A Transformation

This week a crew of guys came and ripped all the siding and trim off our house.  Although it was a bit chaotic, it was a good thing.  Ever since we moved in over three years ago we've been debating what to do about the old siding.

At first we thought we'd just paint it and the big question was whether Ben should do it (he wanted to!) or whether we should hire the job out.  Oh, and then there was the little matter of what color we should use.  We couldn't quite get our act together to make anything happen, so we just held off.

Good thing we did because earlier this year we decided we really wanted new siding, specifically a cement based product called Hardieboard.

The first step in re-siding is a bit messy.  And loud!  Destruction certainly can be noisy!

A house stripped of its siding doesn't look very nice, does it?  In the middle of projects like these I remember my mother's comment when we added the second story on our house back in Maryland.  The first step in that job was for the crew to remove the roof, exposing the framing of the 1st story.  My Mom came by to see what was going on and while watching the fellows sawing away at the roof framing she asked, "Do you think they know what they're doing?"   We said we certainly hoped so!  In that case and in this current project, things turned out well, but you do hold your breath when workmen begin tearing things apart.

One great thing about getting new siding is that you can insulate the house while you've got all the siding off.  We had cellulose insulation blown in the first floor, which didn't have any, covered the whole building with 1/2 inch foam panels and then topped it all with a final insulating layer of Tyvek house wrap. 

The crew is fast and by day three they were already starting to put up the new siding and trim.  I'll show you "before" and "after" photos next week, but here's two images to give you an idea of the texture and color of the new materials.

We're quite excited about how it's turning out!