Siding

Siding

Siding is a rain screen, not a skin, and what keeps your wall dry is everything behind and around it.

Most siding failures on the houses we get called out to are not the siding at all. They are a missing kick out flashing at a roof to wall joint, house wrap lapped the wrong way, or a window head with no drip cap. Your water management details go in first, and the siding hangs over them.

You can go with vinyl or fiber cement. Fiber cement costs more up front and holds paint and shape better over time. Whichever one you pick, the brand, the profile and the exposure are written into your estimate, so you know exactly what is going on your house before anybody orders it.

The day nobody ever sees

Water gets behind a wall covering. On any house, in any material, some of it finds a way in, so the point is not to keep every drop out. The point is whether that water has a path back down and out. That path is the drainage plane: house wrap lapped so every course sheds over the one below it, seams taped, and a cavity behind the siding for water to run down. Flashing does the rest, kick out at the roof to wall joint, step flashing along the roof line, a drip cap over every window head.

The day your wall gets wrapped, taped and flashed is the day that decides whether it stays dry, and it is the one day of the whole job nobody ever sees. Once the siding is on, you cannot tell from the street whether the kick out flashing is behind it, which is why you get to look at the wall while it is open, and why rotten sheathing is priced and shown to you before anything covers it. Trim, corners and caulk go on last. Caulk finishes a job. It does not hold one together.

How the job runs

1. Walk the wall You walk the wall with us first, corners, window heads, roof to wall junctions and anywhere the ground meets the siding, because that is where we expect trouble and you should be standing there when we find it.
2. One wall at a time Your house gets stripped one wall at a time instead of all at once, so nothing sits open to the weather overnight.
3. Repair what is underneath Rotten sheathing comes out and new goes in, priced and shown to you before it is covered.
4. Wrap, tape, flash The barrier is lapped correctly, the seams are taped, and the drip caps and kick outs are fitted.
5. Furring, then siding The cavity goes in behind the wall and the siding hangs to spec with the proper clearances.
6. Trim and caulk last Corner boards, frieze and window trim go on, then caulk, after everything that actually sheds water is already behind them.

What the job includes

• Vinyl and fiber cement siding
• House wrap and drainage plane
• Kick out, step and head flashing
• Corner boards, frieze and window trim
• Soffit, fascia and gable vents
• Tear off and disposal of old siding