# Spackling nail holes in Hardie siding



## PNW Painter

I'm about to start the prep work on a nc house with smooth Hardi siding, but was looking for advice on which spackle to use for filling all the nail holes in the siding?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## Painter-Aaron

Why are there nail holes? Are they not covered with the overlap? 


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## Gough

Face-nailing is an option, and a requirement with some sizes, but there still shouldn't be nail *holes*. Did the installers use a finish nailer?? If so, don't worry about your paint voiding the warranty, the installers already did that, unless it's just at pin-back corners. Ditto if they over drove the nails. Hardie is real specific about that.

Having said that, the mfg's recommendation for over-driven nails is just fill the hole and add another nail, properly driven. We normally use Crawford's Free spackle.


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## ewingpainting.net

Toothpaste is a good option


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## Jmayspaint

I did one like that years ago when hardee first got popular here. The carpenters shot all the nails way down into the siding, it was ridiculous. I used about a quart of glazing compound to fill them all, and topped that off with caulk. I drive by that house often and it seems to have held well.


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## PNW Painter

Gough, thanks for the install insight and the Crawfords recommendation. As this is my first time painting Hardie I'm not familiar with the install requirements, although I also thought that it was odd to have so many nails showing. I'll take a few pics tomorrow so you've got a better idea of the issues I'm dealing with. 

Beyond that I noticed several other issues: 
- Lots of nails were under driven. The GC said that one of his guns was malfunctioning, but he didn't bother to fix it. The GC also had to take off some boards for an inspection, which left a lot of holes in one area. 
- A lot of the boards were walked on with muddy boots before installation. It was bad enough that an x-jet equipped pressure washer using a house cleaning detergent wasn't enough. I'll have to scrub these areas by hand to remove the heavy build up of mud. 
- The installers caulked where the hardie meets the trim, but weren't consistent about pressing the caulk into the joint everywhere. This has caused the caulk to pull away a lot of areas. Now I'm trying to decide if I should remove the caulk in some areas due to there poor job.


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## Gough

PNW Painter said:


> Gough, thanks for the install insight and the Crawfords recommendation. As this is my first time painting Hardie I'm not familiar with the install requirements, although I also thought that it was odd to have so many nails showing. I'll take a few pics tomorrow so you've got a better idea of the issues I'm dealing with.
> 
> Beyond that I noticed several other issues:
> - Lots of nails were under driven. The GC said that one of his guns was malfunctioning, but he didn't bother to fix it. The GC also had to take off some boards for an inspection, which left a lot of holes in one area.
> - A lot of the boards were walked on with muddy boots before installation. It was bad enough that an x-jet equipped pressure washer using a house cleaning detergent wasn't enough. I'll have to scrub these areas by hand to remove the heavy build up of mud.
> - The installers caulked where the hardie meets the trim, but weren't consistent about pressing the caulk into the joint everywhere. This has caused the caulk to pull away a lot of areas. Now I'm trying to decide if I should remove the caulk in some areas due to there poor job.


That pretty well sums up why we started hanging Hardi ourselves. At least around here, you rarely see it done correctly.


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## [email protected]

I know of a sub division in Raleigh North Carolina that they bottom nail all of the Masonite siding. That my sister as me to bid a couple of. 
David


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## Slopmeyer

Sounds like it was the first time for the installer as well.


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## Gough

[email protected] said:


> I know of a sub division in Raleigh North Carolina that they bottom nail all of the Masonite siding. That my sister as me to bid a couple of.
> David


People are still using Masonite siding?? In North Carolina??


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## [email protected]

The houses are about early 1980 I would say. Don't know if they still are using it. But it sure looked like it. And I know my sister had some replaced. Any I ideas on what to fill with see there are proud framing nails used. I am thinking on just wiping some caulk in them. but I am not happy with that idea. 
David


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## Gough

[email protected] said:


> The houses are about early 1980 I would say. Don't know if they still are using it. But it sure looked like it. And I know my sister had some replaced. Any I ideas on what to fill with see there are proud framing nails used. I am thinking on just wiping some caulk in them. but I am not happy with that idea.
> David


I thought all of the class action suits had been settled and most people had re-sided. We did one a few years ago, what a mess.


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## PNW Painter

Here's some pics I took of the install today. I'm gonna start the prep work tomorrow, but any advice to speed up the process of filling the nail holes would be appreciated. 

