Removed the aluminum siding on my cottage...*pics*

[Nikki]

So, the 1950s era aluminum siding has been grating at my nerves ever since we bought this place almost 6 years ago. It looked OK I guess, but had dents in places that needed to be fixed and couldn't be painted without extensive preparation due to the fact that the finish was starting to "chalk" in most places. Plus, obviously its not period-appropriate for a 1920s cottage :D

After determining that all of our windows and doors were still in the original places, and peeking at the cedar clapboards underneath showed that they were painted and in pretty good condition, we decided to bite the bullet and tear off one corner to check it out. Well, we started with a corner and ended up tearing off one whole side! And what did we find? Well, not as much work needed as I thought, which is good.

A few things I noted:

1.There is one whole corner section maybe 6' long that needs to be re-sided since that corner used to be attached to a garage. Some patching was done here already but the seams are not staggered like they should be. Its 8x1/2 beveled cedar so it shouldn't be hard to source.

2. There are a small handful of split boards that need to be replaced. No biggie.

3. The window sills were cut to accommodate the second layer of siding. This is very typical and expected. Will have to research on how to rebuild or replace the sills.

4. We unearthed an old vent thingy that must have been some sort of primitive cold storage? We have the exact same vent on our other house, a craftsman bungalow. Again, the protruding sill was crudely whacked off to accommodate the new siding.

We originally wanted to go with Hardi-Plank but our quotes were in the $6000 range. I'm hoping we can restore the cedar as time and money allows for $1000-$1500. And since we are recycling all of that old aluminum, I am excited that this project is pretty "green" and will not require a bunch of trips to the landfill and the purchase of a bunch of new material. (We are going to try the salvage route to find replacement pieces, but even if that doesn't work, we only need to replace about 10% of the cedar).

Here are some pics, looks ugly now but its been covered for ~60 years and could obviously use a good cleaning and a new coat of paint!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/housesiding017.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/housesiding016.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/housesiding002.jpg

[cheapdiva]

It's WONDERFUL! Can we see inside?

[CohenCottage]

Yes, you can just see inside one of the windows in the next to last photo, and it looks awfully cute! Looks like all of the wood is in great condition!

[Nikki]

Thanks for your compliments :) The inside is always a work in progress, it never fails that there is some torn down plaster somewhere or ugly taped up drywall waiting to be painted. The part you see is the living room, we are finishing some drywall work in there, since we added arches to the two doorways (they used to just be square). Hopefully I will have that done soon and will post pics.

And yes, I am hoping that this is the worst of the 4 sides, since this is the side that sees the prevailing westerly coastal winds and torrential horizontal rainstorms that our area is famous for ;)

[shabbychick]

Nikki,

What a great-looking house! I'm so happy that things looked so good under the siding. Good luck with the rest of it. I can't wait to see more of the results of your hard work.

[Breezy]

Nikki - the house is great & will look wonderful when you're finished!:) Looking forward to seeing more pics.

[yarborough house]

Looks good and actually that siding looks very good for 80 year old siding. That dang aluminum might have helped it out over the last 40 or something years. The sills won't be hard to replicate and that vent looks like the vent that cottages and bungalows talked about in their last issue - the california cooler..there is a post about it on here with examples.

I am sure it will be beautiful when it is all done.

[Gigi]

Siding is looking pretty good from here...I would powerwash the siding- and paint it! You'd save LOTS of money this way.

Can't wait to hear what you plan on doing....

[Lynzee]

What a great find, Nikki! Especially if it turns out to be the "worst" of the four sides because the siding does look like it's in fairly good shape. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

[Heather]

Good for you Nikki! Can you post a pic of the front of your house? It looks like my house so if you need pics of window sils, close ups, or whatever - let me know.

