Perpetual remodeling syndrome - exterior home renovation

A few years ago I scored a contract to give a customer's home a face lift. The first basic thing I was doing was removing the old pine 1" X 4" trim and replacing it with Hardie plank trim. The second chore was repainting the siding, which was approximately three quarters of the home.

This particular house was a two story (plus a ground-level carport) so that meant a lot of ladder dragging. Because of that, I broke the work up into manageable chunks. Replace trim, caulk, paint, and then move on to the next section.Today I'll share some of the things I did to work efficiently and make the customer happy.




Working with Hardie plank trim

This was my first experience working with Hardie plank. If you've never worked with it, rest assured that the learning curve is not a problem. There's just a few things to be aware of. First, always use your respirator (dust mask is sufficient). Hardie is a fiber cement product and your lungs won't like it.

I would also recommend wearing safety glasses.

Whether you're cutting with a circular saw or a table saw, you'll need to use a special blade made especially for cutting this type of material. A regular wood cutting blade just dulls up and makes you mutter words not heard in church. Well, unless you attend the same church that Obama does!

Measuring the trim was simple since I was removing the old stuff. I just traced the odd angles. At first I tried using my airless finish nail gun, but the Hardie was too tough for that. Then I tried using regular finish nails. This worked, kind of, but so many bent over that I started drilling pilot holes before nailing.

I know I'll get comments that there are better ways to go about it, but hey, this is what worked for me. I wrapped up the trim work by caulking the nail holes and where the trim kissed the siding. I've seen contractors skip by this step, but did I mention I'm a perfectionist? Besides, it's all built into the bid.

Here's a tip. When you approach a project like this, invest in a dripless caulking gun. It makes life so much easier...

Prepping and painting

With the caulk dry, I spread out drop cloths and used the high pressure washer to remove any chips. The old paint wasn't too bad so this was minimal. The next step was to get out the ladder and hand chip anything I missed with the sprayer. Like around windows!

I painted any bare areas with Kilz exterior primer as I went. The Hardie comes pre-primed so that was a welcome freebie. Next, I started back at the top and worked down cutting in and painting. Normally, I use Behr, but the customer wanted Glidden, so that's what he got.

We decided on a satin sheen. That worked really well with the color he and his wife selected.

Now, I've got to tell you that I rolled the whole house rather than spraying. It was a particularly windy season so I played it safe. But I saw a fly-by-night crew spray painting a house down the block. I'll bet the neighbor was surprised the next morning to discover that his Lexus was now two-tone!

The one thing I wouldn't do

I'll admit it, I don't get on top of two story houses. One story, OK; but above that I draw the line. There was a time when it didn't bother me but a funny thing happens as you age - you finally understand mortality.

So this left the chase built around the fireplace chimney. It was smack dab it the middle of the roof. It was only about 48 square feet but I didn't want to mess with it. The solution? I paid a buddy a Jackson to do it for me.

All in all, it was a pretty good project and I got some good referrals from it. It took me about two weeks including the rain outs.

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