Ask the Carpenter: Why nails pop out of clapboards
Ask the Carpenter’s Rob Robillard also explains how to remove tile from under a door casing.
Q. I had my house painted (“Sussex Green’’ vs. a light tan) a few years ago, and now the nails are popping out of the clapboard on the sunny east-facing side. The nails are protruding 1 inch from the wood. This is not occurring anywhere else on the house. What is happening, and how do I fix it?
PHIL WENDLER, Sudbury
A. There are a few reasons why nails pop out of siding:
■ Expansion and contraction of the wood;
■ The nails are not ring-shanked or long enough;
■ The nails are not in the studs.
Sometimes just hammering the nail back in isn’t enough. It should be easy enough to remove these nails without damaging the siding. After you have removed the nails, hammer ring-shanked siding nails into the studs. Fill the old nail holes with wood filler.
If wood soaks up moisture and then dries out, it can warp or move. Additionally, a few years of seasonal expansion and contraction will typically pop out nails that aren’t in the studs.
More than likely the wall studs are on 16-inch centers. If you can get into your attic or crawl space and look at the back of this wall, you’ll quickly be able to determine whether the nails missed the studs. Good luck.
Q. I removed my ceramic tile and backer board from my foyer and hallways to prepare for the installation of a hardwood floor; however, I am not removing the ceramic tile in the laundry room that adjoins my back hallway. The ceramic tile goes under the door casing. The mortar joint is not under the door, so I have to cut the ceramic tile with a diamond saw blade. There is no way to cut under the door casing, so now I have two pieces of tile and backer board under the casing. Is there a way I can remove those pieces? I am concerned that the piece that runs into the laundry room will break off if I try to hammer out the pieces. I don’t want to remove the entire door.
D.U., Greenville, Wis.
A. If you can remove the casing, you may have a shot at easier cutting. Either way, I would cut across as much of the doorway with a diamond saw blade set at three-quarters of an inch, so you get through the backer board underlayment. Then I would use a die grinder or Dremel tool with a small diamond blade to cut as deep and as close to the door casing as possible. Use a cold chisel and tap on the outside edge of the remaining pieces of ceramic and backer board from the hallway side of the door casing.
With luck, the tile will snap off clean enough and far enough under the casing for you to get a piece of hardwood floor in there. You may have to custom-cut the floor board around the broken tile, but with a little fuss it’ll work.
Rob Robillard is a general contractor, carpenter, editor of AConcordCarpenter.com, and principal of a carpentry and renovation business. Send your questions to [email protected] or tweet them to @robertrobillard. Subscribe to our free real estate newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.
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