# Siding to deck gap



## veloguru (Nov 11, 2010)

I have flashed my deck ledger board with that 2 sided copper/vinyl stuff. Now i realize that i need to leave a 2" minimum gap between decking and hardiplank siding, which means 2" of gray vinyl flashing will be visible. ( They reccomend using vinyl side out when using flashing with decking). Should i bite the bullet and put second layer of copper over existing flashing? Can i reduce the gap to an inch despite James Hardi installation instructions? Any thoughts?


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## JRSeifert (Apr 22, 2010)

Hey Velo,

Well, here's my input, but I'll warn you in advance that it might not be the correct answer.

I just did a job that made extensive use of hardi-shingles, with some horizontal exterior band-boards with drip cap flashing. I too saw that advisory about leaving 2" of space between the bottom of a siding course and the flat top of the flashing.

I ignored it, and left a slim 1/8" gap instead.

I'm not sure if I should have, but it looked so bad to leave that huge gap that we didn't even consider it. I just figured there'd be plenty of opportunity for it to drain the way I did it.

Now, maybe someone will come on here and say that was a stupid idea, and I'll have to live with that. At any rate, that's how I dealt with it.

Good luck,
-Mike


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## Joe Carola (Jun 15, 2004)

veloguru said:


> I have flashed my deck ledger board with that 2 sided copper/vinyl stuff. Now i realize that i need to leave a 2" minimum gap between decking and hardiplank siding, which means 2" of gray vinyl flashing will be visible. ( They reccomend using vinyl side out when using flashing with decking). Should i bite the bullet and put second layer of copper over existing flashing? Can i reduce the gap to an inch despite James Hardi installation instructions? Any thoughts?


If you don't follow their installation guide measurement don't complain if the siding fails. Your house, you can do whatever you want.


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## woodworkbykirk (Sep 17, 2008)

all the decks i do i use a kickboard for the siding to come down to., 

meaning, i dont use the same size stock for my ledger as the joists. if im using 2x8 joist the ledger is 2x10 with the bottoms being flush. this keeps the siding up 1" from the decking. if your not familiar with it, this seems odd but its more practical. this may be an option. still flash the ledger the normal way.

in regards to harti though, take not that back on febuary 2nd of this year they discontinued their product on the entire east coast of canada and believe part of the states. the reason being was that they were having too many warrenty issues with paint failure and the siding flaking in high humidity high wind areas... so god only knows what harti is doing to fix things with their product. be it making the warrenty even more strict or make a better product....


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## JRSeifert (Apr 22, 2010)

**gulp!**

:whistling


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## veloguru (Nov 11, 2010)

Thanks for all the input. The main reason i asked is that 8 years ago i installed Hardiplank above a waterproof deck with no gap. ( Guess i did'nt read installation guidelines then either). I still work for that customer, and there has been no problem with the siding since then. I.E. the whole house is starting to show signs of slight fading ( no peeling or flaking of paint on the siding though )But no worse on the bottom course where the Hardiplank touches the Trex decking. I figure a paint job every 8 or 9 years is not bad! Unless i hear evidence of a REAL problem with this approach, think i'll go ahead and live with a 1" gap. Don't sweat it JRS!


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## veloguru (Nov 11, 2010)

One other thing. I am also using the Azek universal skirt board ( check the azek website) on the rest of my house. This is a 2 piece system with a 6 or 8" x 5/4 board with a groove in the top edge where a plastic/vinyl drip cap snaps in. I can't imagine Hardi would claim that this product should not be used with their own, even though the gap would be much less than 2". What do you think?


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## MJW (Jan 27, 2006)

Hardi will use every excuse possible when (not if) their product fails. JMO


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