SHED BUILDING VIDEO 8 OF 15
How to Install LP SmartSide Shed Panels: Part 1
Learn how to install LP SmartSide panels (T1-11 Siding) on your shed or other projects, with our Instructional video and guide for a professional looking job.
Taught by Henry Reinders, a professional builder, renovator and woodworker with more than 45 years of hands-on experience.
Popular Video Chapters
Select a topic to jump directly to that part of the video.
0:12 Install the front and back panels first
Begin with the front and back walls so the gable panels establish clean edges for the side panels.
2:04 Measure and mark the first panel
Measure from known framing points and transfer accurate cut lines to the first LP SmartSide panel.
3:28 Cut openings cleanly with a router
Henry shows how to use a router and straightedge to cut door or window openings cleanly.
6:02 Apply adhesive and fasten the panel
Apply the adhesive and fastening method demonstrated while following the siding manufacturer’s current instructions.
8:29 Align grooves with the wall studs
Align the panel grooves with the wall studs so fasteners land in solid framing and the pattern stays consistent.
9:07 Template and cut the gable panels
Create a reusable template for the gable shape and check the fit before cutting the finish panel.
12:46 Reuse offcuts on the opposite wall
Use suitable offcuts on the opposite wall to reduce waste without compromising panel support.
14:37 Complete the fit and prepare the side walls
Henry explains how to complete the gable fit and prepare the building for side-wall panels.
WANT TO BUILD THIS SHED?
Complete Plans When You’re Ready
Use the video tutorials to help build the shed. Use the plans for exact dimensions, drawings, material lists, construction sequence and the included Excel costing sheet.
LP SmartSide Panel Installation: Part 1 Quick Reference
Panel order and cutout technique are the difference between a clean install and a lot of patching later.
Key specs at a glance
- Install order: front and back panels first, keeping side access open
- Door openings: cut after the panel’s up, using a router with a cutout bit – or pre-cut to size if you wish
- Fastening shown: finish nails plus “construction adhesive” to ensure nothing comes loose over time
- Joint alignment: panel edges and lap joints must land on a stud
Common mistakes to avoid
- Installing side panels first and losing access for soffit and fascia work later
- Skipping adhesive and relying on nails alone – finish nails do not have enough holding strength without the glue
- Letting panel joints fall between studs instead of on studs – likely will open up over time
PROJECT RESOURCES
Need a Budget? Price the Project Before You Build
Download the free Excel costing sheet to enter current local prices, provided for both shed plan sizes and both old and recent Excel formats (just in case you need the older file format).
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions are based on the topics covered in this video and common questions Henry receives from customers via email.
Why install the front and back siding panels first?
This helps keep access open for the soffit and fascia work on side walls making it easier to nail by hand or with an air nailer. Watch at 0:12
Can door openings be cut after the panel is installed?
Yes. The video shows using a router with a cutout bit after positioning the panel, which can produce a very accurate opening. Watch at 3:28
Why leave part of the door cutout attached temporarily?
The small connection prevents the cutout section from falling and tearing the uncut lower portion before it is finished by hand. Watch at 3:28
Is adhesive used with the siding nails?
Yes. Because we are using finish nails, construction adhesive is applied to the studs and wall plates to increase rigidity and adhesion. Watch at 6:02
Where must panel joints land?
Panel edges and lap joints must align over wall framing so they can be properly supported and fastened. Watch at 8:29
Complete Video Transcript
Use the expandable transcript to read Henry’s instructions found in this video – with timestamps linked to each section in the video.
Open the complete video transcript
– Welcome to CountryLifeProjects.com. I’m Henry Reinders. This is video eight of 15 videos in our shed project. In this video we’re gonna be installing the LP SmartSide panels on the front and back of our shed. We’re not gonna be doing the sides that may seem unusual, but if you watch video 11, you’ll see why it makes doing our fascia boards and especially our soften material much easier if we do the sides after those are done. So watch video 11 for that. The other reason we’re putting the LP SmartSide panel on first and video nine, we’re gonna be building the ladders for our soffit overhang on the front gable and back gable
and it’s much easier if you have these panels in place first. So let’s get started with our installation of LP SmartSide panels on the front and back of the shed, we’re gonna be showing you how to put the smart panel on the two gable ends of your shed where you won’t be doing the size until later. We have to do this first before we can do our ladders for our soffit. Now to make it easy to measure off, before you do that, gotta point out one more thing to line these up. You have a flange here that’s gonna get overlapped by the next sheet. What are you lining up with to the center of your shed?
