I’m renovating an old house which has wood clapboard and covered with asphalt that simulates red brick. Can I successfully go over all this with fiber cement siding? Any comments, thanks.
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If I'm picturing this right (clapboards UNDER asphalt brick facade?), putting FC siding over it all and having it look even OK might be difficult.
FC siding is fairly thin and looks best if applied on a relatively true plane. Otherwise, it will telegraph the humps and hollows and look cheesy.
The other difficulty is trimming doors, windows, corners, light fixtures, etc. Again, it's better to start on a decent sheathing base so all the trim reveals are consistent and match the siding.
You say this is an "old" house. Tearing off the old siding is always a good opportunity to inspect the exterior structure of your house and make necessary repairs.
Tear off the old; make repairs; install tar paper, or the "other" stuff; retrim and install your new siding and caulk and paint.
You'll be glad you did!
Jules Quaver for President 2004
Have to agree with Notchman. Have never done f/c siding, but have done a lot of aluminum and vinyl siding on houses just as you describe. Short of adding furring strips, running straight edges, levels, string lines, and then working out all the other trim details, ripping the old asphalt siding off is a lot faster. Be sure to include the cost of the diposal and sheating repair in your project cost.
Dave