Residing 1930s house

[harveysloan]

Hello, we're new to this forum and need some advice. In removing aluminum siding from the front and back of our house (built in 1931), we discovered that the original cedar shake was never removed. Whoever installed the aluminum just put a very thin piece of insulation between the shake and aluminum siding and called it a day.

We love the look of the cedar and would like to expose it on the whole front of the house and the top portion of the back of the house. Whether we do the work ourselves or hire a contractor, we have some questions:
1). Should we tear off all the old shake and install new shake?
2) Can we put new shake directly on top of the old shake so as to avoid having to rip out all the old stuff?
3) Is it more cost-efficient to do #2 or strip and repaint the original shake (we do have lead-based paint, so this is not part of the renovation we would attempt ourselves)?
4). Should we scrap the whole plan of keeping cedar shake and replace it all with fiber cement shake that replicates the look?
5). Do the fire risks of cedar shake outweigh all other concerns? In other words, should we be worried about safety? We live in the Pacific NW, but we keep getting hotter and drier.

We want to make the right decision, so thanks for the feedback.

[Gothichome]

Harveysloan, welcome to the district. We have lots of folks with shakes on their homes, most just repair any bad shakes and paint an appropriate colour. If the paint already on the shakes is still holding fast you good just give them a good wash down, scrape the loose bits and repaint.
Removing the siding and the insulation is far better then leaving the siding intact, the shakes and the home for that matter need to breath and release moisture or they may rot in place, that’s not a good thing.
The lead issue in my view is a bit of fear mongering winning over reality. With normal precautions like a mask if sanding every thing should be fine, especially if working out of doors. This is just my view though.
You can read a lot about what others have done regarding shakes with a search, a lot of the old home folks here have dealt with this very question.
By the way we do like pictures here in the District.

[harveysloan]

Thank you for the feedback. I have attached photos for reference. The upper part of both photos shows where we stopped in the removal of the aluminum siding due to awkward angles, but that will all come off. The back side of the house would either be replicated in front with siding part way up, a transition board, and cedar shake on top, or we would just have cedar shake on the entire front of the house. All the shake would be repainted white to match the siding, and the door frame, window frames, and transition boards will be a dark grey.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[mjt]

I agree with @gothichome.

My first home had cedar shakes and was built in 1949. Remove the aluminum siding and keep the cedar shakes. Scrape off the loose paint, repair/replace any damaged shakes, sand to smooth out edges & provide "tooth" for the next coating layer, prime, and paint. You don't need to strip unless you're going from paint to stain (beware, you're never going to get all the paint off if you go this route...).

I have no expertise about the fire differences, but would be surprised if there was anything substantial in practice. After all, what's the rest of your house made of?

[phil]

there is a special tool used to remove the shingles if they are bad. its a long thin hardened thign that you push up under the shingle and hit with a hammer to cut the nail. my shingles are all 98 years old they seem to be faring well but i have some that are curled up and the second coat of paint/stain s flaking a little here and there.
I feel lucky that I didn't have a whole lot of paint buildup on them. stain may flake off after time but some paints create layers that peel and that could be a bad thing.
so if you do use paint and not a stain I'd consult with a real painter about the prep and the type of paint you use. a lot of the modern paints are designed to be recoated every 4 years or so and that's not very suitable in my eyes, for 100 year old shingles.
they come in different grades. Yours were made form old growth lumber with tight grain , replacements will vary with price. my plan is to only replace the ones that are necessary.