We knew when we purchased the house that most of the windows needed replacing. We decided to keep three that were still in good condition. We also decided to get rid of three windows altogether to be able to create some built-in areas inside the house on those walls. So we placed our window order in June 2022.
Window install was set for the end of October, so we had a deadline to remove the windows we weren't keeping, find siding to match, fill in those places, and have extra siding ready for the installers that were putting in a smaller window in one location. We already knew this would be a challenge with two thirds of the house having metal siding and the rest vinyl. So, we decided to replace the siding on the entire house, rather than spend money on replacement siding to match what we already didn't like.
We decided on a siding product and placed that order. Now we really had a lot to do before the window install date!
Siding Removal Pt. 1
We began with removing the siding on what we believed to be the some of the newer additions to the house—the living room and mud room. We soon discovered they did not have any wood behind the siding, only foam board. So, we had to remove the siding, the foam board and all nails, remove the windows we weren't keeping, install OSB sheets, home wrap, and tape all seams.
Siding Removal Pt. 2
The oldest part of the house had the foam board as well, but it at least had wood behind, so we installed the home wrap over the foam and taped the seams. The newest addition even had home wrap, but we still installed new home wrap over it, to cover all the nail holes.
Siding Removal Pt. 3
Andy finished with all the siding removal he could do from a ladder. Next, we had to rent a lift! Of course, it rained three out of the four days we had it. We had some cold, rainy work days.
Painting
While we had the lift, Andy painted all the soffits and fascia that were on the upper level of the house. He did this in cold temperatures, in between rains. Poor guy. It was rough out there!
Custom Cedar Vents
We decided to use cedar accents on the house. Andy made two custom vents for the attic space and above the mud room and they look great!
Renting the Lift… Again
Since it was difficult to get to everything the first time we had the lift, with the rain, we rented it once again to tackle the upper peak section and other various, hard to reach areas.
New Siding Begins!
Black Beauty! Black siding, black trim, black doors and eventually, black windows. As we begin the siding project, the windows should have already been installed. An installer quit, and we were skipped. So, our window install was pushed from the end of October to the middle of December. It's out of our control, so we begin forward with the siding install.
New windows!
We received a call that the new windows were going to be installed the middle of November, a month earlier than we were previously told. Yay! The day began cold with no precipitation and then we were hit with snow… every single day of the window install. Welcome to northern Michigan.
Before & After (not finished yet!)
Living room:
Dining room:
Kitchen:
2nd bedroom:
Principal bedroom:
In the Spring…
We will complete the siding project. We continued working in the snow but gave up mid-December. We would rather enjoy the winter on the ski slopes!