Cedar Siding Repair in Portland: Boards, Shingles, Finish

Cedar siding repair in Portland, Oregon usually means replacing split, cupped or rotted boards and shingles, then getting the finish back ahead of the weather. Western red cedar resists decay better than most softwoods, which is why so many Northwest houses are sided in it, but it is still wood: where the finish fails and the end grain stays wet through a Portland winter, cedar rots too.

Portland Siding Pros passes cedar repair and replacement requests to independent local siding contractors, who quote and do the work.

Why cedar fails on a Portland house

• Finish failure. Once stain or paint wears through, cedar greys, checks and cups, and water soaks into the cracks.
• Wet end grain. Board ends at butt joints, corners and window trim absorb water fastest. Rot usually starts there. See dry rot in siding.
• Splash and soil. Boards close to the ground, decks or roof lines stay wet. Keeping clearance at the bottom course matters more than the species.
• Nails. Plain steel nails rust and streak cedar. Stainless or other corrosion-resistant fasteners are the norm for cedar.
• Storms and limbs. Branches through a wall, and impact damage on shingles. See siding repair for storm damage.

Cedar siding styles

• Bevel (clapboard) siding. Tapered boards lapped over each other, the most common cedar siding on older Portland houses.
• Tongue-and-groove and channel siding. Flat-faced boards laid horizontally or vertically, common on mid-century houses.
• Board-and-batten. Wide vertical boards with narrow battens over the joints.
• Shingles. Sawn cedar shingles in straight, staggered or decorative courses, often in gables.

Repairing cedar board by board

A good cedar repair replaces only what is damaged: the contractor probes suspect boards, cuts out the soft ones, and weaves in new cedar with staggered joints. New boards should be primed or sealed on all six faces before they go up, cut ends especially. Where the original boards are a profile or width no longer stocked, the job moves toward historic wood siding repair, where matching old profiles is the main skill.

Keeping the finish ahead of the rain

Cedar’s lifespan in Portland comes down to its finish. Solid stains and paint protect longest; semi-transparent stains show more grain but need renewing sooner. Whichever you choose, finish before the wet season, when the wood is dry, and pay attention to the south and west walls, which weather fastest. Paint that keeps peeling on the same boards is usually moisture from behind, not a bad paint job; see paint that keeps peeling on the repair page.

Cedar, or something that looks like it?

When a cedar wall is past repair, the options are new cedar, fiber cement lap or shingles with a wood-grain texture (fiber cement siding), or engineered wood. Fiber cement will not rot and needs less finish work; cedar is lighter, repairable board by board, and the only choice that is actually wood. On houses in Portland’s historic districts, review may decide it for you: see the Portland page.

Cedar siding prices

HomeGuide’s national guide puts installed cedar siding in the mid single digits to mid-teens per square foot, with bevel boards at the low end and shingles and clear grades at the high end. The cost table further down gives the source and date, and the siding cost page explains what else goes into a quote.