How to nail Cedar Siding
How to Install Bevel Cedar Siding - Building a Shed Part 6
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hello friends my name is Christopher and
today I'm talking about installing
beautiful beveled cedar siding on a shed
cedar siding is the best this is part
six of a nine part series I'm doing for
this great big shed these are all deep
dives into specific topics that I
thought were important I do have a
longer feature length video of the
entire thing some different shots and
different explanations if you want to
check that out as well as a four-minute
time lapse video if you're in the mood
for something fun so let's dive right
into this I thought this was an
important one to talk about because when
I was looking at how to do this first
off it took us forever to decide we were
going to do this kind of siding and then
I thought well how do I properly install
beveled cedar siding or redwood siding
and there were there were a lot of
decent websites that gave me an overview
but when I was looking on YouTube I
don't know there were maybe five or six
videos that came up and they each had
something important but nothing was
all-inclusive so I'll do my best job to
tell you exactly what I did and exactly
what you should do first off all of your
boards need to be treated let me say
that again
all of your boards need to be treated if
you don't treat your cedar and you want
it to look beautiful like this if you
don't treat it in time it'll Brown out
and gray out like this compost pile I
made not seven years ago I purposefully
wanted it to be natural what's fine
that fence we inherited from the
previous owner and it looks great and
not compared to my beautiful siding here
it makes me really want to redo my fence
so I found a finish for this that was
meant for exterior wood siding and
decking it's great I did a clear coat
because I love this beautiful amber it
comes in a whole bunch of different
varieties if you want to add some color
tone to your siding that needs to be
applied on to all surfaces you know so
the nice flat front the sides and the
back I use the cloth if I had to do it
again I would probably use a brush
because that back is a little bit more
rough and I hated doing it with my hand
I got a couple splinters neither here
nor there does something to keep in mind
next up is the trim when I was first
thinking about putting my siding on I
thought oh I'll do all the cedar first
and I'll put the trim on top of it right
because that'll cover up any sort of
ends that didn't line up and I really
wasn't thinking straight I didn't want
you don't want this trim sticking out
it'll look stupid so this was actually
the starting point and for me it was the
fashion cap up top and then the the tops
of the roof line and then coming down
here framing the door framing the
windows all really straightforward a
couple things to keep in mind the sides
here for example you want to look at
this so there should always be perfect
which means I'm just butting up this end
and covering the end of it with the
front makes sense they're not billed at
45 degrees to come to a point this front
is just covering up the end of the
sideboard and then with the windows and
actually the door let's bring you over
here this is an aesthetic choice for me
I've got the top and the bottom covering
the entire length of the sideboard so I
put the side on first and then I covered
them the whole length with the top and
the bottom there are a bunch of
different styles and I got my
inspiration from Pinterest and I you
know I was thinking well maybe I'll have
like some extension up here or all I'll
bevel 45 degrees off and you know there
are a lot of different things to choose
from but in the end I went with this
style because it best reflects what I
have in my house so you've got a similar
architectural motif going from the house
to the shed once the trim is up it's
time to start the most fun part which
for me was actually putting on the
board's and step one there is to cut the
boards
I will actually take that back step
actual one is to measure the space
between each trim and then to cut the
boards because it's going to be similar
like on either side of the door but it's
not going to be the same for example I
think I shift a whole quarter of an inch
from the bottom of this to the top of
the door which me
this board is a quarter of an inch or so
longer than its equivalent on the other
side so you can't just mass cut them it
pays to take the time to cut each one of
them individually and then put it up but
before you put it up be sure to apply
your exterior finish to those freshly
cut ends so it can soak into the fibers
and not gray now the nice part about
doing beveled cedar siding is that it's
naturally rot resistant right that miss
may be one of the reasons why you chose
it one of the reasons why I chose it not
just because it's pretty and it smells
amazing but still you don't want the
ends over time to slowly start turning
gray the stuff that sticks out over here
while the rest of it is that beautiful
amber take the time to do it right I'm
gonna go get a prop this my friends was
my best friend during the installation
process and all it is is some scrap here
and it served as a reference point and
as a t-square so I started back behind
those trees because it's the part that
people are gonna notice the air is the
