Siding is a rain screen, not a skin. What keeps the wall dry is everything behind and around it.
Most siding failures we get called out to are not the siding. They are missing kick out flashing at a roof to wall joint, house wrap lapped the wrong way, or a window head with no drip cap. We install the water management details first and hang the siding over them.
We work in vinyl and fiber cement. Fiber cement costs more up front and holds paint and shape better over time, and we will tell you honestly which one makes sense for your house and budget.
A word about pictures. We have not photographed a siding job yet. Every siding picture that used to sit on this page came from somewhere else, so we took them all down rather than show you work that is not ours. If you want to see this work before you hire us, ask on the estimate visit and we will give you a customer to call.
What is behind the siding
Siding is a rain screen, not a seal. Water gets behind every cladding ever made. The job
is to give it somewhere to go and a way back out, and that is what the layers below do.
It is also why two siding quotes at the same price are rarely the same job.
Section down through the wall, with a window head and a roof to wall
junction. A drawing, not a photograph.
1StudsThe existing frame. If we open a wall and find
rot, you see it before anything covers it again.
2SheathingThe structural skin. Soft or damaged sections
get replaced, not sided over.
3Water resistive barrierHouse wrap, lapped like shingles
so every upper piece sheds onto the one below, seams taped. Lapped the wrong way round
it is a funnel, not a barrier.
4Drained cavityVertical furring holds the siding off the
wrap. Water that gets behind runs down and out, and air moves through, so the back of
the siding dries instead of staying wet.
5SidingFastened to the manufacturer schedule, with the
clearances they specify at the bottom and at every horizontal surface.
6Window headFlashing tape over the flange, a metal drip
cap, then the wrap lapped over the cap. Sealant on its own at a window head is the most
common reason a wall rots quietly for a decade.
7Kick out flashingWhere a roof edge dies into a wall.
Without it a whole roof of water is delivered straight behind the siding. It is a small
piece of metal and it is the most skipped detail in the trade.
How the job runs
Walk the wall with you first. Corners, window heads, roof to wall
junctions, and anywhere the ground meets the siding. That is where we expect trouble,
and we would rather find it with you standing there.
Strip one wall at a time. Not the whole house at once, so nothing sits
open to the weather overnight.
Repair what is underneath. Rotten sheathing out, new in, priced and
shown to you before it is covered.
Wrap, tape, flash. Barrier lapped correctly, seams taped, drip caps and
kick outs fitted. This is the day that decides the next twenty years.
Furring, then siding. Cavity created, siding hung to spec with the
proper clearances.
Trim, corners and caulk last. Caulk finishes a job. It does not hold
one together.
