Exterior Siding Demolition is Complete

Demolition of the exterior siding was completed this week. There were a lot of great discoveries and a lot of not so great discoveries. All in all, I think we are in pretty good shape. 

Lets start with the great discoveries. When they removed the siding, they revealed that the gable is clad in shingles. It is a nice contrast from the 3" exposure clapboards that clad the rest of the house. They also seem to be in pretty good shape. 

The demo also revealed that we have corner boards and a frieze board trim around the house. Mose of the clapboards are also in good shape. The finish on them isn't so great but it is far better than what I feared I might find. 

The worst part of the demo reveal is the eaves. All of the beadboard soffits are rotted. If they were in better shape, I might consider keeping them but instead, we have found a beadboard that matches it perfectly and will replace the beadboard with a replica. We will be staining it so it should provide a nice accent around the entire home. 

We've always had a single door to the cubbie hole beneath our front porch. The demo revealed a second door but there are some challenges with how we make this workable. 

Most of the window trim is in good shape. I think that I have three sills I have to replace but that shouldn't be bad at all. All in all, I am happy with the window areas. 

One of the window's trim was cut apart to make the siding work. The small window in the dining room bay will have to get new trim so that is looks "right" again. 

There is a skirt board at the bottom of the bay window that is missing. We will have to reconstruct that. 

There is a molding that used to exist at the edge of the beadboard. It framed the beadboard at the soffits on the eaves and at the gable. Luckily, there are two homes on the street that have the molding intact so I can figure out what it is and replace it to look like it once did. 

The cove molding on the capitals and on the gables is all intact. I may need to replace some of it but that work will be minor. 

Parts of the back of the house are in rough shape. Clearly, this area never saw much attention. I have a few pieces of clapboard to replace and a lot of minor patching to do. 

The eave returns at the back of the house are a complete mess and have to be completely re-framed and trimmed. The birds will not be happy. 

Carpentry work begins on Monday so I have been busy choosing stains and finishes and getting lumber ordered so that they can start work. I am having people that know what they are doing take care of the eaves and I will tackle a lot of the rest. I am glad that the demo is over but probably won't be completely at ease until the eave work is completed. There may be more discoveries come Monday! 

The Biggest Project So Far

We have lived in the Tiny Bungalow for ten years now. The year, the home also turned 100 years old. It is about time for a serious makeover.

In 2001, the PO decided that it would be good to cover the home in aluminum and vinyl siding. The siding is now pealing - yes, you read that right, the siding is pealing. I've always known that I wanted to restore the exterior of the Tiny Bungalow. Most folks think I am crazy but we are finally taking off the siding and restoring the woodwork beneath.

So far, I am happy with the results. Most of the woodwork on the west and south sides of the house is intact and decent shape. We also found that there are nice details like a freizeboard over the main porch, corner boards, and some cove molding. The down side is that some cove molding and a small skirt molding on the bay were removed to put on the siding and though the flat walls of the house seem fine, I am guessing that the eave and fascia are a mess.

After seeing what was revealed in the first day of demolition, I am optimistic but now see that I have to do a bit of research about my neighbor's homes to see what kidns of details once existed on mine and to figue out how to recreate them. All of this needs to be done before the weather turns. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

Taking more off

Another day and another few square of aluminum siding had to go.  I ended up removing the siding from the clapboard areas on each side of the door today.  I also started scraping all of the newly revealed areas so I can get ready to install any trim pieces and paint. 

The colors that have been on the Tiny Bungalow are pretty cool.  After a bit of scraping, you can see that the trim has a yellow, a dark green, and a couple whites.  The clapboards look like they have only been shades of white but it is hard to tell.  I am not sure what I am going to do about the ceiling area at the stairs.  It has been painted over significantly more than the ceiling in the porch so the bead boards barely show through.  I may just scrape it a little mroe and paint it over, not caring too much if I get that clean beadboard look.  I guess I can settle for it looking "clean".  I am not sure though. 

I also broke down and removed the siding on the column capital.  It took a little gymnastics but I got it off.  Note that my wife took pics of me doing this and offered words of encouragement so she is now culpable and can't leave me if the project goes wrong.  I have a little work to do on the columns.  Some of the wood is slightly rotted at the corner - actually a very tiny amount.  Not sure if I want to take on any re-building right now so it may just get painted and then addressed again in the spring. 

I still have that symmetry issue too.  Should I also do the other side?  I think you already know the answer to that one.

Finally, a question for anyone that has removed siding before: How do you get out the siding nails.  They seem to be coated so they stick in there pretty well.  Also, when I use a claw or hammer to try and pull them out, the heads bend or break off so I am stuck counter-sinking them back into the surface.  There has to be a trick to this, right?