[memmey]

Niki
The outside walls of my house look just like yours. Be careful with a powerwasher it will etch the wood horribly.
Do you think that the odd hole was for the stove pipe. My house has a chimney so the stove was vented into that but if you didn't have a chimney maybe the stove pipe exited there.
I love the look of the old wood , but my home is not engery efficent. I have my bill averaged and it is $139.72 a month year around. Since my house was built in 1937 and has NO insulation I guess that is not ...too bad. Cold in the winter and no cooking in the oven in the summer.
I can't wait to see it finnished or even in progress. It is so intersting.:D

[RoseMary]

Great house, Nikki! I'm looking forward to seeing it as you progress:).

[Nikki]

Heather- I have a few old pics from this winter in my profile here. I need to take some new ones now that everything is in bloom :) I would love to see pics of your sills & anything else you have....my house is a pretty simple 1920s cottage.... 24'x36' square,~860 SF, central chimney....but I haven't really run across one that is similar (other than my 2 neighbors' houses, since they were all built by the same builder).

Memmey- No, its not for the stove since our chimney is right in the middle of the house and served both the living room and the kitchen from seperate pipe inlets on each side. It must be cold storage because this particular part of the house is between the kitchen and where the old mudroom was (which is now one big room). Does your siding have any wood sheathing or vapor barrier behind it? I was surprised to see that the lap boards are just nailed directly to the studs. We took a loose one off and can see the back of the plaster & lath walls :eek:

Thanks again everyone for your compliments, I know it looks bad now before painting/caulking/patching but I knew you guys could recognize the potential :)

[Heather]

Nikki our walls were like that then we had them insulated. They drilled holes on the exterior and then pumped in the insulation (then patched up the holes) WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Our heating bill was noticeably different this last winter and it wasn't too expensive to do (I don't think).

[yarborough house]

Yep gotta love old clapboard houses..There was no such thing as vapor barriers back then and insulation was mainly newspaper shoved in areas. The way Heather's insulation was done is pretty much the only way to insulate unless you either strip off the siding and insulate from the outside or tear down the plaster walls and insulate from the inside..We need to have ours done and it looks like it will be done like Heathers.

fun finding out all the treasures along the way--

[Nikki]

The plaster in our house wasn't in good condition at all, so most of the rooms have been insulated & drywalled. The kitchen & the bath are the only rooms that still have plaster. I wish we could have saved it, but our house was neglected for several years before we bought it, and had several roof leaks and water damage. We have had to replace pretty much everything down to the studs. Good thing we bought it for next to nothing :D

[LindaLK]

Hi Everyone, :)

Nikki, I think once you are finished with everything, the house will look wonderful. I don`t care for aluminum or vinyl siding. I prefer wood myself. And so do the Boring Bees, Wood Peckers and the Squirrels. :eek: They all seem to have acquired a taste for our house. We keep spraying and filling the holes with foam. I hope once we finish painting, they will leave it alone.

We had the house inspected for insects, which none were found. So far this year the Wood Peckers have stayed away. Now the only problem is with the Tree Rats, AKA: Squirrels. They now like sitting on the deck, and leaving a poopie trail on the railings. We only saw a couple of Boring Bees. Our fingers are crossed that they have moved on to our neighbor`s houses. :D

Have a good day ladies!



Hugs,
Linda :)

[Lisa S]

Wow! What a treasure you've unearthed. Your home has tons of character. I bet you're going to love it. Please post more pictures while you're working on this project. Great job!

[Zuzu's Garden]

Original clapboard vs. aluminum siding? Looking at your pics, I don't think it looks ugly - I think it looks beautiful! Imagine what it will look like when you've painted it!

Extra kudos to you, Nikki, for restoring this wonderful little home and keeping your project green!!!

:)
Zu

[chyna]

What have the neighbors said? Everytime I tear up something on my house I imagine the neighbors just aghast. I really enjoy that horror. :D I'm so with you on tearing off that nasty ol' siding. I look at mine all the time and just imagine...some day....;)

[Nikki]

Well, the neighbor on that side of our house is a young couple about our age, so they don't care. In fact the guy was over asking questions about it since he thought it was really interesting what we unearthed. Plus they rent so its a non-issue what they think :) But really it doesn't look that bad....took the pics before we brushed all of the cobwebs off and gave it a light pressure wash. BF also did some spackling and primer will be going on any day now. (Of course the rain moved in just as we freed up time to do the painting). Should look a LOT better just with a coat of primer!

