The back siding

Last week we had taken delivery of our new front and back doors. We got the new doors installed, which for the back door, included tearing off a bit of siding to be able to modify the framing. This was a good segue into the siding across the back of the house. As the photo below shows, it was in disrepair. There were multiple types of siding and large holes in the siding that were covered with plywood. Doing the siding replacement will put us one step closer to our current goal of getting A/C in the house. We’re growing a tired of 95­­° days inside the house. We’ve got A/C in the two bedrooms, but nothing in the rest of the house. The outdoor A/C unit will be set on the back of the house so it will be much easier to do the siding work first before setting the unit.

Demoing the siding

The first step was demo. I started small and tore off the siding from the small bump out wall on the back bedroom. The wall bottom plate was completely rotted through, so I cut out the bad parts and installed new pieces as necessary. Once that was done, I demo’d about 3 feet up across the back of the house. That’s enough for a roll of felt paper to be installed. The felt paper will act as a wind/water break to stop wind from blowing through the house and to stop any rain water that finds its way behind the siding. The felt paper also allows me to dry in the framing without having to run the siding the same day.

Lots of damage

With the siding off, I was able to see lots of old damage. Take a look at the picture below for definitions. The rim joist was half gone, mostly from old termite damage. The bottom plate on the wall was mostly gone as well, again from termite damage. There are two layers of flooring visible here. The bottom layer is real old and it almost looks like an original porch floor. The upper layer is the pine flooring that is run throughout the house. The pine floors are in good shape, however, the old flooring below was mostly gone near their ends. About 2-3″ back they were solid.

More demo

Based on what I saw, it was time to tear out some old framing. I made a Bagwell lumber run and picked up the necessary supplies. Now, the fun part of replacing the bottom part of the wall is that all of the weight of the roof, ceilings, and wall above this point is resting on these pieces. As you remove them, the walls will tend to sag if not properly supported. So piece by piece I used a sawzall to cut out the bad framing and then installed new framing. Some areas that sagged slightly needed to be jacked back up. This is slightly awkward as there’s no good way to get a jack directly below the point that needs to be lifted, since that’s where the new framing will go. To remedy this, I ended up lag bolting a 2×4 to the side of the studs and used a high lift jack to jack it up. I was able to get it high enough for the new parts to be installed.

More siding demo

With the repairs made, I continued the siding demo up about 7′ high. With all of the wall exposed, I tore out some old studs, tore out old random blocking, and installed new studs and supports as necessary. Once all of the framing work was complete, I sprayed the framing down with Boracare termite pre-treatment. The next day I insulated the dining room walls. I don’t plan on tearing out the drywall on the interior of the dining room so now is a great time to insulate. With the insulation done I ran felt paper up the wall to get it dried in.

New siding

Next up was the siding. I started with the small return wall on the back bedroom and ran up about 7′. Next, I started across the back of the house. I leveled out the first course and then started working my way up from there. It was hot out – there was a heat advisory and the heat index was like 102 (in the shade). With rain forecasted to hit at 11AM, I was busting my butt to get the siding ran to a point that I could get the window back installed. Piece by piece I worked my way up until I got to the top of the window opening.

It was hot

It was 11AM which means we’re supposed to be getting rain, but fortunately there weren’t any rain clouds in sight. Unfortunately, I had worked a little too hard in the heat. Even though I had drank 2 gallons of water, the heat still kicked my butt. My motor function declined and I was completely exhausted. My brain felt like it was too big for my skull. I sat down on the front porch and crashed. Oceana thinks I may have had a heat stroke. I’m not sure, but it’s the first time I’ve had that happen. It wasn’t fun. I got up about 2 hours later and got the window re-installed and then called it a day.

Termite spray and primer

With much of the new siding on and with me down for the count, Oceana sprayed the new siding with termite treatment. The next day, she didn’t waste any time and got all of the new siding primed. During the next few days, as the weather allowed, I finished the demo on the back siding and continued to run the felt paper all the way up to the peak of the gable. The overhead electrical service is bolted through the siding up near the roof. I’m going to need to remove the anchor holding up the power lines to properly finish the siding, and this means temporarily supporting the overhead power lines. I rigged a ratchet strap to one of the connectors on the line and then hooked the other end of the strap up to some attic bracing. I ratcheted a few times to remove the tension and it looks like it should work. I also tied off a rope to the tension wire and tied it off as a just-in-case measure. This would hold the lines up if the ratchet strap should fail.

Drywall work

We’ve been getting rain on and off so I haven’t been able to work outside some nights. Instead, I’ve started on some drywall work inside the house. We keep trying to make steady progress every day. That’s all for this week. Thanks for following along!