Old house painting and siding questions
I have an eighty year old quasi-bungalow style house in Wisconsin; the original clapboards are covered with aluminum siding, which I don’t much care for. The windows and trim (underside of the roof overhang and the supporting brackets) need painting and I am looking to hire this out, as I hate heights, and every DIY job I undertake always turns out to have complications that I don’t know how to deal with. What should I be looking for in hiring someone to prep and paint? What kind of money is it likely to cost–there are 28 doublehung windows. And as for the aluminum siding, does it tend to make the wood siding underneath rot over the years? I have no idea how long it’s been on there, but I’ve lived in the house 10 years and the aluminum looked fairly old when I bought the house. If I wanted to pull it off and repaint the original wood, is this even likely to be feasible? Any guesstimates and advice welcome!
Replies
Well I just did that job this spring and I live in Wisconsin too.
My house is 100 years old and it was covered by absestos siding. It was in pretty good shape but it still took me about 8 days just to repair the siding and I am a professional. The siding is also expensive at about 50 cents a lineal ft.
I'm a carpenter but I've painted quite a few houses especially in my beginning years but I had never prepped or painted a house with 2 1/2 inch revel siding. After a week I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. You all know the feeling, you get done for lunch look around you and realize you won't have any weekends for months. I just didn't think those small boards could take that much extra time.
But my house looks great and I would't trade this siding for anything.
I spent about 150 hours but haven't tallied up materials yet.
Okay, since you asked for guestimates I feel more qualified. I would find a place where I could get some of the siding off to take a peek underneath. Somewhere that's likely to have damage, but easy to reapply the aluminum to if it's got to stay on. I just painted some aluminum and with the right prep and paint, it doesn't look too bad, so if all else fails, you could do that. I work very cheaply, so my idea of cost wouldn't help you. Others on this site will give you some ideas, I'm sure.