Covering Old Wood Siding

Clapboard siding uses planks of wood installed horizontally with an upper piece that overlaps the lower piece.

Covering old wood siding.

Wood siding comes in clapboard also known as lap or bevel siding as well as shakes and shingles. In addition any signs of insect infestation will remain an issue when covering the wood with vinyl so removing the wood siding is a better option. Generally the best idea is to remove any existing siding from your exterior walls before installing the vinyl siding. If the job had been done right the house would have been a total loss.

If there isn t a moisture barrier beneath the old wood siding you ll want to install one over it before you add the new vinyl siding. If the wood siding is beveled or lapped you will need vertical furring strips 16 inches apart covered with rigid foam board to provide a. The design is made up of wide boards being placed together and then a thin piece of wood the batten placed to cover up the gap where the two boards meet. Any imperfections in the wall will almost always show up in the siding.

Just like vinyl siding you ll need to ensure the siding surface is completely flat either by the old siding or by adding slats to the wall. Western red cedar and redwood woods known for being attractive and durable are considered the best choices. If it isn t there will be more steps that need to take place before it becomes possible and you might need the help of wood siding repair contractors to have the bad boards replaced which isn t always easy to do for the homeowner himself. I ve seen house fires where the vinyl siding burned off only to reveal the superior asbestos shingles underneath which saved the house.

Vinyl siding must be installed against a flat surface. Covering flat walls such as t 111 or stucco siding is usually a prime siding for re siding. While whether to remove the existing wood siding is really a personal choice. This goes for fiber cement hardwood and masonite siding.

Using existing siding for replacing siding the best place to start is to closely examine the existing siding to get a good understanding of what condition it is actually in. So you can use your creativity. Also known as barn siding board and batten is an old classic when it comes to exteriors. According to the best practices manual from james hardie existing siding can be used as a substrate as long as it is in good condition meaning that it is not warped.

Yes you can put vinyl siding over existing wood siding assuming its condition is still good. If however you have metal or old vinyl siding that will need to be removed before new vinyl is installed. It would be wiser to remove the wood siding to make certain there is no damage. Was the problem that they put new siding over old or that they put new siding over a rotted wall with no drainage plain in between.