Do I need a gap between wood siding panels?

[JamesW84]

Looking at LP Smartside. They recommend 3/16" gap between panels, with maximum panel length 16'. The gaps will look rediculous. I know wood needs room for expansion and contraction, but my cedar siding on my house is butted up next to each other (has been for 30+ years)...granted the longest span is probably 30 ft.

This will be 14-28 ft in the air, so I'd rather not have to go back and fix it, but I don't want gaps either.

 

[Jackfre]

I would be reluctant to step over the manuf instructions. Everything expands and contracts. Any wood composite material will certainly walk. If the material has sat on site and stabilized you might get away with closing things up in a summer install. As the season cools the material will shrink a bit. How much? Let's throw humidity into the equation and who knows. I did Hardie Artisan panels. They are a full 1/2" thick and T&G on the ends so nothing has opened up.

 

[nadogail]

If you are smarter than the people who wrote the instructions, do it your way.

 

[Copymutt]

On older style Hardiplank I placed Ice & Water shield between butts. If you can match the color of your material this idea might help disguise the gap.

 

[pattenp]

The expansion gaps get filled with a specified caulk. You don't leave the gap open.

 

[JamesW84]

I know you can caulk or use their plastic covers. I just don't see why my cedar siding is fine without gaps.

 

[brewchief]

I know you can caulk or use their plastic covers. I just don't see why my cedar siding is fine without gaps.

Your ceder siding is real wood( and fairly rot resistant wood at that) not woodchips and glue like the smartside, the gap is so it can be properly caulked to keep the water away from the woodchip and glue mix.

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk

 

[Showkey]

This pops up:

https://www.startribune.com/problems-with-lp-smartside-installations/330824331/

 

[Dagny]

I wire many of the homes my nephew builds and can't believe how much paint and caulk it takes with this siding.

 

[yeldogt]

The expansion gaps get filled with a specified caulk. You don't leave the gap open.

.... don't caulk **** joints

 

[yeldogt]

I'm a Pre-painted Hardie guy ... but, it's basically the same set up.

Hardie does not require quite that gap on the joints .... people fixate on it -- with colored flash behind it goes away. I still order enough product to minimize the cuts .... the trim get painted and the final item is as little caulk as possible.

The key with these products is to get the factory paint kit and use it .... it comes with an applicator. Just wipe the paint fully on all the cut edges .. clean off the panel and let it dry. Don't go crazy with caulk .... people think caulk stops leaks .... it does not. Caulk fails -- you want the caulk to retard water intrusion and have all places be able to dry.

I like to use Boral for the foundation band/ freeze board treatment as it suitable for ground contact and protect the Hardie. Boral stopped making siding (only unpainted riven anyway)

Here is my current project. We had to do some creative cutting on the Boral to make the elevations work and the siding match as it moves around the building. Band get's paint the same color as the siding as does most of the trim -- so it will fade into the background. I also do large exposer to reduce the horizontal lines

The Hardie is nice as it's a flat clap like they did before the Riven or Radially sawn products of the machine age -- the split riven claps have a greater shadow line. I like flat caps and big trim. The roofers also created a splash lip to protect the siding when they detailed the connection to the stone building.