Is that line right there to this groove here? So you wanna be in the center of this groove. With that line, we already have the blocks on the bottom to give us our proper line lay. That’s make sure that the panel’s level and on the top. Let’s go back there for a minute. You’ll see that we are halfway down the second plate here or the top plate. That’s important because that’s gonna allow our one by four trim to work out on covering the top piece of paneling and this piece here. Now to make this easy to measure out, all you have to do is put your panel in place. Make sure it’s snug on the bottom.
I’ve used a clamp on the top here to keep it in place. You just reach around, press against the panel, press it against your framing. Okay, now reaching around on the inside, press up against the framing with your panel. Make sure it’s in place. It’s actually really handy if you have somebody to help press against you for you Mark your lines off. Do the same thing on the top over here. Go halfway down. Now the bottom and you’ll have your complete cutout there. When you do cut these, cut ’em a little bit shy, about a quarter inch maybe. So they’re not gonna be sticking past the framing over here or the floor from the floor.
If you look outside on the corner, press the panel against the corner. Few marks here. You don’t have to worry about cutting back a little bit. Your panel going this way, we’ll start right at the edge here. Okay, I showed you how to mark off your panel and pre-cut it. However, there is an easier way. It’s actually much more accurate. And that is to actually put your panel in place, nail it down, and then use a router and router out your opening. And we have a special bit for that. And this is what we call a cutout bit. It’s got a little smooth edge roller there, cutting blade there. You just puncture that through your panel
and run it around the perimeter of your opening. You can also use, if you have any old laminate trior bits that are kind of past any good use, they’re not working too well anymore. They’re great for that. That’s what I like to use. This is a half inch shank so it’s really strong. So we’re gonna get the panel nailed on and show you that next ’cause we gotta use some glue, okay, because our SmartSide panels are only three eighths of an inch thick and they’re made out of OSB, we’re also putting them vertically. We want to give them a little bit of extra holding power and stability and we’re gonna glue all the panels
onto the framing. The top of the panel comes halfway up here, so we wanna make sure the first beat up here is on the lower part of that, especially if you’re not gonna be able to get to the upper panels the same day, you don’t want that glue drying. Go right to the corner here. About inch in, we do all our studs here. You can go on that stud, you don’t have to be right near the edge. And we have our center line marked out so we know where to start. I’ll do the lower sections now down below here, underneath the door, you definitely wanna have glue. As I pointed out earlier,
we’re gonna be putting our support for our sale here. So the smart panel has to be glued on quite solidly there. And you want about a quarter inch bead approximately. Okay, that’s ready for our panel. I’m gonna grab that now before you put your panel in place, don’t just lean it right up right away. Get it positioned. Now I put a couple marks on here on the very outside and I took it off. As you can see on the top here, lining up. We’ll just clamp this temporarily. Now on our panels, our 16 inch center studs, these marks are 16 inches on center. So we know when we nail through, we’re gonna have a stud.
So first thing we’re gonna do though is nail down the bottom. If you’re gonna be using a base plate skirt here, you don’t have to worry about hitting the panel. We’re gonna put a few in for now. Gonna nail the corner again on the corners here, you don’t have to worry about hitting this or hitting the panel. We got trim going on there. These are 16 inches apart, so you know you’ll have a stud right here in the middle. You don’t wanna nail that all the way in. Just use a nail punch to get it set. Now I’m gonna grab a ladder, put a few in the top, and we do have trim going over this as well.
You don’t have to worry about using the nail punch there. I do remember for the most part though, you only have three quarters of an inch here. You don’t wanna be too low. And I get off the ladder. I’m gonna measure back to where our door opening is. I’ll put a couple nails in there, couple over here, a couple on our tongue, and then we can router out the door and I’ll show you how we do that. It’s really easy. Very accurate. Okay, we’re gonna router out the opening. Now I’m using an old laminate tremor bit. You can use a specialized cutout bit, but if you have an old one, go ahead and use it.
