Creating White Cottage Farm: Our New Siding Reveal

Today I am finally sharing the reveal of our new siding! For the last month or so we have been closely working with LP Building Solutions to reside our home and garage. We are so thrilled with the results!

We wanted something that was more time-accurate for our house. When we first moved here we painted our house. The paint was starting to show wear and tear already after being painted in 2016. We also noticed from an original photo of the house when it was built in the 1800s that the siding was much larger than the current aluminum siding we had. We wanted to get the same look. 

Before I get into our residing project, I wanted to help answer the question of why reside my home? Outside of aesthetics, residing your home has direct and indirect benefits making it a great investment for your home. The direct reasons are the obvious, a fresh new look and facelift for your home. Bring an old home up to date and have it fit you and your style. The indirect benefits sometimes outweigh the direct, and those are taking a look at what your house looks like structurally, underneath the old siding.

When you get your old siding off, you can easily find future problematic areas like bad or poorly installed windows, other water prone weak areas, or items that are standard or code that weren’t when you house was built or last resided.

Before the project went underway, the Kruse Brothers came out to survey the house. Being a home built from the 1800’s they wanted to do a full inspection to make sure they were prepared for any problematic or unique areas that may require some extra attention due to the building standards changing over time. Nothing was found that was of major concern, the previous owners did take incredible care of the house.

Once the project was underway and the siding was removed, the first thing we noticed was the house was never wrapped with house wrap. House wrap like tyvek is a vapor barrier that helps protect your house moisture and wind, protecting the bones of your house and keeping those pesky drafts out of your favorite cozy spaces. Talking to the install crew, they expected the aluminum siding was installed before the vapor barrier became the standard. We have already noticed fewer drafts throughout the home. Going from aluminum to a wrapped house and engineered wood siding, the house is much quieter. 

In all of my experience doing remodels, if you open up and chat with your contractors they love talking about their specialty and profession. If you have great contractors, they want to keep an eye out for you and want their work to stand the test of time, and The Kruse Brothers found some areas that were missing flashing, small nail holes in the roof. Not only did they fix it, but they also let us know why it was bad, how they fixed it, and areas to always look out for around our house or other houses if we were to look at buying a home in the future. Also, they shared typical characteristics of a newly sided house, how the engineered wood expands and contracts with the weather, how the caulking and built-in flashing around utilities, and exterior lighting not only helps the installers but the homeowners too.

We decided to go with LP SmartSide in the color Snowscape White. We thought this color and style would help us achieve the look of bringing the farmhouse from the 1980’s back to the 1800’s. Wider plank siding, with the wood texture, was more accurate to the time. LP comes with great color options, so getting a color you want, without needing to paint it is definitely a perk as well. 

It was an instant transformation. Everyone that we have had over agrees with us, it instantly looks like an old farmhouse again. Through the years additions were put on, and remodels created different lines in and styles of siding, most of the house was aluminum, but some areas were broken up with vinyl cedar shakes. Now having it all seamless, it really looks like the original home again.

Keeping our largest investment structurally sound and safe, is always a priority for us and we tell other people to think about their homes the same way. Finding out that our home was wrapped with Tyvek, has reduced our drafts that ultimately will reduce our bills associated with heating and cooling. Needless to say, it was an investment that we always think is a great idea for homeowners looks at keeping their house safe.

What do you think of the new siding? Let me know on either Facebook or Instagram! Thanks for stopping by the blog today and every day!

xx Liz Marie