When I was planning to build our house, I thought that T1-11 siding would be fine. It looks, or at least is intended to look, like vertical boards. It’s used as a finish siding in lots of applications, but most of the books I read to prepare for construction recommended against that.
But of course I knew better.
It turned out that the T1-11 siding was OK for the short term, but over the years was beginning to show some weathering. I also had allowed the siding to be too close to the ground at the northeast corner of the house.
This is what the house looked like about two and a half years ago, before we had new siding installed and before I solved the problem of having siding too close to the ground. I had already made a horizontal cut at the height of the lowest masonry wall and started to pull nails from the siding.
Just getting started
Here is what I found after I removed the siding. The dark edge at the lower left part of the front wall is water damage. I removed the old sheathing from the corner and put new sheathing up to cover the insulation you can see. Then I put up two layers of roofing felt, or tarpaper as I used to know it. I then screwed a layer of cement board over the roofing felt as a base for my next planned upgrade. As you can see, the new siding went up during this process.
The big reveal
Roofing felt and new siding
Here is what I have been working on for about a year. We decided on a cultured stone product. It’s actually a cement product that is formed in molds and colored to look like stone. It is convincing if it’s installed properly. This shows the elevated front walk that I have mentioned before.
In the meantime I also started some additional landscaping. The two hollies are transplants from the other side of the house. The stonework around the hollies uses native stone I find around the lot and here and there on the mountain. The wheelbarrow is not a part of the permanent landscaping, although it does make frequent appearances.
I finished the north-facing walls except under our front walk about a year or so ago. I have been having trouble motivating myself to finish the wall under the front walk and along the foundation of the garage, but I finally prodded myself into it. I expect to have this part of the foundation finished by the end of next weekend. Then I start on the other side of the garage foundation and out to the rear of the house. That will be a substantial amount of work, at least as much as I have already done.
And then I need to do the east foundation wall, which is only about three feet high. I want to get all the concrete covered by the time I finish.
And then I need to work on the front walk. It needs stain, and the handrail is in bad shape. I’m thinking man-made materials here, too.
That looks like a lot of work, but well worth the effort. The new cement siding looks great.
It is a lot of work, but I agree that in the end it will be worth it. I just have to keep my head down and not look at all the bare concrete yet to be covered. And I agree about the siding, too. It has made a tremendous difference in the look of the house, and all for the better I think.
I have some major stuff to do in three places that have degraded after 22 years. I’m just a little awestruck at your abilities.
Wayne, I have found that the hardest part of doing anything around the house is making myself start it. I did a wood-burning stove hearth with cultured stone way back right after the house was dried in. I taught myself how to do it and it turned out that it wasn’t too hard. The hardest part of doing large expanses is keeping the lines straight. The material is designed for ease of installation. What I find interesting is seeing the jobs that commercial workers do on restaurants and stores. It really is pretty poorly done in many cases.