Replacing the siding, and a new patio

About 3 years ago, I attempted to get bids from 3 local contractors to have The Cottage's old 1950's shingle siding replaced with Hardiboard lap siding. I say attempted because of the 3 contractors I asked to give me a bid, I actually received a bid from only one. Contractor #1 never called back after promising to call me and arrange a quote. The second one did show up, got all the info he needed, and then, because he's a total jackass, NEVER GOT BACK TO ME. Though he had assured me that he had renovated a lot of older homes, while he was at my house, #2 continually rolled his eyes and sniffed at the supposedly "not up to code" state of apparently every aspect of my house. (Never mind that all he was supposed to do was give a quote for replacing exterior siding, not rebuilding the whole freaking house). He was strangely obsessed with my electrical mast. He couldn't stop talking about it, and how it was "supposed to be 3 feet above the roof line," even after I pointed out that every other house in my neighborhood had a mast exactly like mine, and nobody from Code Enforcement or the local utility company seemed bothered. What a creepy slimeball. Number 2 was such a prick, I never called him when I never got the fax that he never sent!

The third contractor was nice enough. He came out when scheduled, took measurements, and promptly got back to me with a quote for $17,000. Yes, $17,000. To put Hardiboard on my 1300 square foot home. His quote was so difficult to interpret, and his explanation of it so convoluted that even he had a hard time justifying the cost breakdown. Completely frustrated, I gave up, figuring there had to be a better (and cheaper) way.

Over the next 6 months I gradually, one shingle at a time, removed the old siding. The Cottage stood bare, exposed down to its original 8" wooden lap siding. In January 2006, I found myself facing certain unemployment the following June after I learned my contract would not be renewed. Leaving that job was a mixed blessing, in many ways. The cash payout from the 350+ hours of unused vacation time that I had accrued helped ease the transition into indefinite unemployment, and ultimately also financed the next renovation: putting up the Hardiboard myself, with the help of a good friend.

It was July when we started, and absurdly hot. We had spent time researching the project, down to the type of saw blade, and whether to use screws or nails. (The James Hardie Corporation's website has excellent, very detailed instructions. The local building code is also online). Early on, we made a solemn pact that we would work for only 2 hours, 2-1/2 at the most each day, then knock off before it got really hot. (I wanted us to still be friends after the job was completed, after all). We worked from 0730 to 1000, Monday through Friday. It took us 8 weeks to finish (including a one-week hiatus when I took off to New York City with a friend). Total cost for the two of us to replace the Hardiboard ourselves: $1500. Yes, $1500. Hence, the trip to NYC with my friend.

Here are some before and after photos:

An early photo (2002) of the exterior living room/master bedroom area, soon after I bought The Cottage, during the metal re-roof. This is an awful picture that makes it look like a haunted house. The little twig in the foreground is now a 12-foot tall Ponkan (tangerine) tree! Time sure flies.

Another view of the same part of the house, soon after the roof was replaced (2003):

And in July 2006, while Hardiboard was being installed:

A little further along in the process:

And after the new gable vents were installed:

During the painting phase. Notice that there was no landscaping where the ladders stood.

Another view of exterior master bedroom, circa 2002:

And the same view, with new siding, new gable vent, and freshly painted, in 2006. Rain gutters and a rain barrel were also in place by then:

More recently, after landscaping:

Some views of the front of house/front porch, with new Hardiboard:

The workshop, during the Hardiboard installation. I had also started to prepare to build a small patio outside the workshop, a place that previously was swampy and full of weeds:

The dirt all smoothed, and the frame ready for leveling the sand:

Simultaneously building the patio, and putting up siding:

The pavers laid in place on the leveled sand base. The workshop got a fancy new door, too:

Patio completed:

All painted, landscaped, and with compost spread and grass plugs planted:

Back on Track

Quick update: we have hired our new contractor! He will pull permits ASAP, and then the work begins. We ordered the bathroom floor tile from Subway Tile (2" unglazed porcelain hexagonal tile) and it has shipped.

We also ordered the new tub, its exposed pipe shower/faucet, tub drain, supply lines, and circular shower curtain rod. All should be here in less than a week.


It's looking more likely that we could be back in the Cottage by 2009, after all.

Flashback to the Living Room Redo

The Cottage, when purchased in 2002, had icky beige and blue calico patterned wallpaper in the living room. Forgive me, but I do not have a photo of it, for what I hope are obvious reasons. I think it was supposed to be part of the PHO's "country" decorating theme. Within hours of the closing, I had stripped the wallpaper using only my bare hands. It felt great. I had just plunked down $88,000, and was beginning to realize what I had gotten myself into. It was my way of claiming the Cottage as my own.

Afterward, the living room walls lay exposed: wallpaper bits, stains, cracks, and all. And that is exactly how the living room remained until I decided to finally transform it a few years later. (Yes, years later).

Below is a very early before photo of the living room. Note the complete absence of baseboards (the floors had recently been refinished). The shadowy stains on the walls are not photographic artifact. They really were this yucky, uneven, and splotchy. Actually, they were worse. My "drapes" were old bedsheets strung up on rope. Looking at this photo, I recall the scrap of 2x4 "drapery rod support" that the PHO had nailed and screwed to the wall. Such memories!

