Of all the projects to pick, siding is probably one of the most likely to run into unforeseen issues and extra costs. You never really know what's under that top layer that you can see. Sometimes, as in our case, there is no history whatsoever provided to help you even guess.
The existing siding in our case was easily recognizable to the home inspector and even the Realtor as L-P siding. Right off the bat we knew it had a reputation and it wasn't a good one.
The biggest and most frustrating problem and one that added considerable extra expense was the fact that there was not only one, but two, and in some areas three layers of siding on the house! Whoever installed the L-P siding installed it over the top of shingles! This resulted in many unexpected labor hours as well as the need for a second dumpster for all the extra waste. You know how shingles are angled? This person went so far as to add shims to counter the shingle angles to make the L-P siding level but in the process created large gaps of air that bugs, plants and mold were growing in. Pretty much defeating the purpose of installing new siding. You can be sure that they never considered the impact of this decision on future homeowners or contractors.
As a result of the decision to add the L-P siding to the existing layer of siding, the 12 new vinyl windows that we installed at roughly the same time, were mounted so that when the old siding was removed, they were sticking out about two inches and would not be flush with the new siding until they were reseated. That was an expense of about an hour and a half per window that we had not expected. The contractor offered us a less expensive alternative but we wanted it done right. No sense in putting on siding with a 50 year warranty and jimmy-rigging the windows in the process.
Additionally, there were several areas of dry rot that needed repairing. It really was a great thing that we decided to do the siding first, it needed it!
The last item that caught us off guard was the back door. When we inspected the house, the glass in the back door had been broken, it was very thin single pane window glass. It appeared as though someone may have tried to break in. Not only that but the back porch was level with the door so when it rained (all of the weather comes from that side of the house) it leaked under the door. We had intended to replace it at some point but the contractor pointed out that it would be best to do it before the siding was complete as the whole casing had to be removed. I had no idea how much doors cost! It is nice to know that we don't have to worry about any more problems with that now either.
Its hard not being on site during a project like this to make the split decisions needed by projects that are derailed by the realities of life. The contractor said this was the first time he had ever done a project like this via email. I'm appreciative of his cooperation. The new siding is completed, and feedback from my family and neighbors is good. We are dying to see it for ourselves!
In all it was $4,500 more than our original quote but considering all of the surprises, we're lucky it wasn't more. The good news is, everything after this will seem cheap and easy and the new siding will prevent further damage from causing us more problems in the future.
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