The Historic District

Update: I am behind schedule. (what else is new!) I'd hoped to get two sides of the house totally resided and painted this year. Alas, complications and the scale of the job mean I am just currently finishing up the first side....Painting should be finished by about October 20th. However, it's looking REALLY FRIGGIN' GOOD!
I'll give you a before and some mid-work shots to whet your appetite.


This is the kitchen wing, old siding removed. At one point there was a window here, very poorly filled in. Also, zero insulation naturally, not surprising that I freeze (as do the pipes) in the kitchen every winter.

Here I did some proper restructuring of the wall.


Here I had also moved studs to accommodate my new windows that I'd built (earlier post) along with insulation and tyvek.


And here we are with a new water table, self made drip cap, and primed siding.


That's just one tiny little part...you'll have to wait for the rest very soon.

Eperot you don’t shy away from the big jobs, but what needs to be done, gets done. Kudos to you. They did make a mess of that framing, I am amazed you didn’t have a slight sag on the second floor beams with such a large gap below. I see you have salvaged some old full dimension lumber from some were, a local salvage yard?
It will be nice to have warmth in your kitchen if for nothing else stop the pipes from freezing. Look forward to the finished project.

It looks wonderful. Love the color choices as well. Really nice detail trim work with building the window frames in particular.

At some point in the future, we'll be doing something similar on the exterior: removing later added cladding and then the original which we hope is still in good shape so we can reuse it. Also, we will be insulating from the outside as well. I don't think we'll find any former wall opening changes as you did, but it's always good to see what others deal with so I can learn and think about how we'd handle it just in case it happens to us.

Looking forward to future updates.

Gothichome,
I managed to save a bunch of old studs of varying sizes from a house they were gutting here in town. Others will be used as floor joists for an area of the kitchen floor that needs to be rebuilt. I'm just a scavenger at heart.
As my lady says, "if it's free, it's for me."

Thanks for the compliments guys. I was out until dark tonight painting as the weather was really perfect for such work.
I REALLY want this side to be done by Halloween. Ugh. On the plus side, I'm all done with the eaves and attic level so no more need to go up to scary heights from here on out.

that side looks beautiful. I especially like how skinny the windows are and the fact that you made the outside sill thick enough that it doesn't appear like a cheap contractor job.

Im just curious, no shiplap or sheeting under the siding? is that normal?

Phil,
Yes, it is normal on many houses that had my type of siding. It goes by many names from German cove (or lap), Dutch cove (or lap) Novelty, Style 105, etc...

Unlike traditional lap siding that is nailed to cover over the piece below, this siding is nailed flat against the stud with an interlocking dado on the bottom of each piece (the top of the cove slips into the dado of the next board above.)
When nailed together and interlocked it acts as a sheathing on it's own, providing diagonal bracing strength. It had the effect of saving material and therefore, money.

-Eric

Well, the southern side of the house IS DONE! Once I finished the kitchen wing of that side, I moved on to the main chunk of the house.
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Of course there had to be sill rot in this area, which I cut out and repaired with pressure treated lumber. I always wondered why there was a slight dip in the floor in that corner and a massively cold draft in the basement there. No more.


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On to the old siding, along with the window I had to remove from the dining room. This was properly framed in and then covered temporarily (but this would prove to be a few years) with plywood. UGLY!!!


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Tyvek went on with appropriate furring strips atop the studs to provide an air gap for the siding to be able to dry out if need be. Siding primed on all 6 sides.


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Starting to look a little better. Below you can see the only original piece of siding...underneath the meter. I actually pulled the board off, meter attached, to get the tyvek underneath. Don't tell on me!


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On to the second floor, and here's where the pump jacks were a godsend.

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Attic level had it's own unique challenges...Mainly that the scraping of the eaves took ages and the peak needed to be done with me standing on a milk crate on the pick, as the pick couldn't get any higher than under the eave returns.

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And finally....months behind schedule, but intensely proud of the end result...I finished on November 16th.


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Now on to the next project....finally....the gas fireplace in the parlour!

Eperot wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 4:04 am Phil,
Yes, it is normal on many houses that had my type of siding. It goes by many names from German cove (or lap), Dutch cove (or lap) Novelty, Style 105, etc...

Unlike traditional lap siding that is nailed to cover over the piece below, this siding is nailed flat against the stud with an interlocking dado on the bottom of each piece (the top of the cove slips into the dado of the next board above.)
When nailed together and interlocked it acts as a sheathing on it's own, providing diagonal bracing strength. It had the effect of saving material and therefore, money.

-Eric

It's funny , I never really thought about the fact that any sort of strip siding gives some structural integrity whereas shingles do not.
Mine has all shingles, except some cedar lapped siding but It's nailed to shiplap and I dont think that cedar siding is or was meant to be providing much strength.

the overall project looks absolutely beautiful. What a lot of work, but the fit quality sure shows. Nice job !

Eric, once again I must compliment you on your efforts. The home looks fantastic. I certainly like the colour scheme and the little detail of painting (or hi lit ting) the trim in the soffits to match the windows, nice touch.

The things you do! Looks amazing. Your house never had it so good.