Wood Siding Repair: A Homeowner’s Complete Guide
A few repairs can help your home's wood siding live its best life
Learning how to tackle wood siding repair as a DIY project can reduce damage to your home's structure and potentially avoid the cost of installing new wood siding by prolonging its life. How you perform repairs primarily depends on the size and nature of the damage to your home. Discover tips and tricks to repair, maintain, and improve the look of your home's wood siding and keep trouble from returning.
Why Do I Have to Repair Wood Siding
Wood home siding provides a rich and welcoming appeal to your home's exterior. However, repairing and maintaining your home's wood siding is crucial beyond just keeping up appearances.
Your home's siding keeps water from penetrating the building's structure where it can, and usually does, cause all kinds of trouble and expense. Siding in good condition can also make your home less appealing to damaging insects like termites and carpenter ants.
Wood is a natural product that can quickly deteriorate if left without protection. While paint and stain do an excellent job of extending the life of wood products, wood can still dry out and crack or become a victim of circumstances such as animal, tree branch, or other damaging causes.
Because holes, cracks, and gaps in your home's wood siding tend to let water in and not let it escape easily, staying on top of repairs and maintenance means investing a little in siding repairs now can help avoid a significant home repair price tag later.
How Much Does It Cost to Repair Wood Siding?
The average siding repair cost for wood siding is between $4 and $13 per square foot, but your repairs can range from $2 to $50 per square foot, depending on the extent of the damage.
Small holes or cracks can often be fixed with a simple siding repair kit, while moderate to extreme repairs may require the experienced hand of a trained professional, which can increase costs. Wood repair costs are higher than some materials, like vinyl siding, but cheaper than other materials, like aluminum siding.
How to Prep for Wood Siding Repair
While repairing your home's wood siding doesn't require much preparation, there are a couple of things to keep in mind before choosing to take it on as DIY work.
Siding repair from any height beyond standing on the ground is potentially dangerous. Ladder accidents are common, and working from a ladder can distract you from keeping yourself on the thing. If you can't reach the siding repair from the ground, use a ladder stabilizer, erect scaffolding, or, better yet, hire a local siding contractor to handle the project.
Cracks and gaps in siding can allow a lot of damaging water or insects to get behind it and start causing damage almost immediately. It's common to discover that replacing some rotted wood under the siding is necessary after the project begins. Keep a close eye out for damage to the sheathing and structure beneath the siding, and repair any rot you find before continuing the siding work.
How to Repair Wood Siding
The repair method you use has little to do with the type of wood siding on your home and more to do with the size and type of damage. Let’s break down how you can repair your wood siding with the proper method based on the damage type and size.
Repair Cracks in Wood Siding
Wood siding commonly dries out and cracks leaving long and thin spots for water or insects to penetrate the barrier. Often, cracking is limited to the ends of boards, but it can happen anywhere. Repair minor cracks less than 1/8-inch wide by filling them with a wood filler or caulk.
Use a wire brush or paint scraper to remove any loose paint near the crack, and follow with sandpaper and a cloth rag to remove any debris and dust from the area.
If you protect your home with paint, use a paintable latex caulk or wood filler to fill the crack. Use a small putty knife to press the compound into the void, remove any excess with your finger or cloth, and allow it to cure according to the manufacturer's instructions on the label.
If you have stained siding, follow the same step but use stainable filler or wood epoxy. Match the siding color before or after application depending on the product you use.
If you use wood filler, you may need to sand the repair area until it's smooth or matches the texture of the siding.
Paint or seal your wood siding with exterior paint, stain, or varnish to match.
Repair Holes in Wood Siding
Holes can appear in your wood siding due to insects, rusting nails, loose fasteners, or the dreaded woodpecker holes. Repairing siding holes is fixable in a couple of ways, and how you do it depends on the hole size.
Determining the cause of the holes is essential to keep them from returning. If insects or animals are to blame, contact a local pest control company to eliminate or control the source.
Repair Small Holes
For holes smaller than two inches in diameter, you can usually repair the wood using epoxy putty or spray foam sealant. Here’s how:
Start repairing small holes up to two inches in diameter in lap or board and batten siding by scraping away loose paint with a wire brush or scraper and removing loose debris from inside the hole.
Fix small holes that don't extend all the way through the siding by filling them with epoxy putty that you can match to unpainted wood or paint over to match the house.
If a hole goes all the way through the siding to reveal a gap between the piece and the home's tar paper or protective wrap, inject a small amount of spray foam sealant in the hole to create a base for the compound. If the foam extends past the face of the siding when curing, cut away the excess to make a void for the epoxy to fill.
After allowing the epoxy putty to cure, sand it to recreate the siding's texture and stain or paint the spot to match the rest of the area.
Repair Large Holes
Repairing holes larger than two inches in diameter is a bit more involved, and you'll need a drill and hole saw. The following repair method works well for holes up to four inches in diameter on both lap and board and batten wood siding.
Remove the pilot drill bit from a hole saw that's slightly larger than the hole you're repairing.
Place the hole saw over the siding hole and slowly drill a hole over the damaged spot. Drill through the siding, being careful not to puncture the tar paper or house wrap underneath.
If a gap between the house wrap and the siding exists after creating the hole, use spray foam sealant to fill the gap around the hole. Cut away any excess after it cures.
Use the hole saw to trace a circle onto a piece of replacement siding material.
Use a jigsaw or a slightly larger hole saw to cut out the shape.
Test-fit the repair piece.
