Siding Options - Soliciting Input from THD!

[Ober51]

We are trying to figure out what we want to do with the outside of the house. Who better to ask than fellow old home owners?

Here is the current situation: The house was originally sided with stained cedar shake in ~1902. At some point in the 50s, the shake was covered with traditional asbestos siding. This is how it currently remains. While the asbestos is in fine shape (only a few broken tiles), every bit of the paint is failing. This includes all fascia board and the entire wooden porch. I have, with some help, attacked the porch. We have stripped 4 poles, the entire inside top (not the bead board), and some of the baluster fronts. There is a significant portion left, but will be done before being painted. The porch and facia must be painted, and I want to do it right. This means taking it down to bare wood, sand, good primer, two top coats of good paint.

Here are the choices for moving forward as I see it with the asbestos shingle portion of the house. We could probably do the first and second ourselves, but it would not be quick and the better half is itching to get this done Therefore, we are looking to hire these next options out:

1. We simply paint the entire house. This stuff takes paint well and would look fine. The house is power washed, primed, and painted.

2. We take off the asbestos shingle and rehab the original shake. This was done by a guy down the street and looks great. It was labor intensive and he filled all nail holes and painted. We have a great contact with regards to asbestos remediation. The entire setup and cost would fall between $2,000-$3,000. Our house is ~2,600sf, so this would represent a great savings. NJ allows us to tear off ourselves provided we take the correct precautions and follow code.

3. We take it all down and start fresh with a Hardie board-type cement cedar shake-looking product. This would not require any maintenance for a long time. When it does, it will likely simply need to be power washed, primed, and painted.

4. We take it all off and start fresh with cedar shake. The initial cost AND the maintenance costs is greatest of all options.

Has anyone done #2? I know I will not know the state of the shake until they are all uncovered, but my gut says they are ok in some spots and need replacing in others. My head says I may need to replace everything. Would love to hear your honest thoughts. I promise I can handle it....

[Mick_VT]

#2 definitely

[lovesickest]

It seems like you have listed the options from lowest cost to highest. I think any of these options would be appropriate. You need to figure in the cost of your time, labor and energy, as well as the emotional toil of the drudgery of the task.

Sometimes DIY, the thorough and right way is the most satisfying and will yield the best long term results. BUT - sometimes paying a professional to do the thing will save you a great deal of energy and stress. They have the tools, the experience and a crew of workers, so what may take you 4 months of weekends, they can do in less than 10 days.

Personally, when I start doing the thing, I tend to be focussed on that task alone and need to work from start to finish. Other peoples working style is different in that they can start a task but then let it sit for a year or more uncompleted. This is the hardest on your spouse or partner !

[Sashguy]

I've worked three homes that removed their asbestos siding. Results on all three were excellent. Differential was that the three had 718 siding, so replacement siding was difficult to source, as the profile dims were changed in the 50's. The siding had served to protect the underlying wood, so other than the nail holes, most was in excellent condition. Painters filled the holes as they prepped.

[raine]

Some ?'s to consider ;
How long are you going to live in the house ? If less than 10 yrs maybe just paint the asbestos. However removing it would be a good sell point.
How long ago and is the cedar shake painted neighbors paint job holding up ? Might be a good idea to wait and see if his wood is holding paint.
Would stain be a better option ?
Considering the season , getting too cold to paint, inspect all window sills , corners, door frames foundation to siding contacts, etc. for rot and fix , paint to protect.
From my experience there is no such thing as a ten year paint job, its more like inspect and touch up every year.

[Ober51]

We are going to paint. Now, just hoping it is not too cold here in NJ to do so before winter.

[CS in Low Hud]

I'd vote for #2 as well. We did a combination of your #2 and #3 (remove old siding layers, restore what could be restored, and replace badly damaged sections with Hardie Board). We had clapboards, not shakes, but there is a slight profile difference between actual wood products and the Hardie equivalent. It's not too noticeable in claps, but I would think it would make a huge difference in the shakes - dunno.

Chris

[Ober51]

Thanks all! At the end of the day, we have so many projects to tackle, our resources really need to be spent in a variety of ways and on a plethora of things. Even if less desirable, paint will make a huge difference