# Can I reuse cedar siding?



## BrandonR (Feb 14, 2012)

This may be an obvious question, but I am just getting into the hobby and need some advice! My mother in law is having her entire outside of her house redone. They are in the process of tearing down over 1000 board feet of cedar siding. The siding is about 25 years old and has been painted every three to five years…

With the cost of wood I was hoping I could possibly reuse some of this lumber to fuel my ever growing excitement to start new projects.

Could I plain this wood? If it is beveled, is it out the door for doing any fine wood working? I know I also will be dealing with nails.

Wanted to see your experiences and possible obvious answers to these questions! I hate to see it thrown in the dumpster!

Thanks

Brandon


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

Sure you can reuse it. The hard part is removing the paint. The knives in a planer will dull quickly when used to remove paint. This could be done but I am not sure how I would do it. I feel like some of the other guys have experience in this area. Don't throw it away. Pull the nails and store it indoors. Sticker and stack.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

Might be better to chemically strip the paint.

The boards will probably be cupped and might be tapered.

Ripping a cupped board will let you loose half as much thickness when you plane it.

Planing will fix the taper problem also, but might need a sled.

But, you are lucky in the fact that many projects using cedar only need thin stock.

OR

Maybe use it as siding again to build bird houses or dog houses and sell them for money to buy what ever lumber you want.


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