6 cable for my wireless access point install while I was there. It arrives tomorrow so it should be a quick and easy one more hold to drill from the hallway ceiling to the attic and I can ditch all the temporary networking gear and set up my good stuff.

Whils I was running the cat 6 cable the safety inspector stopped by:

 

Thanks!! Murphy came back today during my toilet install. The damn T-bolts kept rotating & pulling up though the flange. Had to swap back to the original (thinner) bolts that used some low profile nuts to hold them in place to the flange before the toilet is in place. And then of course the stop valve was smaller than the supply hose I had on hand. But after a few wax seals & a hand full of removals the damn toilet was finally done. After dinner I finished the shower control valve, damn Delta is like a swiss watch inside! Flushed the lines & installed the 2 showerheads. And then I broke a bottle of champagne on her bow & took the shower on its maiden voyage!! Giant goofy smile on my face the entire time. Pic & a lame video (the LED washed out the camera)

Edit: video is not of me showering. Calm down you animals.

 

Need the aid of the TW Home Improvement brethren....
My apparently hulk-strength 3yr old daughter was able to slam our bathroom vanity drawer (approx 8" wide, 6" tall) hard enough to where the drawer face fell completely off and the drawer is now stuck on the rails in the vanity. This vanity uses these metal side slides, and I'm thinking the drawer has been pushed back beyond the end of the slide and is hung up. It stuck in there so good that I can't grab it and pull it out, I even tried grabbing the drawer bottom with vise grips to get some additional bite but no luck.

The drawer bottom is particle board. With the drawer closed I can't just remount the drawer front (no access to the front brackets). Oh and did I mention we're listing our house for sale next week?! FML Anyways, any suggestions on how to get it out aside from hacking it to pieces and making a new drawer?

Hardware and install instructions from Lee Valley below.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/sho...gIoOazEGbzxcegRnVap-YGWgQThAISHUaAnaxEALw_wcB

https://assets.leevalley.com/Original/10106/45048-metal-side-slides-c-01-e.pdf