Here's an example of the overdriven nails









A spot where the caulk is pulling away









Here's a wide angle view to get an idea of how they've driven nails in the siding









Another view of the siding









Because the HO is a close friend it would be helpful to get some insight on the install. Did GC's install void the Hardie warranty?


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## PNW Painter

I'm not sure why the images aren't showing? If you right click on them you may be able to view them. I could on my Mac.


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## Gough

PNW Painter said:


> I'm not sure why the images aren't showing? If you right click on them you may be able to view them. I could on my Mac.


I can't on my iPad. I 'll try a Windows machine.


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## Gough

Gough said:


> I can't on my iPad. I 'll try a Windows machine.


No joy there, either.


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## PNW Painter

Ok, I was able to get the images to work via Photobucket.

Here's an example of the overdriven nails









A spot where the caulk is pulling away.


Here's a wide angle view to get an idea of how they've driven nails in the siding









Another view of the siding


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## Gough

From what I can see, the nails are over-driven, there are no kick-out flashings, the siding looks as if it's hard against the top of the head casings, and the caulking job looks fugly.

The nail holes need to be filled and the siding properly nailed; kick-out flashing should be installed; the siding should be cut back to 1/4" above the head casings; the blobs/ridges of caulk should be cut out and the joints re-caulked. That stuff is sure a lot easier to do right the first time than it is to fix later.

Given how he's done the rest, I don't imagine that the contractor splined at the corners or under the butt joints in the field.

As it is, I can't imagine Hardie would cover a claim. The good news is, nearly all of those details can be repaired. You know the bad news.


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## premierpainter

That is the worst Hardie job that I have ever seen.
Ugly


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## Bender

I might be missing something but why not caulk the nail holes?


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## Gough

Bender said:


> I might be missing something but why not caulk the nail holes?


Done in a tidy fashion, I have no problem with that. I wouldn't use the same guys who caulked along the corner boards:whistling2:


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## PNW Painter

Spent all day driving in and filling nail holes. About 1/3 of the nails needed to be set. Luckily I included quite a bit of time in my bid for prep work.

The more I see the fugly caulk job, the more pissed off I get. I'd never let finish work like that pass in my company. I take great pride in my finish work and the end product won't look nearly as good because of somebody else's carelessness.



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## SwatchDeck

A really tough situation to start a job. I would call James Hardie and get a rep out there. Have them write you up something to protect yourself down the road. You dont want the customer calling back in a couple years when the failures start "popping" up. If thats how the install went who knows what underneath the siding.


Brad Bolinger
Painting Oregon Inc.
SwatchDeckapp.com


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## mastr

lightweight shrink-free spackle is the way to go, caulk will shrink. call the company to get a recommendation but I bet they would say use caulk. I doubt that anything will be long term solution and I doubt they will warranty anything. I have called companies about filling holes in composite decking and they suggest exterior caulk


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## stelzerpaintinginc.

For what it's worth, you might present 2 options to your customer. 

Option 1. Fill holes with spackle. Advantage: holes filled flush. Disadvantage: spackle lacks long-term elasticity and tends to get brittle over time. 

Option 2: Fill holes with caulk. Advantage: caulk will stretch better than spackle as siding expands/contracts. Disadvantage: holes won't be filled completely flush. 

Perhaps other members have more insight, but I've yet to see Hardie sided where the siders used spackle or putty to fill holes. 



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## Jmayspaint

stelzerpaintinginc. said:


> For what it's worth, you might present 2 options to your customer.
> 
> Option 1. Fill holes with spackle. Advantage: holes filled flush. Disadvantage: spackle lacks long-term elasticity and tends to get brittle over time.
> 
> Option 2: Fill holes with caulk. Advantage: caulk will stretch better than spackle as siding expands/contracts. Disadvantage: holes won't be filled completely flush.
> 
> Perhaps other members have more insight, but I've yet to see Hardie sided where the siders used spackle or putty to fill holes.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using PaintTalk.com



I still like option three, fill them with putty, glazing, or spackle and top them off with caulk. With putty or glazing its all done at one time (don't have to wait for spackle to dry and come back) and you get both a flush filled hole and the flexibility of caulk.


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## FireTiger

premierpainter said:


> That is the worst Hardie job that I have ever seen.
> Ugly



Lmao you should see some of the jobs I'm on for hardie siding. Those pics look like gold compared to what I see on a daily basis.


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## canopainting

3M Patch and prime, will never flash,


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