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The electrician cut open my board-&-batten siding in order to replace the main electrical panel. He arbitrarily made the vertical cut beside a wall stud instead of on the stud, which means the remaining (non-scrap) piece of plywood is hanging in space with no way to fasten its edge:

Plywood siding cut

( The new panel obviously has a mounting flange that consumes most of the stud width, but, IMO, it could have been slipped behind the existing siding if it was cut o.c. with the stud. )

EDIT: Adding wider angle pic: enter image description here

The only idea I have is to add another stud (a faux stud) by face-nailing some blocking to the existing stud so I can secure the siding and cover the joint with a bat. But that means I need to open up the drywall from the other side of the wall in order to access it.

Is there a better or easier way to repair this?

The solar contract specifically says the solar company does not repair siding -- apparently their electricians just destroy it and then "not their problem."

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  • So I guess you and your lawyer read the contract after signing it. Wonder if there is a piece of steel thick enough to provide support made in a Z shape.
    – crip659
    Commented Sep 5, 2022 at 23:21
  • I saw the clause beforehand. Just didn't think they would do so much awful work (trust me, the siding is the least worst part!).
    – invsblduck
    Commented Sep 5, 2022 at 23:59
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    Check with your lawyer, there is probably a workmanship clause implied or in the contract. You could also start posting pictures of there work with the company name. Post the first on there web site.
    – Gil
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 0:08
  • Those clauses are put in for their benefit. Your idea to put in another will work, but make a mess inside. You really just a good support surface, so some bent steel should work also.
    – crip659
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 0:10
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    I feel like this is less a technical question and more an artistic or aesthetic question. To that end, can you post a wider angle picture?
    – longneck
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 1:24

2 Answers 2

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If you have no problem in obtaining (or you already have) more matching siding, I would cut the siding back to the middle of the next stud to the right. Then, you can easily cut the new siding plywood piece to the proper width, install it and put a new batten piece over your newly created seam.

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  • This. Do the job properly as the installers should have done it, just one stud bay over. More of a pain than you should have to go through, but, it seems you knew this up front.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 12:19
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    Thank you! 👏 Naturally, I had considered cutting back more siding at first thought, but didn't ever enumerate that option in detail for some reason (probably because it's counter-intuitive to the novice DIYer to remove more of the thing you're trying to repair :)).
    – invsblduck
    Commented Sep 9, 2022 at 3:11
  • @peinal, I forgot: The second pic above was taken the week before I posted the question -- they had actually bolted a solar "combiner" box to that dangling plywood (to the right of the main panel). :( It has a bunch of romex routed into the back, through the siding. Rather than have them come back and disconnect it so I can do the repair, I just did it the hard way from the other side of the wall. :( Really don't want them touching my house again. Thank you for sharing the correct way to approach this.
    – invsblduck
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 4:43
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My suggestion is to continue with the idea you propose in your post - just expand the scope to make it work.

I would consider cutting the hanging plywood just a little bit more, to get a straight edge on it and to squeeze in a 2x4 to use as blocking behind the repair. Fastening the 2x4 may be tricky from the wrong side of the plywood - maybe long screws coming from the left?

Then you would have a straight edge of plywood with a 2x4 behind it, which would be a good place to be.

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4
  • You might not have to even cut the ply… just pry it 1.5 inches away from the stud and you can sneak a 2x4 in and attach it on the flat to the ply and to the existing stud. You can do that in sections, too… it doesn’t have to be a full length 2x4.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 3:49
  • Good call @AloysiusDefenestrate. Smith: See the second pic I added - screwing from the left hand side is impossible with the panel there, GREAT suggestion though. Would be very tricky to keep the loose 2x4 in place or not lose it in the bay after you squeeze it in.
    – invsblduck
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 6:00
  • The trick is to get a couple of temporary screws into the corner of the blocking so you can manipulate it when it’s in the joist bay. Then get a few screws through the plywood into the 2x4. Once it’s stable, you can figure out how to secure the blocking to the stud. (Probably angled screws going right to left.)
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Sep 6, 2022 at 19:47
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    Thank you both Smith and @AloysiusDefenestrate for great ideas. Seriously helpful (I successfully implemented some of these ideas or variations on them), very much appreciated.
    – invsblduck
    Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 4:53

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