In building an addition, I have a new shingle wall, as an extension and in the same plane as the existing wall. Is there a recommended method or specification describing how the new wall can be “woven” into the existing to acheive a seamless appearance and without exposed fasteners?
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Russ,
I highly doubt you will be able to pull off a "seamless" transition between new and old shakes. Depending on the age of the original siding, you`re going to have to contend with the effects years of exposure to the elements the siding has reacted to. Along with the condition of the finish (i.e. paint, stain, etc.)
That said, the correct way to make a water tight transition between old and new is to stagger the courses by a foot or two as you work your way up. This helps to blend the old and new abit, but visibly seamless no.
Good luck!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
I agree with Jaybird. I have shingles woven in from an addition on my house. The original siding is about 17 years, the addition is about 10 years, both have been stained at least two times and you can still see a slight difference in color. You may have to angle your nails up under the bottom of an existing shingle and set it to conceal the fasteners occasionally but an occasional exposed fastener is a minor problem. You will have them anyway on the top course.
I'm doing an addition like that. I just took all the siding off the old wall, too. Lucky you that you had a wall worth leaving alone! I'm not worried about my siding not MATCHING, I'm just worried it will WAVE at the transition from my new, plumb addition and the old, leaning house. Anybody know what to do about that? I was thinking a downspout to cast a big shadow there.
Another place where I was worried siding wouldn't match, I just changed material. Lap siding, shingles, lap siding, so the laps don't have to line up all the way around. Maybe you could just push in a piece of corner board (even though it doesn't turn) against your shingles and start a fresh course on the other side and do a little something fancy to make it look like an accent and not a patch.
Probably one of these guys will know how you're SUPPOSED to do it, though, as in when money is no object. I wouldn't know anything about that. I prefer to solve my problems with eclectic creativity instead of actual skills or knowledge ;-)
B
If you want to make your addition match up with the existing house (I would),you need to match the lean where the walls connect. This may throw off the squareness of your addition but it will blend in a lot better. Of course if you house is way out of plumb, maybe you should do something about that before you add to it.
I hear what you're saying. The problem with this one was I built the new part before I tore off the old siding. I couldn't get a proper assessment of my situation. That was my mistake. I should have pulled off the old siding, added the new wall to line up with the studs, THEN put sheathing over the whole thing. I wasn't in complete control of the situation at the time, though. I had to wait for the second opinion to go out of town to work on that old wall.
I did some work on the front of my house a few years ago where I changed a little 5' opening to a cantilevered entry into a full porch and put the front door in that old opening. I put the new framing in plumb, but the sheathing on the outside of the old wall was inset a full 1 1/2" by the top of the wall. I didn't know what to do. I covered it with plastic and thought about it for a while. I saw somebody on TV do something with a power planer, and I thought that looked like the tool for the job. I went to Home Depot and got one. I shaved down the studs on the outside to get the new sheathing to line up so the siding would go on right. I just put really thick brick molding around the door and hope nobody notices the change in reveal. Then on the inside, I gooped on a lot of that setting joint compound and tried to feather it out. I ended up hot gluing silk ivy over the whole fiasco. The day after I decided to call it good enough, I read an article about how to plumb a wall by moving the sole plate in and out.
That's why now I do lots and lots of research and ask questions on this forum before I resort to what is effectively dressing the house in dark glasses and a scarf. It's like my front entrance is having a perpetual bad hair day.
I really love my new front door, though. It's a dutch door that I had custom built out of pitch pine by a boat builder. Nobody notices the messed up wall because the door gets their attention. If I ever sell the house, I'll pull it out, fix the whole wall, and put a regular storebought door in there.
" I ended up hot gluing silk ivy over the whole fiasco. "
I'll have to keep this technique in mind when we need to cover up a problem. LOL.
It can be easiest to step the old shingles back all the way up to the frieze or soffit at the top but if you weave, first be sure to use a shingle ripper to completely clean the old nails and splinters from behind the edges of the old ones. Then, when tying in the new courses, I shove the shingle up unbder the old to about a quarte inch lower than where it needs to finish up. I drive the nail at an upward angle immediately below the butt of the upper shingle. Then I tapp the butt of the new one up 'till it's in just the right place and drive the other nail in the other edge of it. As I tap the shigle up the nail head goes with it so that it is under the upper shingle and disappears.
Sometimes, a little buff with an orbital sander can refresh the old shingles to blend in but they're right about the old/new line of demarcation remaining for years.