I don't have experience with exterior boards and finger joints. I do however have an experience I had with baseboard that got wet and was finger jointed was that the joint showed up very visible and never really went back to its pre wet stage when dried. This was painted however only on the face of it and pre-primed on all sides except the back. The back was not exposed to water. So I would be weary of using a finger-joint on the exterior as I can see it being exposed to lots of temperature changes and humidity changes that seems to me like those finger joints would likely show up at some point. Again I do not have experience with any siding and finger joints though.

To: pfr pfr I appreciate your answer and position on these "Finger jointed studs". Please remember that I am only speaking of my experience with the use of these studs and not trying to stir the pot with my comments. I can understand that any house can be built out of cardboard boxes and matchsticks secured with glue, but I don't want one, but I have now a house built out of Finger Jointed Studs that I don't really trust. Now to comment on your above. First, no I have not found a wall that seemed to have moved out of its original position so we can count that one out so far. Now, here is one that you can hang your hat on...During our Ice storm, I had a frozen pipe behind the wall, So I had to bust out an area of sheetrock with a hammer (Between studs). When I hit the sheetrock about maybe 5 times with a hammer in order to remove it to gain access to the busted pipe. the Stud actually broke. (And no I was lucky enough to hit enough between the Two studs close enough that it shouldn't have done much damage to any other type of stud. Instead, it broke about an inch and a half across the glue joint. The new homes are being built without the benefit of outside sheeting such as OSB or plywood so they have only plastic sheeting and the Brick positioned further to the outside of the Stud and plastic sheeting. Now you are most likely wondering if either hit it harder than I am saying to gain any benefit of the doubt to all you readers, the answer is no and I did not use a sledgehammer to prove a point. I wish I had thought more about taking pictures that would have been more fact-finding but I did not take any. (Sorry) I was more interested in getting water service to my home during the storm. Now, if the above is any indication of strength, I would not want to be in high winds. Also, not all of the home is without OSB sheeting but the side I am speaking of is. These studs are on 24-inch centers which is the building standard these days.

If your blood work comes back showing the tumor to be a mast-cell, don't let your regular vet do the surgery. These tumors send out webs of tissue that can involve muscle, joints and organs. Only a vet specializing in this disease has a chance of being able to excise all surrounding tissue. Our Lab went in for a tumor on her side and afterward the vet 'apolpgised' for not being able to get all the surrounding area. She then recommended taking the dog to a specialist. Two surgeries for a 13 year old...I don't think so. I don't know if the specialist could have done better, but I would have felt like we had given it our best shot. Had I known then I would have had her re-examined by the cancer doc. By the way, that was two years ago and the tumor came back, along with others. Amazingly, they don't seem to be really painful and her quality of life is better without the risk involved with more surgery attempts.

It's not too hard to do. We use a circular saw to make two cuts on each board, use a sharp chisel or Fein type saw to allow the removal of the center of each board. The groove side will come right out. The tongue side will be carefully pried out and the nails are removed. You can either go back to each existing end joint or use the Fein saw to make new end joints. I generally go back an average or 2' (0' to 4') to make sure the joints look natural. Then lay the new floor, interlacing the new and existing. It may be possible to use construction adhesive on the backs of the new boards and slide the into the T&G rather than removing parts of the new T&G. You can also use Titebond or Elmer's carpenter glue on the T&G. The exposed part would be blind nailed and the overlapped part could have a finish nail or two as needed. Then it's ready to acclimate, sand and finish.