Siding install too high to do full length at a time??

[raul segura]

I have a 40ft wide by 37ft high wall to install Hardy. Is there any way of installing sections vertical... (half way) then move over and do the other parts... as my walking board is only 20ft. Wide and can't do a full 40 feet stretch at a time. I'm thinking blind nailing is a no go. But perhaps bottom nailing will do if I attend to it like laing bricks.. staggering. Possible? Any suggestions for a one man crew, Thanks!!

[Lee Schierer]

I believe you are going to need to rent or buy another set of pump jacks and stages for your job. They would give you access to the full width at each course of siding. A mobile man lift would also work.

[Bill George]

I agree, rent scaffolding otherwise the job will end up being a big hassle.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Hanging 12 foot pieces by yourself is tricky. I use ladder jacks and an 18 foot walk board. There is always a lot of moving the ladders and planks around and a whole lot of going up and down.
James Hardi has several options for vertical siding. I think the board and batten and Hardi panels are more of a challenge than the lap siding to hang solo. My last project was 12 inch smooth lap, blind nailed. Thank goodness it was a small job and not too high.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Lee, etc...you need to borrow or rent a setup that gives you full width access to do your siding project. It's way too easy to get things off "just a hair" that can mess up the whole very expensive job if you break it up in sections like you describe.

[Jack Frederick]

Not sure I am following you on this. Is it board and batten or lap siding? Handling 4x8 sheets alone is tough on the ground. Airborne it is a real challenge. If it is lap siding get a set of Geeko Gauges and single man install is simple. The GG’s allow you to adjust for different siding exposures. Drop the siding inot the gauge and you are able to then go back and nail it off. I use a Bostitch coil nailer and it is pretty easy other than the up and down. Doing half and half as you suggest is going to have a pretty consistent joint pattern as you go up in the center of the wall and it will be pretty obvious from the ground. You will be happier and i suspect safer with full span staging

[Jim Becker]

Jack, I took it as Hardy lap siding which installs horizontal and he was asking if he could install one side of the wall first and then do the other size after moving his existing scaffold/walk board laterally.

[Tom M King]

What scaffolding system are you using for your one plank? I would stage the whole wall with Alum-A-Pole including workbenches, install it on the way up, and paint it on your way down.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Not sure I am following you on this. Is it board and batten or lap siding? Handling 4x8 sheets alone is tough on the ground. Airborne it is a real challenge. If it is lap siding get a set of Geeko Gauges and single man install is simple. The GG’s allow you to adjust for different siding exposures. Drop the siding inot the gauge and you are able to then go back and nail it off. I use a Bostitch coil nailer and it is pretty easy other than the up and down. Doing half and half as you suggest is going to have a pretty consistent joint pattern as you go up in the center of the wall and it will be pretty obvious from the ground. You will be happier and i suspect safer with full span staging

Thats my bad making it confusing. I was suggesting B&B or sheets as something that could be done a section at a time.

[Tom M King]

Once the scaffolding is up, the biggest job is lifting it up in place. It's quite an ambitious job for one person.

[Bill George]

Once the scaffolding is up, the biggest job is lifting it up in place. It's quite an ambitious job for one person.

Not understanding what you mean? Scaffolding is built from the ground up, the planks could be hoisted up with a winch a bundle at a time. In any event 37 feet is a tall building to do.

[Tom M King]

I meant physically getting the siding up there. A lot of steps in the process for one person. A ground person would save a lot of work.

Picture shows a 43 foot tall chimney I was redoing the top of. The peak of that roof is 37' off the ground. Once you get up in the air that much, everything gets slowed down just getting stuff up there. No way would I have attempted that job with no ground help.

[Tom M King]

I did the front of this building mostly by myself. The peak of this roof is 18'. I'm going to say that's my limit by myself, and don't want to do such a job again by myself. I ended up going up and down off that scaffolding to get something Way more numbers of times that I thought I would. I set the Alum-A-Pole setup by myself with the help of a tractor loader to move the 32' long plank, but my BIL helped me take it down.

[Jim Becker]

And with Hardy board, you have to be very careful to not break it...it can only flex so much before that happens.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Instead of Hardy, look at LP's Smart Plank siding. Weighs half as much, comes in 16' lengths instead of 12' lengths. Fifty year warranty, vs 30 warranty, and isn't brittle. When doing siding, we always first coated it while it was on the bench. With any siding to meet manufacturer's specs, you need to prime and first coat end cuts. Unless this is a LONG TERM PROJECT, as in months, you WILL NEED a ground person, plus a up on the wall helper. I have sided (ceder siding) a house mostly by myself, but was a slow process, plus I was A LOT YOUNGER then.

