Well, we started working full speed on the siding and new windows in the back of the house. Of all the outer walls of the house,
this one suffered the most from the elements. The original wood siding was so dried out and cracked, it literally broke apart
in our hands. Because the siding was so badly painted and what paint was there was cracked and split, the wood underneath was
rain-soaked and dried out countless times. There was absolutely no strength left in it. The siding was hung with what looked
like little horse shoe nails. Half the nails were rusted in the studs so badly they preferred to break off rather than pull out.
The other half of the nails we could pull out with out fingers.
I looked for months in the Trading Post, a local classified ad paper, for used scaffolding. I even looked in junk yards and
checked and with equipment rental companies. Evidently scaffolding is worth it's weight in gold. Well why don't you rent some
Paul? Well let me tell you why. I work mainly on the weekends and a few nights. I would need to rent a large quantity of
scaffolding for years. Buying the scaffolding outright was just way too expensive.
What to do? What to do? What to do?
Well, I consider myself a pretty good amateur structural engineer. I also weld for a hobby. So I wandered the isles of the two
local hardware stores seeking inspiration. After a while It hit me. Sometimes inspiration manifests itself like a lightning bolt
and sometimes like bad gas. Nothing in life can be easy. See what I came up with right here.
One of the nice things about having the time to do everything the right way, is that you can sit back and do things the way you
wanted all your previous houses to be done. Things like, thick, dense insulation, and "Don't spare the Liquid Nails!"
when putting on the sheathing. Tar board is for Woosies! Plywood sheathing EVERYWHERE! And screw those suckers in! No nails are
going to pop here. And not that 1/4" or 5/16" sheeting. Oh No,We went straight to the 15/32" sheathing. What pencil
neck at the plywood factory decided that 15/32" was a good thickness for sheathing.? For just 1/32nd more the could have
an even 1/2".
With the entire back of the house opened up to the inner wall (there was nothing behind the cracked siding) we scooped up, bagged
up, vacuumed up the old blow-in insulation. I think this old insulation (early sixties) was made from a very balanced mixture of
shredded newsprint, asbestos, spent plutonium and rodent droppings. We packed the walls with new clean batting and screwed up the
sheathing and wrapped that sucker in tyvek®. The new windows went in great! All you have to do is make sure your opening is
square and just set them in. There was a screw hole about every 4 inches all the way around the window. We used plenty of
flashing and 12" black poly to make sure the windows were wind and water proof.
I used about two tubes of caulking per windows. Everyone was giving me a hard time about how anal I was with weather proofing.
We were anxious about how well the HardiPlank® siding would would out. I purchased an entire pallet
and if it turned out to be too difficult to work with, I was screwed for about $1200. Well it turns out This Stuff Is Great!
We were warned we might have to pre drill the siding but that was not the case. We used 1 1/2 inch galvanized roofing nails. This
stuff makes vinyl siding look so cheep. When you touch the side of the house, it's solid! It doesn't give or make noise like vinyl
or aluminum.
Here you can see here the total size of the scaffolding. The plywood at the bottom will be covered up with a 24" brick
skirting. This whole problem on this back wall was started with the rotted header board and floor joists. This brick skirt will
create a barrier when the back fill is replaced. The original level of the back fill was above the wood siding (which explains
allot about the structural decay). The PVC trim is not yet installed on the lower windows.
Super Dad!
Pop had come over almost every weekend for the first 2 years of the renovation. He is my chief electrician and right hand man.
He has fixed more electrical problems than I'll ever see. And after all, what better father-son project could you think of, than
a 120 year old house in need of everything. I think I'll have him bronzed for the court yard area.
Here we reached the eaves and we are about to install the PVC trim around the upper windows and the top sofit board. Compared
to the amount of time required by the foundation (which held up everything) this siding was a two day snap!
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