Caulking Split In Siding Joints

Joint flashing is recommended for all hardie lap siding now.

Caulking split in siding joints.

Sometimes the old caulk in the siding joint is cracked and you need to cut the old caulk out with a razor knife. The nails holding up the siding should not be caulked. Lp requires a minimum 3 16 spacing at all butt joints. Sometimes the old caulk must be razor cut from these butt joints.

2 house built before 2008 so has no flashing okay to caulk. Siding nails should not be caulked another item that needs room to play is siding boards themselves. Do i have to caulk at butt joints. Caulk is a substance designed to seal a joint between two surfaces and to fill small holes.

1 i chose this caulk because it has 25 flexibility compared to silicone based caulk. This is where the siding in the middle of the wall butts up against another piece of siding. Before caulking joints between dissimilar materials make sure that the manufacturer recommends the caulk for both materials. These siding joints can be caulked successfully if the gap is wide enough for the caulk to get into the crack.

Hardie no longer recommends the caulking of any joint in their lap siding colorplus or primed. But here the main problem is people usually don t find the right type of caulk for their works. An area that is difficult to caulk successfully on exteriors is the siding butt joints. 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.

It is generally not a good idea to use caulking on wood siding. Although i do not understand why they have not changed the information about caulking. Use top quality caulk outdoors where it needs to withstand extreme temperature changes and remain flexible for 30 to 50 years. Deterioration of the caulking in the joint has become a maintenance issue for home owners over time.

Metal flashing or any metal to wood joint should not be caulked another water exit pathway that should never be sealed. Also avoid caulking tongue and groove siding boards together. If overused or incorrectly placed siding caulk can cause more damage to your exterior than good. If you use sashco s acrylic latex caulking sealant you can have any interior or exterior as good as new.

If the caulk is put on with too small of a bead it is more susceptible to cracking and splitting. If the siding joint is so tight that the caulk only bridges the gap it may split again.