I spend the weekend removing old cedar siding from my house. I know have a naked exterior and will not have replacement siding for 3-4 weeks (special order Hardieplank). My house is 90 years old; the exterior walls are 1″ tongue and grove in pretty good condition. A little plywood on a 70’s addition. There is a week of rain forecast and it rained all night. There was a little moisture in one section (I have covered that area with plastic), but generally the walls look dry. I have siding paper on order but it will come with the siding. I could cover with plastic (actually bought that already, but am not sure it is worth the expense).
My question: Should I be concerned that the exterior walls are now exposed? Should I do whatever it takes to cover the bare wood? Or can the walls handle a little moisture … I don’t expect a monsoon, but we could get some blowing rain over the next week. Opinions?
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Well it’s a too late now, but I would have waited till I had the new sheathing material before I removed the old stuff.
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That is sound advice, but I was concerned about what I would find under the old siding. I wanted time to do repairs before my “week of siding” vacation in September. Turns out, the boards are in pretty good shape and I probably will not do anything to improve them… But I didn’t know that. Also, I want some time to get the flashing and trim in place before the marathon … so stripping the siding seemed logical, given that it is August (usually the best month for weather in Seattle). Which made the rain the last few days so … rewarding :-) But, again, the rain is cooperating and falling straight down. Almost no water on the walls. But, I guess I will be buying paper this weekend and returning the stuff that I have on order. What fun!
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Sounds logical to me! Good luck! Doing siding yourself is a great to save a bunch of money and improve your property value.