Make sure you got your safety goggles on. ’cause this gets really dusty. Once you have your piece cut out, just run your router on one more time just in case it bounced a little bit. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Okay, we’ve routed our outside panel, our door opening. When you get down to the bottom here though, you may have this occasionally, you’re not gonna be able to get the router right down to the ground. Just trim that out with a saw and that’s all you have to do. We’re gonna be putting it on our second panel. Now this piece here has an overlap that overlaps on the prior piece.
What you want to do before we put the glue on is just drop the panel up here. Make sure the space up here and the space down here is equal. It should be, if you took time putting your blocks on earlier and everything should work out, of course your shed should be level and square. So right now we can see that it is, we’re gonna remove this, we’re gonna glue it, install it. Once we’re done that we’re gonna mark off the top pieces on our gable. We’ll show you how to do that when we get there. Okay? We’re gonna start measuring off our end panels on the top here. And there’s a little technique for
that just to make sure you get it right. We’re gonna be measuring same side to start with. Our tongue is in behind here, but we’re gonna be measuring from this edge right here. And that’s pretty much center of the shed. I’ve drawn a line up here. All you’ve gotta do is put your level on there, draw it down. This is the outside. Then what we’re gonna do, gonna measure from here up minus half an inch. ’cause we can be down here a bit. It doesn’t matter. It’ll never be seen. We’re gonna do the same thing over there. Measure up to the peak minus half an inch. Then we’re gonna take this measurement across here
to determine where that line goes. I’ll show you that in the layout. Okay. We’re gonna lay out the gable end panel, be the first one on the left that I just showed you previously. Now when we lay this out, we’re gonna do dual measurement so that the piece that gets cut off on this side here, ’cause our angle will be going across here that this piece can be used on the back of the shed, on the reverse side gable. So we’ll start with the measurements that I have. And we have three, two and three quarters for the peak. That’s actually half an inch deducted off of there. Now across from our groove, we have 46 and a quarter.
We’re gonna bring that up. We’re gonna be five and seven eighths up and we’ll mark that off. Now if you have a nice straight piece of wood you can use to mark your line off, go across to that point. Now once you have this marked off, we want to reuse this section here. We’re gonna do the measurement for the peak on the other side plus a little bit, just just so we have a little bit of extra in case there’s some minor differences over there. So I’m gonna go 35 and we’ll take the total measurement, which is 40 and three quarters. We’ll put that over here. That is gonna give us a square base.
If we were to cut that first, there’s no way we’d be able to measure that. So you need to do that now. And the final measuring of this piece would be done when we’re doing the back side. So now we can go ahead, we can get this piece cut. We’ll save this piece for the back and we’ll get that piece up and then we’ll measure the second piece. So I’ll get that cut now. Okay, our panel is fitted here down just a little hair over half inch here. We’re good on the end here. We’re in line here. You’ll notice we have a little bit of a peak going past here
on the top of the rafter. We’ll nip that off before we glue it. Now this side here, because of our brace, we couldn’t mark it off from the back, so we had to measure it. When we do this piece, I’m gonna show you a real quick way to to mark it off and it’ll be really easy to do. So I’m gonna get this glued nailed on. We’ll come back shortly and do that piece. Okay. For this side of our gable peak, we’ve just cut a piece this distance here, which is six inches plus our peak height, which is 32 and three quarters. And then what we’re gonna do, we just placed it
up here, is square. All you have to do here, once you have all these grooves lined up, just mark off the end of your wall here on the back. Just mark off the back, make sure this is tight. Do the same thing on the peak. We’ll bring this down, turn it over, and mark our line off minus half an inch. And we’re done as far as cutting this piece. Yep. Okay. That’s this piece done on this side. Keep in mind, we do have backing at 16 inch centers here, which are these grooves, both sides. The important thing with this piece here, if you’re using the technique of marking it off from the back,
when you hold the piece up here, just make sure you cut the panel six inches longer so that the piece that comes off here can be reused on the backside of the shed. As far as the backside of the shed goes, just repeat the whole process that you’ve seen here. After that, we’re gonna go to the next video and we’re gonna do the ladders for our overhangs, but for now, we’re done here. We’ll finish off the back and we’ll get to the, we’ll get to that video.
Continue the Shed-Building Series
Follow the lessons in sequence so each completed stage is ready for the work that follows.