cibula11

I am putting up carsiding for a ceiling in my attic. I am having trouble putting the pieces together. As I tap or pound to make the groove fit on the tongue I end up damaging the piece so then it makes the next piece difficult to attach. Any ideas on making my life easier?

Brik

Yea, use a scrap over the tongue to pound on. To make that eve easier rip it down to about 1 1/2 inch or so, that way it will fit in your pocket.

Brik

Also, you may alread know this. If its going to show you can blind nail into the tongue at an angle so the next board's grove covers the nail head. When you are finished you have zero nail heads except at the outside edge of the first board.

cibula11

I have done all of this. And, still having problems. I was told to start with the groove down and tongue facing up. So for each piece I would put the groove into the tongue of the piece that is already hung. It's not a very smooth fit. They T&G fits very snug. Is there something I could lube it up with to make it work better. No puns please

cibula11

Nevermind...I have an idea that I think will work. I'm an idiot.

Brik

No lube. Probably whats happening is the studs you are attaching to are not all in line with each other. When you attach one piece it is forcing a slight bow so its not straight and the next board is. Or, your boards are bowed a bit forcing you to bend them to line up properly.

So, what can you do.
Get straight boards and attach them to straight studs. Probably not pracical.

So, you will need to deal with it. Are you hand nailing or using pneumatics?

If using pneumatics you can nail in the first board then use a pry bar to pull it off the studs by about 1/4" at each stud. Attache the next board then pound the face of the previous board to snug it down to the stud. Repeat for each board. By prying up slightly you will have more space to mauver each board into place.

If hand nailing do similar but do not nail the nail home so you have that play. Or do nail it and set the nail, then pry off a little as above.

When I have encountered this it is not usually every board, just a few. I try the regular way to fit in the next board first and only if I need to do I loosen the previous board a bit to make it fit.

One more thought - Take a couple of 12" long scraps. They SHOULD go together fine. If they don't it IS possible that the mill messed up and milled them poorly.

If that's the case then take them back for an exchange. If you cant do that then you may want to consider widening the groove a little. Reply back if you want a good technique for easily making the grove a little wider yet still ensuring its centered.

cibula11

Thanks...I will give it a shot. The pieces that I am working with are 12' so that doesn't help either. Shorter pieces have been fine, but I would like to keep my seams to a minimum.