How to patch in cedar shingle siding?

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a job on a four story house sided with cedar shingles that has some leaks at flashings so the shingles need to be torn back. I don't want to go all the way up as just the shaffolding alone is a monumental task as the house is built in a sand dune.

Does anyone have a great method for clipping the staples, especially the second ones up at the top of the shingle? I tried a long sawzall metal blade but it wont slide up far enough. Would love to hear a solution.

Larry

[Bill Rogers]

Larry,

How about something like this?

http://www.abccatalog.com/view_product.asp?idproduct=0629500365

Bill

[Joe Fabbri]

Hi Larry,

Sometimes, like when people do a roof shingle repair, you can lift the overlying shingle up, and cut or break off the one under it (last one you'll replace) below the top nail or staple point. Then with the new shingle you slide in, cut out the very top part (equal about to the part you left in there). This way you don't have to disturb the next overlying shingle much. You will still have it nailed in the middle, but not at the very top, where the next one is nailed up. And there should be plenty of overlap still.

If you keep trying to remove all the nails, you may find yourself next having to replace or renail the next course which you were going to leave, because you might mess it up trying to remove the one below it entirely.

Joe

[Callan Campbell]

Larry, this was just covered in the current or last months Fine Homebuilding. The article was all about sneaking into each different type of siding for a small repair. Shingles were also covered, with the special hook removal tool that I've seen demo'ed by people who do this for a living with shingles being so common on East Coast Houses.

[Peter Quinn]

I have one of those shingle removal hooks that Larry linked for shake repair, it works well, remember to wear ear plugs when you hit that thing with the hammer, DAMHIK. I've also had good luck with a small hack saw blade in a close quarters hack saw handle (only holds one side of the blade) for staples or nails on the lower end that can be reached. It makes a bit cleaner attack if you worry about splitting the shake below.

[Larry Edgerton]

I ordered one of those hooks that Bill posted the link to. Thanks Bill.

I was about to weld something up that chucked into an air hammer, but I will try that tool. If its too much work, I'll weld it to an air hammer. These guys got happy with the staple gun every once in a while, and that has made it difficult, so I stopped until I found a better way.

Callen, I have dialup and after about an hour of slow searching I gave up, but it sounds like the tool you described is one and the same as Bill linked to.

So.... now that we have torn them off, what is your prefered method for nailing the closure course to hide the fasteners? As you can tell I have never had to partially repair a cedar shingle panel. It was either all of it or new construction, so this sneaking up on it is a new one for me. I'm usually not that gentle.......

Thank you gentlemen, Larry

[Bill Rogers]

Larry,
If by closure you mean the last replacement wood shingle, then this is the recommended procedure:

1.) Slide the last shingle into place to the point where it extends no more than 1/2" past the intended exposure. Nail the last shingle in place with
two 6D nails driving at a 45 degree angle. Place the nails immediately below the bottom of the original shingle that just above the replacement
shingle.
2.) Put a scrap piece of 2”x4” along the butt of the replacement shingle and hit it with a hammer until the new nails are covered by the shingle
above it.
3.) Take a pry bar and gently lift the bottom of the original shingle and place a small dab of a one part polyurethane caulking or roof cement over
the nail heads.

The bottom line is that you don’t want any exposed fasteners and you need to cover the nail heads with a waterproofing compound.

Hope that this helps.

Bill

[Larry Edgerton]

Thank you very much Bill. You sound like this is not your first rodeo.

Again, thanks.....

Larry

[David Thompson 27577]

You've made a good decision to order the "shingle ripper" tool. But don't be confused about how it is used -- it is not a chisel that you pound upward to cut the nails/staples. Instead, you push it up past the nail, then sideways to hook the nail. You then hammer the handle with downward strokes, cutting the nail.

[Bill Rogers]

David is correct in how you use the shingle ripper: you hook the nail and then you hammer the handle on the downward stroke and as Peter pointed out, be sure to wear hearing protection! The ones that I have used sound like dinner bells on steriods when they are struck!!

[geoff wood]

one trick is to cut a scrap shingle at a steep angle and wedge it on top of the shingle you are patching in so you can get the nail up far. then you only have to tap the shingle up a little bit to align it with the course. red cedars are more forgiving but you should use more care if dealing with finished stained shingles

[Ed Griner]

Hi Larry, Here is my suggestion, I take my sawzall guard off,then install the longest(typically8") metal cutting blade i can get,push a wooden wedge underneath the siding/shingle,you want to remove to give you a little more room.Cut the nails/staples as needed to remove siding/shingle.This method does minimal damage to whatever you working on. Good Luck/Ed

[Larry Edgerton]

Hi Larry, Here is my suggestion, I take my sawzall guard off,then install the longest(typically8") metal cutting blade i can get,push a wooden wedge underneath the siding/shingle,you want to remove to give you a little more room.Cut the nails/staples as needed to remove siding/shingle.This method does minimal damage to whatever you working on. Good Luck/Ed

I tried this first Ed but they cheated the exposure enough that the blade would not reach the second set of staples. The good thing is that there is not a third set of staples in one shingle at the very top. I tried out the shingle ripper yesterday and it does the job well. I'm in like Flynn......