We were in the process of removing our old siding to have vinyl (puke) put up. On removing the siding we have found wooden siding underneath. The wooden siding is in really good condition bar needing a good sand and some new paint on.

However, as this is old siding, there is no house wrap underneath. Now would you:

(a) give it a quick sand and paint and then have a nice project in the spring of carefully removing it and putting house wrap on and putting it back on and sanding and painting it properly; or

(b) stick house wrap and vinyl siding on?

Answers on a postcard please.

A friend of mine came across the same deal a couple of years back on an older house he bought - He was considering doing the same as you and getting the original stuff revamped . One big problem that he came up against was that the original paint could contain hazardous materials (could have been lead in the original paint but I cant remember for sure ) and would have to be treated as such . Removal of this type of hazardous materials can possibly be very expensive so it was cheaper and easier to cover it up with new stuff .

I hadn't thought of that. Oh poopy poo.

That doesent mean yours contains any nasty stuff - I dont think its very expensive to get a paint chip checked and if you are planning on doing the work yourself Occupational Health and Safety have very little jurisdiction over it - If you have a contractor do the work and there is an eagle eyed OH&S officer around they will be forced to use the proper procedures and thats where the expense kicks in

It would be a contractor doing it. I think we will strip all the old stuff of and take a look at the bigger picture and see if ALL the wood siding is good and go from there. It just seems such a crime to slap vinyl up over lovely wood siding.

Our house has expensive Cedar "Maibec" siding. It still needs painting from time to time. Gonne be coming up some time soon, and I am not looking forward to it. There are a few cracked and warped strips too that will need taking care of.

You DEFINITELY need house wrap either way, so I cant help thinking taking down and refinishing the old siding to put back on over the wrap is more trouble than its worth.

If it were me I would be finding the money to add and inch or two of exterior foam insulation sheeting, plus house wrap, and then the siding of your choice, be that wood or vinyl. Vinyl needs less maintainance over time, but while you are doing it, now is the time to be insulating too. (Especially if you can access the government grants to do so.)

But I really don't like Vinyl..lol. I think this is probably what will happen though. We have to make a decision sharpish so they can do it at the same time as they take the roof off - ie next week

If the house has survived to date without house wrap, why do so now?

I appreciate that, in an ideal world, it would have it, but couldn't this be a project for a later date?

Just a thought

Then dont put on Vinyl!

If you have access to a table saw and planar, you could always do your own rustic vertical plank type siding...cheaper than buying pre finished wood.

House wrap is what stops the wind blowing through every crack in the place taking all that expensive heat with it. Have you had an environmental audit done on the place? I expect it leaks like a sieve. You need to take the siding off to do it, so you are basically getting work done that will be undone in the near future, and you are best to do it before winter and the expensive heating season. It may cost more to do it now, but at least it will start to pay for itself. Insulation even more so, although most heat goes out the top and basement rather than the above ground walls.

If you are going to consider removing and re-installing the original siding take a close look around windows and doors etc to see if it can be easily removed or not.

You also should check to see if you can buy anything that is remotely similar as I would guess it is not all going to come off in perfect condition and you will have to replace at least some of it.

I would think the benefit of adding the house wrap would not come anywhere close to the cost and hassle of putting it on at this stage in the homes life.

If you are going to go to that length and expense to try improving the insulation values I would add a layer of Styrofoam SM and wrap to the house and put on new siding.

Do you know if there is 'Tar ' paper underneath the old siding ?

Well the internal walls have all been stripped out and they and the roof will be insulated to R40 - so I suppose it makes sense to insulate the external walls just as well.

I don't actually - why is that?

Paper with a tar coating... Its what they used to use for housewrap (and vapour barrier) before Tyvek. Not exactly the same as the tar paper they still use for flat roofing.

Looks like brown paper with black crap on one side. You will know it if you see it.

It did/does roughly what Tyvek does only not as efficiently as it is stapled to the outside sheathing and the joints aren't taped.