Caulking Split In Siding Joints

An area that is difficult to caulk successfully on exteriors is the siding butt joints.

Caulking split in siding joints.

How much space do you need between lap siding pieces. This is where the siding in the middle of the wall butts up against another piece of siding. Also avoid caulking tongue and groove siding boards together. But here the main problem is people usually don t find the right type of caulk for their works.

Use top quality caulk outdoors where it needs to withstand extreme temperature changes and remain flexible for 30 to 50 years. Metal flashing or any metal to wood joint should not be caulked another water exit pathway that should never be sealed. Caulk is a substance designed to seal a joint between two surfaces and to fill small holes. 2 house built before 2008 so has no flashing okay to caulk.

If the siding joint is so tight that the caulk only bridges the gap it may split again. Sometimes the old caulk in the siding joint is cracked and you need to cut the old caulk out with a razor knife. Deterioration of the caulking in the joint has become a maintenance issue for home owners over time. Joint flashing is recommended for all hardie lap siding now.

It depends on the option you choose but if joint caulking option is selected seal all gaps at butt joints with a high quality exterior sealant meeting the astm c920 minimum class 25 sealant. The nails holding up the siding should not be caulked. Although i do not understand why they have not changed the information about caulking. If you use sashco s acrylic latex caulking sealant you can have any interior or exterior as good as new.

It is generally not a good idea to use caulking on wood siding. You need to have the best caulk for hardie siding to help your walls and wooden surfaces to get rid of open cracks and thin spaces between joints. Hardie no longer recommends the caulking of any joint in their lap siding colorplus or primed. Siding nails should not be caulked another item that needs room to play is siding boards themselves.

Lp requires a minimum 3 16 spacing at all butt joints. Do i have to caulk at butt joints. 1 i chose this caulk because it has 25 flexibility compared to silicone based caulk. Sometimes the old caulk must be razor cut from these butt joints.

When deciding how to use caulk on your siding however it is generally more important to consider where you should not use it. Before caulking joints between dissimilar materials make sure that the manufacturer recommends the caulk for both materials.