Cutting Fiber Cement Board Siding
Cutting fiber cement siding siding shears.
Cutting fiber cement board siding. Use your eyeware and ear protection. It is a concrete product that is light flexible and has a woodlike finish. For tasks performed outdoors only. Makita and hitachi.
For the contractor who measures siding jobs by the square mile not the square foot i think the. This old house general contractor tom silva shares his secrets for working with fiber cement siding. It can be cut and drilled just like wood. Typically siding shears use air.
For a slow but virtually dustless way to cut siding use power. You have to make the cuts very slowly. The cleanest way to cut fiber cement siding is by using siding shears. When cutting fiber cement siding with circular saw use a blade that has only four or six teeth.
These are specialized to reduce the dust caused from cutting these planks. Just sharing some of the different methods i ve used for cutting hardieboard siding. Cutting fiber cement board around openings mark the siding to fit around windows hold the siding snug under the windowsill and mark the window edge location. Use saw equipped with commercially available dust collection system.
Under 29 cfr 1926 1153 c iii osha provides a specific safe harbor practice for cutting for cutting fiber cement boards using a handheld power saw with blade diameter of 8 inches or less 1. Then measure from the chalk line to the top of the siding. However drilling through cement fiber siding goes better if you use a carbide. If any cutting needs to be done to allow for the added flashing than it can be done on the workbench with a pair of siding shears zero dust.
The advantage of using the circular saw is that you can cut more than one board at a time. You can use diamond cutting blades attached to your circular saw or sliding miter saw. One way to eliminate cutting or at least keep it to a minimum would be to remove the entire piece above the window flash the window and then replace the siding. Use a specialized blade used with the saw such as mikita hardiblade or dewalts filber cement blade.
Cutting fiber cement siding stationary shears.