Siding Remodel
by Brian Perry
Eastside Realtor
Once you have your house wrapped, all the real fun begins! Time apply the tough stuff. In my project, I used 8 1/4" x 12' cedar grain HardiPlank siding. It is sold at the Home Depot and costs $5.98 a piece. Like I talked about in the day 2 article about wrapping your home with Tyvek, applying the siding is just as easy. If you are planning on using Hardi-Plank siding, you can download and print the installation instructions here. I would give you my version...but I think it would be wiser to follow the manufacturers suggestions for installation. I really enjoy working with the HardiPlank. It is clean, tough, cuts easy with a heavy duty Chop saw (I use a 16" compound Miter saw) and installs straight and beautiful.
Here are the tools you'll need for day 3:
Miter Saw
Air Compressor
Framing Gun
6d galvanized Box nails for gun
Drill
Hole bit for drill
Tape Measure
Pencil
Level
caulking gun
Siding
1/4" wood lathe
Caulking
Dust mask
2 ladders
The straight, slap it up and nail it on sections are easy, and a breeze to get through, but there were some areas that caused problems. At the front of the house, the water spigot and the gas line both got in the way. We found the easiest solution for these things was to make a seam by cutting the siding directly in the center of the protruding pipes. Once we made the cut, we used a drill with a hole bit to cut half holes in each piece (of course these cuts were made after agonizingly long bouts of measuring where exactly the pipe was going to pop through the siding.) I'll let you see the picture to give you the idea.
Another trouble area was around the windows. We needed to measure and cut the "notch" in the pieces of siding above and below the window. I don't know what the Hardy people recommend, but I'm telling you scoring and snapping sucks. I measured the notch then went at it with a circular saw. Please remember, this is highly dangerous and wouldn't recommend it if you don't want to severely injure yourself. (said for litigation purposes only) Now, with that being said, it cut fast, straight and fit well.....
Here are some pictures of us installing the HardiPlank siding.
So, all in all the siding project has been pretty easy to date, and we have spent approximately $500 bucks on materials (not including tools). Not bad considering my neighbor got a bid of $15,000 to have his home siding remodeled with HardiPlank.
Day four, we put on the Fascia, metal drip edge and the bulk of the cedar shingles.
Comments