Things You'll Need:
- Hammer
- Nails
- Bundle of cedar shingles
- Tape measure
- Small saw
- Pliers
- Straightedge board, optional
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Step 1
Cedar shingles are sold in bundles, but come in various lengths. Before going to the hardware or home improvement store to buy shingles, measure your existing shingles and the select the closest size from among the available bundles. This will save you a lot of wastage if you should need to cut the shingles to fit.
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Step 2
Determine which pattern your siding is using. Cedar shingles are nailed into place in two patterns, single coursing and double coursing. As the terms imply, single coursing uses a single shingle per layer, and double coursing uses two shingles per layer. Double coursing provides greater weather protection, and results in stronger shadow borders between the rows of shingles.
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Step 3
Note how these single coursed cedar shingles overlap, with much of one shingle running beneath another.Remove the damaged or rotten shingle. Note that cedar shingles overlap, and are nailed together in overlapping fashion: the visible nails pinning the center of the board also pin the ends of the boards beneath them. Therefore, to remove the board to be replaced and create enough room to slide in a replacement, you will need to remove the nails from the board above.
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Step 4
With the bad shingles removed, you can now see the raised wooden slats behind them. These are attached to the wall to raise the shingles from the wall's surface. You will be driving the nails for your replacement cedar shingles into these slats.
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Step 5
Take your saw and gently cut your shingles to fit the desired spaces. Some larges spaces may require multiple smaller shingles to cover their width, and this is just fine. However, all the shingles should be of uniform length to create an even appearance across a given row.
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Step 6
Place the cedar shingle so the top slides under the shingle above it. Then align your shingle so that the bottom is in line with the rest of its row. Using a straightedge board may help you with this.
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Step 7
Nail the cedar shingles into place. Start with the center line of the row of shingles above, using existing nails as a guide. This will be the nail that joins the top of your replacement shingle with the overlapping shingle above it. Then repeat the process with the center line of the replacement shingle, which joins the middle of that shingle to the top of the shingle beneath it. Continue until your wall is repaired.
