Grey siding, and what sat behind it
The before photos show horizontal grey siding on the bay window and the rear walls, faded and dated against the white trim. From the ground it looked tired but intact.
Once the crew pulled the siding off the upper walls, the OSB sheathing told a different story. Dark water stains spread across several panels, and some seams had opened into gaps.
The owners of an older home often find the same thing. Siding hides the wall behind it, and small leaks around windows and roof lines can run for years before anything shows inside.
Opening the stained sections
Stained sheathing can mean an old leak that dried out, or wet wood that has started to soften. We cut out the worst area under a window to check. Behind it, the studs and pink batt insulation were exposed, so we could look at the framing before closing it up.
The crew fitted new OSB panels into the opened sections under the windows and patched the gaps between old panels. On the side entry wall we added a new wood board along the base where the old edge was exposed.
Two housewraps and taped openings
With solid sheathing in place, we wrapped the walls. The photos show Typar HouseWrap on the upper wall above the lower roof and Tyvek HomeWrap on the rear walls. Red seam tape seals the joints and the edges around each window opening.
Housewrap sheds any water that gets past the siding and still lets the wall dry to the outside. The taped window openings matter most, because that is where the stains were worst on this house.
White vertical siding on the two-storey walls
New white vertical siding went up over the wrap on the two-storey sections and around the bay window. Vertical siding makes the tall walls look taller and cleaner, and it sheds water straight down.
The finished photos show the street side and the pool side of the house in the new siding, with the bay window wrapped to match.
We brought the siding up to the soffits and trimmed around each window so the wrap stays covered. At the bay window, the vertical boards follow each angled face, which keeps the lines straight when you look at it from the yard.
