T11 siding needs patch/replace in an area

I have a section on the outside of my house that needs replaced. There is a shrub in the area that I guess got wet and kept the wall pretty moist. It's standard t11 siding that is rotting at the bottom. It appears the previous homeowner ignored rotting siding. The siding is bad about 10 inches from the bottom edge in about a 4 foot strip. What is the best way to replace/fix this ? Would I just use a circular saw to cut out the rotten section and then replace it?

 

Not being able to see it, advice may be poor. Can you post a picture of it? How does the rot fall in relation to the panel width? Will removing an entire panel be feasible? Just cutting out the bad area won't help and it may cause more leak problems, since the horizontal seam will still allow water to infiltrate without z bar flashing, which may look a little goofy. Let us see a couple of pics.

 

Yes, first cut down the shrub.

You then need to first make a vertical cut up the sides of the t-111 siding, leaving maybe 1/2" or 3/4" of the piece along each vertical edge. This allows you to get behind the siding and cut the nails. Doing this with a reciprocating saw and metal blade works best. You need to be very careful not to damage the siding on either side... because it's such a poor product that you need to be very gentle/careful with it. Once damaged, it doesn't hold paint very well. (Branches blowing in the wind could scratch the surface off, which would allow it to absorb water).

Once you cut the nails you would then pry out the 1/2" - 3/4" wide pieces of old siding. Now that the nails are cut, that will be easier to do. They will still be hooked on the rest of the nail, however... so again, be very gentle. What you want to do it pull the siding just far enough away from the house that that scrap can just be pried off the nail. You may want to score the painted edge with a utility knife since the paint has probably glued the 2 pieces together.

Then you can gently try to pop those little bits of cut-off nail out of the siding, before you slip in the new panel and renail it.

 

Excellent advice from all here and would not add much to the procedure as it is spot on and the exact way I go about changing this type of siding. I would add just one thing and that is to spend the little extra to put back a piece of pressure treated t-111 so that you never have to change out this particular piece ever again if the shrub grows wild again. Depending on how the house if finished (paint or stain) the pressure treated section may need to be treated differently when time to finish and blend with the rest of the siding.

 

So basically replace the whole panel is what I'm getting from this? Cut a vertical line up through the panel so that I can pry it out easier and reach the nails with a reciprocating saw? Should I reattach with nails or outdoor screws? and how far apart should the nails be on the stud? What about the seam at the top? Thanks for the help!

 

what about setting a skillsaw to the correct depth and the Cutting the a horizontal line straight across about a foot from the bottom, then installing some zbar flashing and then cutting a new piece of treated t1 11 and tucking it up under the flashing and nailing it back in?

 

You can flash and replace just the damaged portion but it doesn't look as nice as a total panel replacement does. Use galvanized nails, they won't stick out like screws do.