Re-siding/Painting a “Dormer”
Situation: Old home (1928) in Northern NJ that I’ve been renovating myself over time. Trying to stay period-appropriate, but not slave-ishly so. Plan to stay in the house for a long time – 15 years or more.
1st storey is brick veneered, 2nd storey has cedar claps with a wavy bottom edge, over felt, over 3/4″ board sheathing, over 2X4 stud, with wood lath and plaster on the interior. No insulation in walls. Paint is badly alligatoring and peeling. Clapboards are not back-primed. Roof is steep (15/12 pitch) – 3 layers – dimensional shingle over crumbling 3-tab over original cedar shingles over skip sheathing.
Significant overhang makes access to front “dormer” difficult via ladder. Needs to be scaffolded, I think.
I’m trying to decide what to do here, as cost-efficiently as possible, but minimizing future maintenance to the extent possible.
I’d like to insulate – probably dense-pack blown cellulose from the outside.
I need to at least scrape and paint, but don’t want to waste my time given the lack of back-priming. Access is difficult, so it’s not something I’d like to do often.
Re-siding in new cedar is too pricey, I think.
Am considering residing with fiber-cement – Artisan lap from Hardie. Would like to keep the wavy bottom edge and don’t know if this can be done. (Jigsaw with a fibercement blade? Will I get be able to get enough overlap?)
I’d also consider removing the existing siding, stripping, priming all 6-sides, first coating , and reinstalling if you all thought it made sense. Obviously lots of labor involved, but I have more time than money.
Given the multiple layers of roofing and the fact that there is no clearance between siding and roofing now, I’m thinking that I can re-miter the corners and get some clearance to the roof as well. Am concerned that the step-flashing is below the first layer of roofing, and that the last roofer didn’t bother to step-flash under the top layer.
Photos below – 1st is front, 2nd and 3rd are back. 1st shows the overhang. 2nd and 3rd show the waviness of the bottom edge of the siding and the poor condition of the paint. Better access in the back from 1-storey attached garage.
Questions: Will the hardi work? Am I kidding myself that I can save the claps? Do I have any hope of getting step flashing under the top layer of shingles? Should I leave it all alone and just resign myself to scrape-and-paint forever?
Suggestions – PLEASE!
Replies
In respect to removing the existing cedar siding, stripping, priming x6s, etc., seems like an awful big job to me; I'd also consider the age and type of existing paint (lead safety legal issues?)
As far as using the Hardie (and cutting the wavy line), the best place to check would obviously be Hardie, but if Artisan is like their normal siding otherwise, I don't see why it couldn't be done; just be sure to have a good supply of the Hitachi jigsaw Hardieblades and seal the cut edges immediately--but maybe Hardie does some special treatment to the drip edge, so check with them. On the other hand, you may be right with respect to the insufficient overlap; Artisan apparently only comes in 4" and 6" widths, while your existing siding would appear to be wider. If you didn't mind the shallower shadow lines, you could get ordinary Hardieplank in wider sizes.
I forgot what your original message said, but also consider what to do about trim; if it's got wood trim that was likewise not backprimed, I'd replace it (I'm not a pro; I just finished replacing the siding and trim on my house, so I only have that experience to go by).
I know you want to be "true"
I know you want to be "true" to the house, but I'd ditch that wavy siding, if you do in fact replace it.
When you're doing the flashing, don't forget that the roof will need to be replaced in the not too distant future, and likely it will have to be stripped down to the sheathing. So plan ahead to tolerate that change in roof thickness.