holes in siding

eddytheflow

hey guys, just bought an old house and i'm wondering how worried i should be about exposed wood on the exterior. i think it could be a problem, but i don't know how to remedy something like this the correct way.

so far contractors i've talked to have mentioned just matching a piece of the siding and putting it right over; another even said that they would put a piece of metal over it and just paint it a matching color. what do you all think?

thanks!

sixeightten

You have bigger problems than just siding. That siding needs to be replaced. Some of the old wood siding behind there is going to need replaced as well after being left exposed. It looks like the grade is too high and is probably making the problem worse.

kwikfishron

Got to love them weed whackers, took off a chunk of the rock too.

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eddytheflow

thanks 618, the grade around the rest of the house also seems a bit, uncomfortably, high.





is replacing the wood behind the siding something a contractor or handyman is capable of doing with little trouble?

and as far as the grading goes, i was considering taking a shovel and just digging down a few inches myself. think i could knock that out in a day?

i might need a little help with the side of the house though.. with all those plants in the way, and the street actually seeming to be at or above the grade of my house. ugh.

sixeightten

I would say this is more of a carpenter job than a handyman job. You may be able to find a qualified guy who is a one man show. The vinyl siding goes on/off pretty easily. You could do some legwork and see if you can match the siding ahead of time. If you can pop off a small broken piece, take it with you to compare.

Tom Struble

you can poke around there with a shovel,don't be too surprised if you don't find much

that close to grade i would expect the mudsill is rotten,wouldn't be surprised to see corner damage too

i would pull the vinyl siding off maybe 3'up inspect and repair,try to pull the grade down if possible...it doesn't look good sorry

eddytheflow

guess i'll start looking for a carpenter.

thanks toms, i poked around at the exposed wood and it looks like the moisture content is around 12%. I'm guessing there's some worse pieces hidden somewhere else.

after inspecting the siding and determining if any wood needs replacement, is the solution to this problem regrading? if so is it something i can tackle myself?

i know someone mentioned before digging down and around the perimeter and filling with gravel, but i'm not sure if that sounds right.

Tom Struble

when you were digging did you find any foundation material?.ideally you want at least 6-8'' of exposed foundation before the siding starts,but anything you can get would help,keeping the area free of plants and a layer of free draining gravel wouldn't hurt

the siding repair is fairly simple,but don't do it until you have a better grasp on what your dealing with

eddytheflow

thanks toms, i'm going to take a shovel to the dirt later on this week and get back to you.
i might make removing the plants and clearing up debris from the sides might be first on my list.

should i look into a french drain? or is a layer of gravel sufficient?