The original double-hung windows had not yet been replaced. Below is a photo of the old windows, after the floors were refinished, but before I moved in. Note the matching pair of window-propping sticks provided by the PHO. I found them very useful for propping the windows open, since, without the window-propper sticks, the windows would not have remained open for very long at all!

Below is another photo of the same room, from a different angle. Wow,look at that gap. You can really see how badly off-kilter the old entry door was in this photo.

About 5 months after purchasing the Cottage, my second big splurge (after the metal roof) : new windows!
The photo below shows an exterior view of the front of the Cottage, with new windows installed. I chose the 3-over-1 lite pattern because of its Craftsman feel (although the Cottage is not in the Craftsman style, homes of the same era around here often have this style of window), and because I like having one large open pane on the bottom to give an unobstructed view of my garden and the birds.

You can still see the shadowy reminder of the old vinyl faux shutters. I recall more than a few wasp stings while taking those suckers down. Who knew?

Below is a closeup of the windows, because they are so 3-over-1/aluminum-clad/wooden/double-hung/low-E/double-glazed fabulous!

Back to the living room....after the windows were replaced, but before the living room transformation was complete, there was THE HOLE. I do not seem to have a photo of THE HOLE, but it lived in the living room wall, under the only south-facing window in the room. THE HOLE came to exist after I noticed mushrooms growing from the exterior window sill. I thought that was odd, and that it probably meant trouble. Removing the rotten sill (basically touching it with my hand, and watching it fall to bits) led to the discovery of some rotted siding located beneath the window and hidden by the shingles. Which led to my wondering, if the exterior had been water damaged to this extent, wouldn't the interior have been, too? So, I moved the living room furniture away from the window and tore out all of the drywall from beneath the window. And, yes, the jack stud inside the wall was also completely rotted and crumbling. It was replaced, along with the small area of damaged siding. The drywall, on the other hand, did not get replaced right away, because it just seemed easier at the time to put the furniture back, which made THE HOLE completely invisible. And, because furniture could hide THE HOLE, THE HOLE stayed hidden, where it remained until further improvements were made.

The old 32" sagging front door was replaced with a new 36" fiberglass door with a leaded glass inset. The Cottage's exterior shingles had all been professionally and expertly removed from its exterior by this time, as shown in this photo, in which the underlying faded and chipped original bygone lead-containing paint job is visible. This was the Cottage's transitional phase. It was a curious time. One neighbor actually stopped out front as she was driving by and said (no joke), "I LOVE what you've done!!" Something about "shabby chic" and "log cabin style." Ugh. It defies explanation.

When I finally got around to completing the living room, I started by taking down the crown molding, and carefully numbering each piece for re-installation later. Next, I patched the dozens of nail holes and cracks in the wall, and taped and mudded the entire perimeter of the room where the walls meet the ceiling. (The Cottage's drywall is all similarly installed, with prominent gaps between wall and ceiling, and gaps where drywall meets drywall in the corners. Some people must REALLY have hated taping and mudding back when this house was built; or, maybe they didn't expect it to last this long). After the joints were all neatly filled in and sanded smooth, I moved one electrical outlet over about 12 inches and then drywalled over THE HOLE.

Next, I attempted to even up the rather uneven walls as best I could. My original plan was to do a knockdown pattern. But, I quickly realized that I had no idea how to do it. My attempts at teaching myself proper application of a knockdown drywall finish via online do-it-yourself tutorials were pretty disappointing. I gave up and came up with Plan B. I troweled layer upon thin layer of drywall compound over the really obvious low spots, to build them up. Then, I concocted a mixture of playground sand with slightly thinned drywall mud that I rolled onto the walls like paint, using a thick-napped roller. It took about 2 days for each coat to completely dry. That was okay, since I had nothing but time. I layered on 2-3 coats of the sand/mud mixture, depending on how uneven the area was. The result was a pleasing slightly coarse wall texture that helped hide minor flaws. I primed and then painted the room, and put the crown molding back up. After I installed the window trim and put up the new drapes, I was extremely pleased with the results:




I trimmed out the windows using stock poplar lumber. My trim carpentry skills are not so great, so I kept the design very simple. Instead of staining the wood, I used shellac. If you have never used shellac, you definitely must try it on a finishing or refinishing project soon. It is truly the most forgiving finish you can ever hope to apply to wood. It is simple to mix, and very easy to apply (imagine a finish with NO brush marks). Each new coat dissolves and combines with previous coats, so it builds up beautifully, and dries in minutes.

For the window trim, I used orange shellac flakes from Lee Valley Tools. It gave the perfect warm color to the poplar, don't you think? I have also used the same shellac to refinish the walnut burl dresser shown in one of my earlier posts. It took just one day to refinish the dresser.

I bought 8" cypress baseboards from a local sawmill, and finished them with 6 coats of natural oil-based Minwax stain (to match to color of the original heart pine flooring as much as possible) and 3 coats of oil-based satin polyurethane. Once the baseboards were installed, the living room was complete.