Spread wood filler on the edges of the circle and the inside of the repair hole and press the new piece into the hole, allowing the filler to squeeze out of the edges of the patch.
With a putty knife, apply a thin layer of wood filler over the patch and its edges to fill any remaining voids.
Allow the filler to cure, sand to match the existing siding's texture, and paint or finish as necessary.
Replace Wood Siding Boards
When your siding has cracks wider than 1/8 inches, holes larger than four inches, numerous holes, or areas of wood rot, sometimes the best repair method is simply to replace the damaged boards.
Begin by using a utility blade to score the paint where the damaged siding piece meets the ones above and below.
Use an oscillating saw to cut the damaged siding vertically on both sides of the affected area. Cut through the siding, taking care not to damage the house wrap below.
Insert a stiff putty knife under the bottom of the siding piece directly above the one you're replacing to loosen its connection to the wall. When you see a small gap, insert a pry bar in the same location.
Gently pry the siding from the wall about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away and remove the pry bar. You should see nail heads protruding from the siding when the siding piece lays flat again.
Use a claw hammer or pry bar to remove the nails carefully.
Repeat the procedure to remove the nails below on the piece of siding you're replacing.
Remove the siding piece and use it as a template to trace and cut its replacement from a like-kind material.
Install the new wood siding piece using stainless steel ring-shank nails through the existing holes, plus a couple of extra ones along the bottom edge of the new piece.
Seal the board's edges with wood filler or caulk before staining or painting to match the rest of the house.
Board and batten siding areas with significant damage usually require replacement. To replace a section, gently pry off the battens surrounding the area and remove the damaged material with a circular saw, set to match the depth of the siding, or an oscillating saw. Replicate the damaged piece by tracing its shape onto a new board and cutting out the piece. Install the patch piece with stainless steel ring-shank nails and reinstall or replace the battens.
Wood Siding Repair Tips
Proper wood siding repair can beautify and prolong the life of one of your home's primary weather defense barriers. However, incomplete or insufficient repair work can have the opposite effect and cause more damage than it fixes. Here are some tips for achieving the best results from your repairs.
Inspect for Wood Rot
When you notice that your wood siding needs repair, the chances are very high that it's already had time to harbor water or insects. Always suspect you'll find damage below rotted wood siding until you look closely to discover none. You're more likely to find and be able to repair rotten wood below your siding if you're looking for it from the start of repairs.
Take Your Time
It takes precision and time to Completely hide your wood siding repair work to make it appear that nothing happened. Work slowly and deliberately at each repair location. Remember that taking a few extra minutes to repair the section properly can save hours and days later, replacing the entire area.
Maintain Your Siding
Your best defense against frequent wood siding repair is diligent maintenance. Make it a habit to inspect your home's exterior each spring and throughout the year, and maintain your wood siding as necessary. Paint, stain, or seal it as required, keep foliage away, and clean it occasionally to keep it looking and performing its best.
DIY vs. Hiring a Siding Contractor
Repairing wood siding as a DIY project is possible over a weekend, with most of your time spent waiting for fillers to cure. The process is also relatively inexpensive. Wood fillers and most species of wood siding replacement pieces cost less than $25.
However, wood siding repair can be dangerous if you need to work above ground level, and perfect results can be elusive without a great deal of patience. Also, improper repairs can still allow damaging elements to get behind your home's siding and cause damage without your knowledge.
To ensure your home gets the repair protection it needs while you remain safely on the ground, consider identifying a siding pro to take on the task.
Should You Consider a Complete Replacement of Your Wood Siding?
In some cases, repairing wood siding can be a bit of a lost cause—especially if the extent of damage costs more to repair than just replacing the old wood siding. Here are a few signs that it's time to completely replace the wood siding:
The extent of any damage is widespread.
You have lots of loose or missing boards.
There’s mold damage.
You have dry rot, which can spread to healthy wood.
Pests have led to a serious deterioration in the wood quality.
The wood boards are severely cracked, warped, or buckled.
The average cost to replace wood siding falls between $7,000 and $23,000, depending on the type of wood. Most materials cost between $1 and $5, while labor adds another $2 to $5 per square foot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Installing siding of any kind over rotted wood is a bad idea. Wood acts like a sponge when water is present, and insects rarely limit themselves to a single piece of lumber. The best course of action if you find rotted wood on your home's exterior is to dig deeper to find the source of the problem, eliminate it, and replace any affected wooden members.
The best way to patch wood siding is to remove any debris and loose material, including paint, from the area before filling the hole. If you can make the hole slightly larger than the damaged area, you're more likely to find a solid base material that the filler can adhere to securely.
Whether or not homeowners' insurance covers rotted siding boils down to your homeowners' insurance plan’s coverage and the cause of the damage. For instance, if your homeowners' insurance does cover siding repairs, it likely won’t cover it if the rot was part of typical exposure to the elements. If the rot came from a structural defect, however, then your insurance plan might cover the repairs.
Be prepared for any repairs to only take place where there was damage, which can cause the siding to look different from the rest of the siding if you have painted, stained, or exotic wood.
The wood offers a traditional appearance to any home’s siding, you do have options. Some of the most common alternatives to wood siding include composite siding like engineered wood siding and fiber cement siding.
Engineered wood siding retains some of the best features that come with wood options without being as susceptible to water damage, pests, rot, and high maintenance costs, but it is still susceptible to some extent. Fiber cement siding is more durable than both options but lacks the natural wood charm.