Cedar Siding Repair & Replacement in Salem, OR

Cedar siding comes as lap boards, sawn shingles and split shakes. Damaged cedar can often be repaired in place: split or rotted boards replaced, woodpecker holes patched, courses of shingles rewoven. Full replacement, in cedar or another material, is the other route. Describe the siding and we connect you with an independent local siding contractor, who quotes the work directly.

What damages cedar siding?

• Water that does not drain away. Board ends near soil, decks and roofs, window sills, and joints behind failed caulk stay wet long enough to rot. Look below roof-to-wall corners too, where a missing kickout flashing sends water down the wall.
• A worn-out finish. Bare wood takes a beating through Salem’s wet season, when November, December and January each average roughly six to seven inches of rain (NOAA 1991-2020 normals).
• Paint that keeps peeling because moisture is pushing it off from behind, or because replacement boards and cut ends were never primed.
• Woodpecker holes, which let rain into the wall.
• Impact from falling limbs; the February 2021 and January 2024 ice storms brought down trees across Salem.

Soft wood that a screwdriver sinks into is rot, not weathering. Dry rot in siding and trim explains how to tell how far it goes.

Repairing cedar on older and historic houses

Older houses bring questions that newer ones do not:

• Historic review in Salem. The city lists replacing siding with a different type, style or material among the changes that need historic design review, and ordinary maintenance and repair, such as painting, among the work that does not. That applies to individually listed properties and to buildings in Salem’s National Register districts. The Salem page has the details.
• Historic review in Silverton. The city’s historic preservation program reviews alterations to designated landmarks and contributing historic resources. See the Silverton page.
• Lead paint. On a house built before 1978, a contractor who disturbs 20 square feet or more of painted exterior needs a Construction Contractors Board lead-based paint renovation license and has to work lead-safe.
• Matching old profiles. Older board profiles and widths are not always stocked, so repair boards sometimes have to be milled to match.

Woodpecker holes in cedar

Small holes in otherwise sound boards can be patched and finished. Boards with clusters of holes, or soft wood around them, are better replaced so rain cannot get in behind. Woodpeckers are protected under federal law, so the fix is repair and deterrence rather than harming the birds.

Shingles, shakes and lap siding

Sawn shingles are cut on both faces, so they lie flat in even courses. Split shakes are split along the grain, which gives them a rougher face, uneven thickness and deeper shadows. Lap siding is milled into long boards with a profile, such as bevel siding, that overlap horizontally. The comparison further down this page sets the three side by side, and each repairs differently: shingles and shakes are slipped into existing courses, while lap boards are replaced in lengths with the joints staggered.

Finishing cedar after a repair

New cedar looks different from old cedar until it weathers or is finished to match. Replacement boards and cut ends should be primed or sealed before they go up, and paint or stain goes on within the product’s temperature and dew-point limits. Salem’s dry months, June through September, make finishing easiest; a winter repair may need its final coat later.

Replace cedar with cedar, or with something else?

New cedar keeps the look, and on a historic Salem property it avoids the change of material that triggers design review. Other materials can imitate it: fiber cement comes in lap boards and shingles, and vinyl comes in shake and shingle styles. Each changes the maintenance, the weight on the wall and the cost. Whichever you choose, a full siding replacement rebuilds the barrier and flashing behind the new siding.

What does cedar siding cost?

No dependable published source for cedar siding costs was found, so this site publishes no cedar price. The cost table on this page shows national siding repair ranges and fiber cement and vinyl replacement figures, useful only as context. The siding cost page explains what drives a quote for any material.

Request a siding quote, choose cedar and wood siding, and say whether it is shingles, shakes or lap boards. We connect you with an independent contractor who covers your ZIP code.