Siding Questions

[cychhosis]

You absolutely must use house wrap. Stop air infiltration!

[ISU_phoria]

I think the first thing you should do is re-evaluate a cost of $3k-$4K to paint it. Is this based on a quote from a contractor? I just painted my house last year and it's a fairly decent sized house. (I even bought some really high-quality paint from a commerical painter as I'm in the construction industry) and the the total (including $200 for a new ladder) was just over $1,000, which included all the "tools" and supplies (caulk, brushes, rollers, nails, etc.)

[mkadl]

I have a house built in 1955 and am having the same dilema. Have two wooden exterior windows that have pretty much rotted out (one is already patched - poorly). It has aluminum siding that I painted when I first moved it but is showing age with dents and such, plus my wife wants a different color. Back door is starting to rot on the threshhold and both screen doors have had it. I have the least efficient windows since they started making them in glass, and there's near no insulation in the walls.

My idea (wish) is to rip of the aluminum, rip off the wood siding that appears to be underneath, and then blow in insulation and replace the windows & doors, wrap in tyvek, reside with hardiplank and maybe even Aztec for the trim.

12 double hung, 1 picture and 2 doors. Haven't done the math yet on siding, but the house is 1100 sq ft with on brick veneered wall and 3 gables.

Anyone have any experience with do-it-yourself blow in cellulose insulation? Or does anybody know if there's a company that will do refit injectable foam in the DSM area? That would be my preferance.

If your window and door jambs are built out away from your sheating, (the layer under both layers of siding) you can install 1" insulation board and still have room for siding. BUT you have to remove both layers of siding. The fiberglass insulation and sheating material that I suspect you have will not work well with a injected insulation. The board insulation will give you an additional r-8 insulation. (6" fiberglass = r-19 or so ) I assume you have some fiberglass now. If you have cellulose now, and no fire stops in your walls, then I think you can blow insulation from the top. Your trusses or rafters where they meet the walls in your attic, don't have enough room for adequate insulation anyway, guaranteed. I live in a vintage 1957 home been there done that.

[JRCampy]

Dug this one out, got me a siding question.

The wife and I are looking at residing part of our house this spring and finishing the job over a couple years to avoid taking out any loans. I went into the quote process thinking that we would do Hardie over vinyl no matter what, but didn't realize there were other options out there. So now I'm debating between Hardie, CertainTeed, and LP Smartside. I had never heard of the latter two until this process, and the contractors guarantee me that the only reason I haven't heard of them is because Hardie did a very good job of marketing the Des Moines area. CertainTeed seems pretty comparable to Hardie from the internet research I've done. However Smartside looks like OSB from the back and I am generally leary about putting another wood product on the side of my home after having rotting masonite replaced. I do realize fiber cement siding does in fact contain wood and all three of these products are not an install it and forget type deal. Does anybody have a suggestion of what product is best and why?? Also we've heard that Hardie is pretty stingy when it comes to enforcing their warranty. If it wasn't installed correctly the warranty is voided, this has my wife spooked.

Thanks for the help!!

[cyinne]

I have done siding jobs before and with my experience I would tear off everything that is on the side of your house down to the 1x6 or 1x8" shiplap siding and start new. Pretty much in the following order:
-New insulation in the walls (since the house is 90-ish years old there is probably a lot of compaction of the current insulation in the wall cavities and may be only half as full as they once were- putting holes in the shiplap siding and blowing in insulation would be ideal.)
-New 1/2" or 3/8" R-Board Sheating- using Tyvek tape on the seams.
-New Tyvek house wrap
-New energy efficient windows.
-New siding- Hardiboard, Vinyl.... whatever.

Do it the right way- even if you have to spend a little more than you want. The savings later in energy costs will make up for the extra costs during remodel.

Disclaimer: I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[aforstate]

I have done siding jobs before and with my experience I would tear off everything that is on the side of your house down to the 1x6 or 1x8" shiplap siding and start new. Pretty much in the following order:
-New insulation in the walls (since the house is 90-ish years old there is probably a lot of compaction of the current insulation in the wall cavities and may be only half as full as they once were- putting holes in the shiplap siding and blowing in insulation would be ideal.)
-New 1/2" or 3/8" R-Board Sheating- using Tyvek tape on the seams.
-New Tyvek house wrap
-New energy efficient windows.
-New siding- Hardiboard, Vinyl.... whatever.

Do it the right way- even if you have to spend a little more than you want. The savings later in energy costs will make up for the extra costs during remodel.

/\ This is good advice.

I will start by saying that I have been siding houses for 10 years so I've been around the block a few times with just about every siding product out there. I mainly install Hardie, vinyl or steel.

Hardie -
Pros - Durable. Looks great when installed correctly. Great warranty when installed correctly.
Cons - Expensive. Needs paint, unless you buy prepainted ($$). Almost impossible to install correctly without experience. Sometimes actual materials are defective. Warranty is crap if installed wrong. Trim accessories are complete junk.

Certainteed -
Pros and cons pretty much the same as above. Slightly denser than Hardie (does not mean better). Slightly more brittle than Hardie.

LP Smartside-
Pros- Comes in 16 ft lengths (less seams). Good texture. Seems durable but we'll see I guess. Easy to work with. Great trim accessories (also for use with Hardie).
Cons- Expansion/Contraction. Make sure it is dried out before you put it on! Needs painted (also comes prepainted for extra $$). Don't know anything about the warranty.

Steel-
Pros- Maintenance free. Fairly durable. Looks better than vinyl.
Cons- More difficult than vinyl to install. Expensive. Hard to repair.

Vinyl-
Pros- Generally maintenance free. Cheap(depending on what kind you get). Easy to install (but not easy to make look good).
Cons- Sure it's easy to put up, but it usually looks like hell unless the installers know what they are doing. Cheap vinyl siding will look REALLY cheap. Some of it fades. Easy to ruin but easy to repair.


Trim accessories- Miratec>Smartside>Azek>Hardie. You could pay all of the outrageous prices for Azek and Hardie trim for me to install them on my own house and I still wouldn't do it. Biggest wastes of money ever.

Basically, I'll answer any questions that I can. If anyone in the Ames/DSM area needs a quote or suggestions pm me.

[cyclonestate]

I took this week off to side my house and I'm half way done. My college age son is helping me because it's his spring break. Expect to be done in 7 days total. We're putting on the hardie plank siding after we tear off all the old siding, put on all new plywood and wrap with Tyvek. Will cost me $4500 total to do it myself. Would have cost $15,000 to hire it done. Not bad for 1 week of work.