I have a spec house with vinyl covered wood windows without any exterior
trim. I would like to add window trim for esthetic reasons. The house is
about 10 years old and has 5/8″ thick 6″ lap wood siding. The windows are
reasonable quality and are in good shape. Based on the construction of
nearby houses I suspect that house wrap is present under the siding.
I wonder if I could make a template and cut through the wood siding around the window, removing a few inches of wood siding around the perimeter of the window. Exterior trim pieces would be used to fill in the gap.
My concern is that the house wrap might get cut and water damage might result. Has anyone faced this problem, and what cost-time efficient approach can you suggest? Perhaps it is more efficient to re-side the entire house?
Replies
Just take saw and run the table up against the window and will cut a little over 3 1/2inches around the perimeter of the window. Use a sharp chisel to finish the cuts. Use some 5/4 x 4 trim, I pre-make my frame on the ground with pocket screws, No Miters run your bottom piece the width of the window, sides go from bottom of bottom piece to top of window and top piece accross the two sides. Z metal flashing accross the top. Almost impossible to not cut the house wrap. Make shure your flashing is under the house wrap at the top and caulk the sides at the siding and window.
Dude,
Those are the mose anemic shutters I have ever seen!!!. Is the rest of the house like this? Get your check for work done QUICK and get outter there. Betterer yet, stick with it and improve on this poor ragweed lying in the ditch. Hey, don't forget that this is somebody's HOME. Never reveal los negativos unless asked. As far as worrying about cutting thru the wrap, forget about it. Just put in a disclaimer that such things may be necessary to do the requested work. This remodeling is such a Bi+(h.
I would determine the reveal you want, add an eighth for caulk, and make a shooting board which would be screwed to the siding. The saw plate would run on the flat of the board rather than up and down over the siding and the depth of cut would be consistent. The guide edge of the shooting board would be far superior and allow the job to be so much faster than a freehand wavy cut.
Once the waste is removed (when you unscrew the shooting board) the siding will be floating a bit because you have just cut off all the ends with the nails. You will be able to lift the end of each course of siding and this will give you the opportunity to slide in a strip of housewrap, felt or even a strip of peel and stick flashing over that saw cut in the wrap. It might be more difficult to use the peel and stick but it might be a good idea to use the nail sealing properties to your advantage.
Don't forget the drip cap over the windows and the saw cut in the house wrap will be the perfect place to slide in the flashing so the house wrap overlaps.