DIY Siding Woes

cbzdel

Long story short, I screwed up my siding pretty bad, my house has 8 outside walls on it and I sided 7 of them and it came out next perfect, all of the corners lined up perfectly. Then I got to the 8th wall and I must of got cocky and/or lazy because I forgot to check the level and square. After I was 11 rows up I remembered to check it. In my 24' long wall I was 1 whole inch off in height from left to right. There is small one door and small window on this wall so its not a HARD wall just time consuming. It was probably 2 days worth of work at least at my pace. Its such a let down when you know you screwed up and wasted a bunch of time and money.

What would you guys do at this point? Just leave it and call it good? Its the rear of the house, but the rear of our house is like the front of most normal houses, our detached garage is out back along with our small parking area for guests. This is not a house to live in forever, we are young and it was out starter house so I am guessing we will be moving within the next 5-10 years..

The kicker is I was telling my wife that I really screwed up on the siding and was getting depressed about it, and she said "dont tell me how, let me see if I can notice" and she would be honest about it as well. So after a minute she said I dont see anything give me a hint. So I took here to an ouside corner where nothing lined up and I said look from this angle. She stood there for a minute and said I dont see anything.. I said look the boards dont line up, and she said I didnt know they should, and agreed that it would look better if they did but its not worth spending another $150 and several days worth of work to tear it down and fix it.

My neighbor is a retired contractor and is always watching what I do and gives me advice and he even told me it doesnt look the best but because its done I should just leave it rather than custom order my siding to re-do it.

joecaption

Without a picture it's hard to say what to do.

One reason when siding a house we first shoot the whole house with a self leveling lazer level.

If moma could not see it and did not complain, and it's water tight I'd just leave it.

cbzdel

I will try to post up a picture in a couple hours.

As far as I know its water tight, all the seams are caulked water tight at least. So happened to be on this specific wall that my post is above, my issues was the stud walls went up, then 1/2" plywood over that, then tar paper, then T1-11 over the tar paper. Due my external mounted fuse box that went over the T1-11 I was not going to remove anything. On all other walls the T1-11 came off and new vapor barrier went up.

I emailed Certainteed and told them my suituation and they told me due to having an exisitng vapor barrier under the T1-11 I would be OK without an additional vapor barrier and to side directly over the T1-11. Doesnt seem right in my mind, but who am I do say right or wrong. But I printed out this email and put in my house records in case of problems in the future, not that it would help haha..

kwikfishron

If you posted that question here I would have told you exactly the opposite of what the Certainteed rep said.

Did you use a rain screen detail like you mentioned in another thread?

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cbzdel

I did not do any sort of rain screen under it. My house was a remodel nightmare before I bought it.. I spoke of the existing T1-11, well on top of that was LP lap siding, with no vapor barrier between the two.. My neighbor told me it had been there for at least the 7 years they have lived there. When I took it off there were zero issues under it, no rot or swelling to the T1-11. Actually the LP siding was in great shape I just wanted it to match the rest of my house.

There email from Certainteed went on to tell me how the T1-11 is weather resistant when painted and I should not have to worry about it, especially with a vapor barrier under the T1-11, he said if I tap paper over the T1-11 it would actually trap moisture into the T1-11.

And they told me if the product is installed correctly water would not get behind there in the first place.. Makes since I guess? I am new to the whole siding thing so I dont know what to believe.. I just want to believe them since it is their product.

I have been debating tearing down the whole side in question because it just bugs me so much that its not straight and if I do so I can always add some more tar paper to it, I just want to make sure I have it right..

kwikfishron

As already mentioned post some pictures (closeups are useless).

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Tom Struble

are the corners off at the starter?maybe a panel not up?

cbzdel

Ok I did not get any pics and I was looking at it all last night and my wife told me she will be mad if I tear it down and re-do it

So really the issues is, I have a 24' long wall, the whole right side of it lines up with the boards on the opposing corner, on the left side after the first "lap" they become about a little less than an 1/8" off each board so all that up over 11 row an I was almost a whole inch off on lining op the boards on the opposing corner. It looks good from straight on but when you look at if from the corner it looks like I must of been drunk when I put it (figuratively haha)

So in summary, I am leaving it as is to please the wife haha!