[Nikki]

Updated photos from today, managed to get the primer on before the rain comes back. These photos are after a wash, spackling to fill nail holes, and one coat of primer:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/blog009.jpg

This photo shows a comparison of the "new" & old siding. The cedar has a 6" reveal, while the aluminum's reveal was wider, maybe 8". I like the 6" soooo much better:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/blog008.jpg

Window trim looks better, but I've got to figure out how to rebuild the hacked-off sills:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/blog007.jpg

Same with the cooler(?) vent...we want to keep this intact but the sill was horribly hacked up to acommodate the new siding. My BF thinks it would be cool to make this a dryer vent, since our washer/dryer is on the other side. Not sure if that would work though....the moisture would probably rot it, I'm guessing.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/blog010.jpg

Hopefully we will get the actual paint on this week. Then its time to start on another side....one down, three to go!

[chyna]

wow what a difference!!! What color will you be painting it once the rain moves out?

[Nikki]

Its being painted "Pure White" by Sherwin-Williams. The house has been white with white trim since it was built in 1927...so I'm keeping it that way partly to honor its legacy, and partly because I really, really love white :D

Got one other side pulled off, washed, spackled, primed, caulked and painted....now only 2 more to go :) Will take more pix soon. Still only finding minimal repairs needed, which is good. Our biggest expense will probably be the primer & paint!

[CohenCottage]

Hey Nikki,

Were you the one that was going to use the Polyx oil to refinish your floors?

CC

[Lisa S]

Nikki,

Please keep us updated with pictures as you progress. I swear, I'm almost moved to tears, just seeing what you're doing with your home. It's going to look just perfect.

[glenfoxman]

After living in our 1920s era home for a few years, we decided to take down a few pieces of the aluminum siding to have a look. As I had figured the bottom cedar clapboard will need to be replaced, but overall the condition looks fantastic

My question is about the vapor barrier. Before the previous owner had the aluminum installed there was tar paper on top of the cedar. I think this may have contributed to how well the cedar has been preserved. How important is it to add a vapor barrier under the existing clapboard? Ive remodeled parts of the interior and there is no insulation, and no vapor barrier.

Is it possible to add this between the studs from the inside, or should the clapboard be removed? We plan on insulating between the studs when we remodel the rest of the house.

Living in the NW I would assume this is important for the house to have to fight against the moisture we have in this region.
_______________________________________
Website I designed for no fax payday loans canada (http://www.paydaytown.com) company.

[bungalogan]

First of all I am not an expert on this but have made many observations. It has been standard practice to first place a tar paper backing before placing a new surface over an existing one on the exterior as an insurance policy. This way just in case some moisture finds its' way in (especially through aluminum) it will not fester and rot the original siding. Moisture will not pass through a properly sealed (painted) and maintained wood clapboard so you are fine without it. Insulation companys can inject various types of insulation through many small drilled holes in the exterior clapboard. Plugging these holes would be far less work and cost than removing all your original interior plaster walls and replacing with drywall thusly having an antiseptic new appearance. Also to rebuild the sill: cut blocks of douglas fir or cedar to match the shape, pre drill and use a long narrow screw combined with Gorilla glue thinned with water and brushed on- it drys fast so work fast. Finish patch the seams with hard wood filler.

[Nikki]

After living in our 1920s era home for a few years, we decided to take down a few pieces of the aluminum siding to have a look. As I had figured the bottom cedar clapboard will need to be replaced, but overall the condition looks fantastic

My question is about the vapor barrier. Before the previous owner had the aluminum installed there was tar paper on top of the cedar. I think this may have contributed to how well the cedar has been preserved. How important is it to add a vapor barrier under the existing clapboard? Ive remodeled parts of the interior and there is no insulation, and no vapor barrier.