very least because who's gonna be on the
very ground in between a tree and a shed
that's like the punchline to a bad joke
so you start in one corner and you just
line yourself up you can see what I'm
doing with the footage it's important to
make sure the first one is nice and
level I probably check for level every
four boards and then just kind of
correct it as I went along
but this I've got a six inch 6 inch
difference there's that six inches again
from the bottom here to the top here my
cedar siding I think is technically one
by eight which means it's like seven and
a quarter seven and a half inches wide
and the recommendation was at least one
inch of overlap so I'm giving it like an
inch and a half inch and a quarter so
doing that when I had a board here I
lifted this up put the new board on and
have pressed it as I was going along
making sure it was nice and level tacked
it in the middle and then did the ends
and sliding this along the entire time
to make sure this touched on the bottom
here and this touched right here because
if you start with a level board and you
keep perfect spacing the entire time
then you will keep your level through
the entire process is great and that's
what ended up happening for me and I
still check with my level every four
boards fun thing to keep in mind two
things actually one make sure again
you're nailing it to your studs because
if you're not you're only nailing into
your sheathing and that will not provide
as rigid support as you truly need for a
long-lasting product but also it's
important to use the right kind of
fastener here I went with stainless
steel which is stupidly expensive I mean
I could have gone with copper and that
would have just been like why but
stainless steel is still pretty
expensive but I know it's not going to
rust and anything like that if you use
the wrong kind of fastener that corrodes
and rusts with rain you're going to get
these orange streaks that slide down
your wall and you don't want that you
just spent all this money on cedar which
is not cheap you know and all the time
making those individual cuts and putting
up so make sure you don't skimp on your
fasteners get the right one also
stainless steel looks beautiful with
this and when you're looking at the
whole picture you really don't even see
the nails so it just something to keep
in mind another thing to keep in mind is
working or round your windows and doors
you can see here I got a board that
comes along comes along and oh there's a
window and look there's this great big
cutout here and then it goes back across
the process for doing that is so easy
again I use my t-square as a marker you
can kind of see well maybe you can't I
got lines across there those are some
decent lines across the side all that I
would do as I've got my board up here I
would make a measure for the distance
between here and the bottom of where
it's supposed to be mark that on my
board bring the cut piece down trace
that line all the way across
I'd also put a mark right here and right
here
cut cut use my jigsaw cut it out and fit
it and so long as you're doing it right
you're not going to have any problem
isn't that the story of the day what a
stupid blanket statement anyways I hope
that made some sense the footage should
make more sense of me explaining it at
this point I would say
and then you know you get to the top and
you get to do the fun stuff all these
cuts again keeping my 50 degree up 50
degree angles going all the way down
making sure you're nailing into studs
and then just go up and up and up every
one of these was an individual measure
and an individual cut and it was so
satisfying putting that last one on the
top and then you're done and it took me
a little while this took a couple of
days because with the siding I had to
avoid the rain you know I had to store
this the cedar on a vapor barrier
covered in a tarp try to keep the
moisture off of it as much as you can
you don't want the bores expanding and
contrasting too much with the heat and
humidity and you certainly can't be
doing this while it's vigorously raining
out you just don't want to warp your
boards right but once they're on there
they're on there and it is so satisfying
and yeah I got to say I did so much
research into this one that there's not
a single thing that I would have done
differently I'm really pleased with how
it turned out I am prepared now every
year to give this a good washing and to
spray it give it a nice fresh coat of
exterior you know oil finish whatever I
used to keep it protected for years and
years and years to come
so people that do this for a living what
did i do right what did I do wrong let
me know in the comments below the most
helpful one all pinned to the top please
be respectful thank you
it's this was really really sweet and
once I had this done I felt like I was
done but I wasn't because I had to do
the roof and I was putting it off ah
so in the next video I talked about the
roof it consists of what kind of
unrelated I use what let's talk about a
drip edge and of course shingles very
very important stick around for that if
you knew I hope you subscribe like let
me know in the comments below anything
you want to talk about as you can tell
I'm recording all nine parts of this in
a row and I'm going a little loopy as
the Sun is setting so see you in part 7
