Siding help?

[RickSab]

I don't get a lot of wood siding like this in my area so I need the collective brain trusts help. This house was remodeled probably pre 1990. Many of the siding panels have a series of holes that are repeated at consistent spacing. It looks like the feed roller punctured the panel as it ran through the production line.

Is this a known problem with sheet goods siding? Any guess as to the brand?

Thanks in advance.

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[kurt]

It looks like woodpecker damage. Bugs get in voids in the plywood, and the 'peckers find them.

I see this on almost every plywood siding job someplace. This one is more extensive than most.

[Scottpat]

I tend to agree with Kurt on good ole Woody looking for a snack.

It does however look like something was attached to the siding on the left side of the photo, old caulk line?

[Les]

Rick,

yes it is a common problem/defect. We see it on almost a daily basis. Many different mfgs. not so common in the recently mfg'd stuff as they now fill the second ply before lamination. at least that is what GP does.

[RickSab]

My first thought was wood peckers,but the holes always lined up perfectly and repeated on some sheets at the exact same spacing. Always horizontal patterns about 30 inches apart.

[Nolan Kienitz]

Woodpecker probably had his tape measure with him.

He might have even had the handy-dandy version with a watch built in!!

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OK, OK ... I just couldn't resist !!

[hausdok]

The wood pecker has to grip the bottom edge of the panel and that places his beak at the same level horizontally.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bain]

Woodpecker probably had his tape measure with him.

He might have even had the handy-dandy version with a watch built in!!

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OK, OK ... I just couldn't resist !!

Why can I see Chad wearing one of those . . ?

[Jim Katen]

My first thought was wood peckers,but the holes always lined up perfectly and repeated on some sheets at the exact same spacing. Always horizontal patterns about 30 inches apart.

The woodpecker is punching holes in a perfectly straight line because the gap in the middle layer of veneer is in a perfectly straight line. That's where the bugs go.

Around here, they'd be mason bees. They crawl into those long, narrow tunnels formed by the gap in the veneer, and they lay their eggs. They place an egg, then a plug with some food, another egg, another plug with some food, and so on. The eggs hatch into larvae, who eat the food and then pupate. Now here's the interesting part, the pupae emerge as adult bees in reverse order. So the last egg laid emerges, leaving room for her sister, who emerges next & so on. Except that sometimes the woodpeckers find them first.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[John Kogel]

My first thought was wood peckers, but the holes always lined up perfectly and repeated on some sheets at the exact same spacing. Always horizontal patterns about 30 inches apart.

The inner veneer strips are laid that way, crossways with a little gap between strips, then the top sheet is laid over that, forming little tubes that bugs like.

[RickSab]

Thanks for all the help. I've seen the holes woodpeckers have left in rafters and trim when they go after the carpenter bees. They were never so uniform. One of the things I love about this place is you get to learn something new every day.

[Tom Raymond]

It's amazing how timely some of these topics are. I just looked at a house Thursday with three varieties of plywood siding and each of them had been holed like in the OP. I had assumed carpenter bees, now I know better.

On the topic of wood peckers, my parents have had one for the past several years that seems to like the meter base. Several times a week in the summer months he bangs on that metal enclosure in ten to fifteen minute sessions. Persistant little bugger.

Tom

[Mike Lamb]

I always thought it was a manufacturer's defect. The spikes in the drum that pulls the plywood sheets along the conveyer has punched holes in the veneer. At least, I've told many a person that.

[David Meiland]

he bangs on that metal enclosure in ten to fifteen minute sessions.

I have one that bangs on the metal roof of my shop. A client who is a birder explained that this is how he announces his virulent bird-ness to the females. It must work because it lasts for a short time and then he's gone.

[hausdok]

My father used to bang back at them with 22 cal. birdshot.

No blood or spatter, does almost no damage to the siding. Paint fills in the tiny B-B holes just fine.

OT - OF!!!

Mike