[diyinaustin]

I have a building with expensive log siding. I need to remove several rows of siding, and reinstall them later. The siding is attached to the studs with siding nails. The nail heads are either flush or slightly below the surface.

Normally I would use a cats paw, but doing so here will gouge the wood--either slightly or pretty bad. I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a way to get those nails out without damaging the wood. Prying the pieces out is not an option. This is tongue-and-groove siding.

I'm hoping someone out there has a clever trick for this...

 

[kwikfishron]

Punch the nails through with a straight punch and then either plug those holes or use a nail with a slightly larger head when you reinstall.

 

[griz]

Use a drill bit and drill the head off leaving you a shank to pull the siding off of.

You may need to do it in steps starting with asmaller drill.

Done it many times.

 

[ChuckF.]

If you can reach them, you can go under the siding and cut the nails off with an oscillating saw, and a metal-cutting blade. Done hundreds of those with lap siding. Max reach about 2". More difficult with a hack blade in a sawzall, but that gets the reach up to about 10".

 

[diyinaustin]

Excellent ideas, guys. Thanks. I will report back in a few days with results.

 

[diyinaustin]

I went with Chuck's idea. I slightly wedged a wood shim behind the bottom piece to give me some clearance then used a reciprocating saw to cut the nails. Once out, I used a punch from the backside to push the heads proud,. I finished off the job from the front using nail pulling pliers.

Chummed up the house wrap pretty bad on the second and third piece, but that was an easy fix. Had some extra Tyvec lying around.

Thanks again.