In a message dated 4/14/2000 9:02:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< They want every joint cleaned out and filled with caulk, ugh.  Or
 should we convince them that it already looks "nice", and clean it up,
 treat it, prime it and finish it?  Can we have some historic
 justification, or perhaps literature to oppose or support such
 treatments?
  >>

Rob,

Assuming the tongues on the horizontals are oriented properly, there is
probably no water getting into the joints. It sounds like the boards have
just "shrunk" to a more or less stable width, which has opened the joint a
bit. I presume that there is a quirk (about 1/16" adjacent to the bead, which
provides a reveal on that side. If you fill the opposite side it will look
wierd (in my opinion), there would typically have been some gap on that side
as well (which widened and narrowed with the season. It is true that 1/4" is
a bit wide, but filling it will look odd in my opinion. If they insist, fill
it,but with something flexible - or tell them to buy a new ranchburger with
aluminum siding on it.

Twybil