I am pricing out a job and wanted to see what options are out there for installing fibercement over the original double 3″ clapboard siding. I was thinking of sheathing over the claps with 1/4″ ply + wrap + siding but am concerned about waves telegraphing through the ply and showing in the siding.
Since it is a relatively old house (1930’s) the old wood windows have vinyl replacement sashes with aluminum capped casing and sills. I am assuming the sills and casing are rotted. What methods do you use for replacing the old sills with new? Anybody ever tried cutting the sills flush with the sheathing then fastening new ones in place?
Thanks
Replies
Please no offense, but with suspected rotted sills and old clapboard, to try to cover it over (which would be problematic, anyway), is, IMO, a recipe for disaster!
Convince the client that stripping down to sheathing, repairing possible damage, then going back with new trim, repaired or replaced windows, vapor barrier and new siding will be to their long-term benefit; and likely won't cost that much more than what you're considering.
Thanks for the response.
I guess I should have also mentioned that the siding is the sheathing. The old wood siding is in fine shape, it is the window trim that is possibly in poor shape. The only reason I would replace the sills is because after being capped in aluminum for so many years previous experience leads me to believe that they are rotted on the exposed areas. Perhaps it would be better to look at the sills on a sill by sill basis and epoxy the ones that are deteriorating and replace if necessary.
I am assuming by problematic you are referring to the double wall sheathing as a moisture trap and the fact that there is no flat surface to fasten the sheathing to.
I have never done fibercement over old siding...so my question boils down to: Short of removing the wood siding/sheathing are there any other alternatives to prep the wall for siding?
By the way, did my email regarding vulkem make it through your spamblocker?
Edited 6/4/2005 2:46 pm ET by DanteO
I am just a DIY, but in my mind Clapboard is individual board layered on top of each other so that the one aboved is angled over the one below. I would think that would need somekind of sheathing under it.
Are you talking about drop siding. Either sliplap or T&G where all of the boards are in the same plane?
Shiplap, that is the term I was looking for. I guess a more appropriate term for it would be double bevel shiplap.
The more and more I think about this...the more and more I see removal as the only option.
Hey I am just a "dumb DIYer". But if you are going to install FC clapboards (vs the 4x8 sheets) don't you need sheathing? And can't the ship lap be the sheathing?
First off, don't call yourself a Dumb DIY'r because everyone here is learning something new everyday. The Dumb ones are the ones that think they know it all, or believe the one way they know is the only way.
I attached a diagram of double bevel shiplap. The problem is fibercement is installed over a flat surface otherwise you cannot get it to "sit" right against the wall.
Hardiplank could be used in a sheathing/siding application as well but the problem is on old houses the studs are not the same dimension on the top as the bottom. The waves in the hardi would be atrocious. A minimum 7/16" sheathing is recommended as a nailing substrate for Hardi if not nailing into studs.
My original idea after looking at the house was to cover the shiplap with 1/4" ply but, as Frank brought up, this could present a myriad of problems that I think I touched on above.
The homeowner really wants to avoid changing the windows right now due to a limited budget. The house is a victorian and there are a multitude of windows, some are stained glass. If new windows were possible right now I would strip the shiplap, frame in rough openings for new windows, apply new sheathing, and begin with the siding. I want to see what other alternatives people have found.
That is why I put it in quotes.And joking because of a couple of recent threads here.I under stand now.I was think of some thing like Channel siding, WP-11 or V grove with an extra v-grove in the middle.http://www.wfpcedar.com/other_siding_patterns.htmlBut what you have it more like the rabbited bevel siding, but with a double pattern.http://www.wfpcedar.com/bevel_siding.htmlNow this company uses different terms.http://www.woodsiding.com/pattern.htmBut they have what I was thinking you had,EPW-18 and they also have what you have, the EWP double clapboard or EPW double clapboard T&G.And I see that they use the term clapboard.And also for the beveled clapboard which is what I think of by the term clapboard.But the single bevel version of what you have is not called a clapboard, but a Dolly Varden or rabbited bevel.KORNFUSING.
I guess I misinterpreted your quotes...sorry.
If you live in New England ya know all those names...they need to standardize this stuff ya know.
Got your email....working on my water system this weekend and putting up with out-of-town company. :-(
I'll get back to you sometime in the next couple of days.
Great, thanks. I bet you are having way too much fun anyways :)