[raul segura]

So appreciated!!
1. Doing sections will look like brick work and probability skewing the work.
2. Re staging would be totally not fun!!

So I need to have a fully running length. Rent, purchase what is needed no question. It's going to take some time. And sweet equity.
For $100 I picked up 2 jacks and one 20ft platform sweet deal. I'll be getting another 3 jacks in the morning. So other than a second platform I'm close.
I'll be making some mobile shelf racks/safety railings. I built some siding clips for holding the hardy... Ill have to recisit the wood/resins material again, don't like breathingcement any way. Ill probably run 4 board's with pully up top. And I'll be tethered with climbing rope, "Will see how long I last with that".
The gentalman that sold me the stuff said he only has insurance for any thing under 12 feet... a contractor. So safety is always a factor!!! I understand that in many places you can only use the aluminum jacks as they are very nice.

I'm glad I chimed in here, it's been a while since I've posted here and I appreciate all the helping info. I was not able to open any attachment photos? But I'm very appreciative.

[raul segura]

One other question,
Has any one bypassed trime on outside corners with aluminum end caps. They make the planks look butted together. Sounds cool, but will it look cheep?
Thanks again guys.

[Tom M King]

Are you using the pump jacks that ride on two 2x4's fastened together? How will you be attaching the brackets at the top for those posts-off a ladder?

[Maurice Mcmurry]

One other question,
Has any one bypassed trime on outside corners with aluminum end caps. They make the planks look butted together. Sounds cool, but will it look cheep?
Thanks again guys.

For the 12 inch smooth that I put up last fall I reused the galvanized steel corner caps that were present on the original Masonite from the mid 1950's. They are made from very soft steel and so heavily galvanized that I thought they were lead. Google will reveal if something similar is still available. I have not seen them for sale since the 1970's.

[Ronald Blue]

So appreciated!!


I'm glad I chimed in here, it's been a while since I've posted here and I appreciate all the helping info. I was not able to open any attachment photos? But I'm very appreciative.

For as little as $6 a year you can have access to view and post photos. It's well worth it. You've already received advice worth much more than that.

[raul segura]

I have a 40 footer to hang the hardware for the posts. Still figuring out how to attach so I can reach the peak though. I'll have extra brackets holding posts midway me thinks.

I'm thinking the corners would look nice. I Googled the corner parts..like $4 a piece. I may make my own. Hah.

[Jack Frederick]

On our house which we did in Hardi I used Azek corner boards. They are 5/4x10’ and we dadoed each side. Raul, you have set yourself a pretty major task working alone. Your staging has to accommodate the material as you stage it. Great care to keep the material from fouling your staging or vice versa will be required and it has to come up inside the staging I think so you can lift, set and then piece by piece mount the material. It iis one thing to get you and the material up there but you can tie yourself in knots up there without a very specific sequence of operations. By trade I’m a fitter/welder. I worked a lot of power houses and refineries years ago and always worked up top on the iron. I was comfortable there but as you gain height things get more and more complicated and while you ignore the elevation it will complicate things;) Look at how Tom staged that chimney job. He wanted to get the job done AND he wanted to come home safely every night. I’m not saying you can’t do the job, but I am saying you should not do this alone. If the staging is right you should still have two other people. A ground man and another as crazy as you;) to get the stuff on the wall. Keep count of how many times you are up and down the staging. That should be fun!

[Bill George]

There is No Way I would be on an aluminum ladder that high working by myself with those heavy planks. Scaffolding is the way I would go, unless you want to rent a Gradall for the week end with a basket and remote controls.

[John K Jordan]

… I was not able to open any attachment photos? But I'm very appreciative.

If no one mentioned it yet, to view photos you have to have “Contributor” status instead of “Member” status. It’s “almost” free - just $6 per year minimum! (many donate more because of the value SMC provides.) Click the yellow Donate button at the top of screen menu. The money is what keeps this web site open!

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JKJ

[raul segura]

Jack
Understood loud and clear. If I had a choice, would be dif. Im drafting this all out in sketchup so I can see the difficult areas.. streching and questionable attachments etc. and will be doing some practice runs soon. As you mentioned the higher yiu go the more fragile the circumstance probably could be aquivilatedI to deep sea welding hah! I have till this fall to stage or chicken out. but as most of us know with age, we are not really in controll. Much respect. On the hight verses material handaling. Ill have beefy legs on the good side. Most stuff Ive done on my own.. welding, woodwork, laith work tinkering otherwise no one would let me play with them tools at a job sight. Studied Fine art.. portraiture. And bronz casting far different from how I make my bread.
Id like to sell the place as its a bit over my pay grade. Higher tax and such would get me a two story with equal work and more payments, but less the 37ft. And beautiful trees I have...(clean gutters twice a year) and thats geting old..like me.