what type of exterior for old house?

[dmccarty]

I just put Hardesiding on our shed barn I built. The stuff I used was a 4x8 sheet that looks just like T-11 wood siding we had on our city house. I just used some cement board screws I had left over rebuilding the tub surrounds in the old city house. The stuff I used was already primed I just need to paint it in the next few months.

It is HEAVY though. And as others have said you really have to watch out of dust. For the angles I had to do I used a utility knife. Slow Slow Slow but it was cheap cheap cheap to do. I only had to cut one sheet to get four pieces so I could spend the time. A larger project would require the shears or cutting with a saw which is messy.

When I rebuild the well house this year I'll use the Hardee product as siding.

We used another cement board product, Certainteed I think was the brand name, for some details needing a cedar siding look on the house. It is gray in color. We where going to paint it but it look good as is so we just left it alone.

For trim on the house we used Azec(sp) board. Its white. I wanted to paint it green. The wife likes it as it is. Green was the plan but its still not painted and looks fine..... Green would look better but she likes white. So it will stay white.

Later,
Dan

 

[RobJ]

Like Dan said you can get hardi in 4x8 sheets or horzonal boards. I like the hardi because it is simple to put up, just like wood, and you can change the color if you want with paint. With vinyl around here the old wood stays up and the foam board they call insulation is just to smooth out the area, not much real insulations. So if you get termites htey still can eat up the old boards.

I put up a whole bunch of hardi on the weekend place. it's been up 6 years now and only the south side of the house that gets funn sun all day is starting to show some age. But as mentioned it does take paint very well.

Good Luck,
Rob

BTW, not my car, just a rental. With the help of an Enterprise Manager, I've learned how to work the system because I rent a car every week to work out of state.

 

[Slacker]

I used solid stained ceder "shakertown craftsman" siding on my hunting cabin and I'm happy with it so far. The solid stain is thicker than paint and it was factory applied. Check out the shakertown website, its good stuff and IMO looks way better than hardi board. Wish I had an up close pic. The stuff goes on fast. Its in 8 foot T&G clapboard type strips. Very little waste.

 

[Unregistered2013]

i just built a house in upstate new york -- really tough weather -- and there is no wood on the exterior --

-- that said, it looks like wood in a lot of places ---

here's the siding -- hand-split cedar shakes -- vinyl --

eric

 

[N80]

My house had GP 'masonite' on it when I bought it. It needed replacing. Vinyl was the cheapest option if you used cheap vinyl. My wife did not want cheap, flimsy vinyl and I did not blame her. The contractor then brough samples of high quality vinyl and it was quite impressive. Very thick, very substantial and virtually the same price as Hardi-Plank. So we opted for Hardi-Plank. Only complaint is that we are getting some green 'mildew' stains(after about 4 years) in places and we never had that with the masonite. It may have more to do with the paint job than the Hardi-Plank.

Time for a pressure washing.

 

[dbdartman]

i just built a house in upstate new york -- really tough weather -- and there is no wood on the exterior --

-- that said, it looks like wood in a lot of places ---

here's the siding -- hand-split cedar shakes -- vinyl --

eric

Eric, we did the front of our house with the same stuff (see 1st attached). Much better look that what it started with (2nd attached). VERY good look, but it is more expensive than the regular horizontal style vinyl. Probably a good look for Sig's place (at least IMHO better than horizontal).

Having installed a little vinyl (my old boss & myself sided his little 1000 sq/ft ranch style) I can say it's not hard to do, once you get the feel of it & learn the basics.

 

[rback33]

Another vote for the Hardie stuff. Our contractor used it on our remodel where where we tote off two porches and redid them as parts of the house....meaning the roof was left.... I love the stuff... still not painted to match, but I would lover to cover the whole house in it. One thing to think about.. not sure what the weather does there or if it is needed.... are the walls insulated? Now would be the best time to drill from the outside and blow full of cellulose and then go back with the Hardie backer stuff. The rest of my house has vinyl siding and I have no CLUE why they did not insulate first .... we gutted the downstairs so all but one wall of it is done now, but the upstairs is not I am a stickler about energy efficiency and insulation.. could be because my Dad's family owns an insulation business...

 

[rox]

I don't knwo what happened i ahd this nice reply all done and when i hit the send button it logged me out, and now I have to start all over...

Sigarms, I am not sure i get the point about the hardiboard, you still do have to paint it and the way i read what oyu wrote you are looking to get away form painting. I think I might consider jsut getting the eaves & soffits sided/clad. That is always the worst part of painting/staining anyway the painting upside down part. Once that is eliminated your home doesn't look that hard to just re-paint.

now to move onto a no paint solution. have you thought of stucco? 20 years ago I visited a model home built by a local builder in a very upscale neighborhood. the exterior of the home was stucco and the builder told me it would never crack and it never needed re-painting and the color didn't fade. I have watched that home periodically for 20 years and I must say the builder is right, that home still looks great and it is the same color.

Stucco would really enhance/upgrade the curb appeal of oyur home, not that it isn't nice already it is a VERY nice home. The stucco would also look great with the brick, really fabulous.

Exterior Stucco Color Coat

It sems that you can apply stucco right over top of your existing siding
Changing from Plywood Siding to Stucco | DoItYourself.com

'Couse I ahve no idea how much this costs, but whatever the cost you have to figure that it is going to significantly increase the value of your home, more than any siding choices available. Since you did not give us a budget of course I am sure i came up wih the most expensive option but if you google "exterior stucco" you can see some wonderful pics and project how your home might look. You might even be able to do your own housewrap/tar paper and isntall the screening to get a lower bid.

 

[Unregistered2013]

Eric, we did the front of our house with the same stuff (see 1st attached). Much better look that what it started with (2nd attached). VERY good look, but it is more expensive than the regular horizontal style vinyl. Probably a good look for Sig's place (at least IMHO better than horizontal).

Having installed a little vinyl (my old boss & myself sided his little 1000 sq/ft ranch style) I can say it's not hard to do, once you get the feel of it & learn the basics.

yup -- i think the stuff is the BOMB -- it even feels nice and heavy, like shingles, when you lean up on it --

i used the pelican bay hand-split cedar shakes, from alside -- yours looks great!



eric

 

[MossRoad]

Another vote for the Hardie stuff. Our contractor used it on our remodel where where we tote off two porches and redid them as parts of the house....meaning the roof was left.... I love the stuff... still not painted to match, but I would lover to cover the whole house in it. One thing to think about.. not sure what the weather does there or if it is needed.... are the walls insulated? Now would be the best time to drill from the outside and blow full of cellulose and then go back with the Hardie backer stuff. The rest of my house has vinyl siding and I have no CLUE why they did not insulate first .... we gutted the downstairs so all but one wall of it is done now, but the upstairs is not I am a stickler about energy efficiency and insulation.. could be because my Dad's family owns an insulation business...

My sister had insulation blown in. For some reason, there was an air duct in one of the outside walls. Their livingroom got a nice coating of insulation from the vent!