The cedar shingle siding on our home was covered when the previous homeowner had a new stone patio and driveway installed. The house built in 1961 has a low pitch roof (~3/12) and wide 24 inch eaves with gutters that are routed away from the house in piping, so water is kept away in general but there are areas that are beginning to rot. The home has a crawl space and my inspection doesn’t indicate any structural damage to the sill or band. What is the best way to correct this to prevent the shingles from continuing to deteriorate?
UPDATE: I’ve cut away the shingles in the worst spot were the shingles had been cut previously and then caulked – near the fence post. I found a little bit of wood deterioration on the lower edge of the sheathing but not nearly as bad as I feared. I cut the outer shingle flush with the course above it and the trimmed the inner course to remove existing damage. I’d like thoughts on how to proceed from here. My thought is to replace shingles with cedar shingles dipped in resin and new slide tar paper in behind existing shingles down to the brick. It may not be the ultimate long term solution but it will give me some time to get contractors out to look at the project.
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I would cut the bottom course of shingles out and put hardi plank in there. Give it a bit of air space between it an the sheathing.
Use Hardi shingle for the first two or three courses. Then it will tie in with existing shingles.
I'd cut them 6 inches above grade and fill in with whatever size PVC fit. Hardi can't be used within 2 inches of the ground.
Reality is that you won't stop the lowest shingles from deteriorating. Impregnating them with a wood-restorer resin will delay the inevitable but it's almost as much work (time) as stripping the bottom courses with bad shingles, then replacing with PVC. For me, I'd shy away from cement board - it can suffer from severe freeze-thaw damage once it begins to get saturated with water. Hope you're not in termite country cuz they have a protected path from wood to soil. Here in New England I think it best to have 12-18" of foundation above the finished ground surface.