Is it possible to add this between the studs from the inside, or should the clapboard be removed? We plan on insulating between the studs when we remodel the rest of the house.

Living in the NW I would assume this is important for the house to have to fight against the moisture we have in this region.
_______________________________________
This was exactly what we found on our house. We weren't going to tear off and reinstall the clapboards just to put a vapor barrier in, but from what I understand, if you are able to install a vapor barrier on the inside of the walls it will serve the same purpose. Since all of our plaster & lath walls were removed due to roof leak water damage, we added insulation that included a vapor barrier, and then covered that with drywall. My boyfriend read up on this quite a bit, and the inside vapor barrier *should* help.

Although, obviously the house wasn't built with any sort of vapor barrier originally, and is still standing 80+ years later in one of the wettest climates on earth (WA coast) so who knows how important it REALLY is :confused:

Also, I'm sorry I haven't posted more pics yet. We finished the siding job in early October, and it looks great. I'm really happy with it.

[Heather]

Hey Nikki - nice to see you around! Are you getting all this rain too? Please post your pics of the house!

[Nikki]

OK, so its taken forever, but I'm finally posting a pic of the finished project.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y151/raylind/newsiding017.jpg

I need to take some more, but gosh, my yard looks so dead and dismal right now, its awful :(

[vintage girl]

Wow you have really been busy. Looks absolutely darling. I might just show up on your doorstep and move in:D;) By the way I have the exact same rainbell on the side of my house also. I just love it. Although right now Southern CA is "under water" with our 5th straight day of storms and my poor little rainbell is being overworked:eek:

[yarborough house]

Love it..great job.

[memmey]

Just ...WONDERFUL:)

[ChapterTwo]

How sweet your cottage looks. All it needs is the Spring/Summer weather and your garden will burst into bloom! :)

[Heather]

Hey Nikki - nice to see ya back here! You've been busy, girl! Great job.

[annielinz]

Looks like a cover of a magazine~Cottage Perfect~

[LindaLK]

Just charming. I love it. Welcome back Nikki. Enjoy the day everyone. Take care.


Big Hugs,
Linda :)

[cheapdiva]

ABSOLUTELY adorable!

[Nikki]

Thanks so much, everyone, for your kind words :) I still need to tally up my expenses for this project, which consisted of primer, paint, nails, and a few lengths of new cedar siding we needed to replace a few missing/broken boards. I'm guessing we spent around $700 for this project. A heck of a lot better than the $6000 we were quoted for installing new Hardi-Plank siding!

We also still have the aluminum siding sitting around waiting to go to the scrap yard. Hopefully it will net us a nice little "rebate"!

[chyna]

Your house looks so charming! Recycling the siding is my plan too, sure hope it nets me a profit or at least helps the cost of the replacement siding. I think of you when talking about pulling my siding off. Did get a nasty surprise when I was replacing the trim on the attic vent. The siding is buckled and warped. Guess we know what will be happening up there.:(

Did you replace with Hardi-plank for the ones you needed to replace or did you use pine?

[Nikki]

We used new beveled cedar siding that was an exact match for the existing clapboards. We have a great little lumber store here that carries it, and I think it was only about $1.40/linear foot.

And its actually not hard at all to replace rotted/split clapboards....it just takes patience to avoid damaging the surrounding boards. We found that this video was very helpful:

http://http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20045291,00.html (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20045291,00.html)

Some great info on repairing clapboards was also featured on the last season of This Old House, the one with the Dutch Colonial home.

[Gigi]

Nikki~ This is just beautiful! I love everything about it from the red door to the fence!

[Carrie]

Hey Nikki. I just read this months Cottages and Bungalows with you house in it. It looked great!

[Breezy]

Miss Nikki - your house is wonderful!!! It's so cottage-y and charming - just lovely. Well done!

[Nikki]

Thanks, girls :D

And Carrie, yes, I just picked up the April issue this weekend, very cool! Was that your letter in the Mailbox section?

[Carrie]

:o Might be, lol.