Sidetracked

We ordered some of the siding, about half, and as usual, it was a painful and tortuous decision, mainly because any purchase for more than a hundred dollars is hard for me to make. When you’re doing construction, a hundred bucks is chump change. We need about 2000 linear feet of board to side the barn, and that doesn’t even include the dormers, but don’t get me started on that. The difficulty in obtaining siding includes the decision of what kind to get, but also preparing the house to put it on. In my city-boy days when I had no clue (not that I have one now), I would have thought you just get the siding and nail the stuff on, but no such luck. There are soffits and house wrap to think about, not to mention trim and other assorted goodies.

It was enough to discourage a person enough to just walk away, which is in essence exactly what I did. Now, years later, I’m ready to tackle this beast. I finished the soffit, so I’m ready to roll. If I could just get some outer coverage before winter, things would be looking up. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and go for it, after painstaking research and decision making, of course.

We are going with vertical siding because it’s more economical, faster, and easier, but that’s not all. Our house has clapboards, so it’s a nice contrast for the adjoining structure to have something different. I’ve also just learned that there are some efficiency and environmental benefits, but I’ve forgotten what they are, so never mind.

Now in an ideal world I’d just cut the stuff to size and nail it on, but the proper protocol is to paint the boards first, and then put them on. It’s much easier to paint a piece of wood before it’s nailed to a house than after, but it does delay the process. Plus, as any modern contractor will tell you, you have to paint the backside, as well.

So that’s what I’m doing. I haven’t gotten any boards on yet, but I have the wood, which is an important, dare I say critical, first step. Who knows where this will lead me, but hopefully at some point I’ll find myself at a house with siding on it. We’ll see.

Until then, thanks for reading.