[mcstraycat]

My home is a camp built within 25 feet of a river.
It's build up 9 feet on pilings with a cement driveway poured beneath.
Though the home itself has vinyl siding, the contractor left the ceiling beneath covered with blue board insulation which comes apart with every hurricane or severe wind which whips beneath the house.

So I need to finish it out and then am going to mount some ceiling fans to make it a comfortable place to hang out in the shade. I've already got a bar, tables and grills in place but the blue panels look terrible and don't seal, allowing wasps and such to move into the cracks for nests.

So the question is.... what's the best way to finish it? I'm not convinced more vinyl is the way to go. I even thought about doing something as simple as hanging thin plywood and painting it white. That would be the easiest thing to do but not sure it compares on cost.

I've attached photos, one of which is post Hurricane Gustav so you can see the problem I speak of. The other was taken after we got snow (pretty unusual here) but it shows the type construction and the area I'll be working on pretty well.

Can anyone make any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,... I did about the same thing on 1 of my houses,...
I used steel roofing/ siding....

 

[mcstraycat]

Wow.
That sounds pricy.
But I'm sure it holds up well.

 

[Paragon]

MCCAT,

I could expound on options for your project but I think I will digress and simply post a couple projects for you to consider. I think you can take a look at these and reply accordingly. This is a fairly common outdoor project and th results are stunning. There are many variations on the material you opt to use and most are cost driven. I think if I were you (I understand money does not grow on trees however don't skimp on something that is going to cause you problems down the road in rot and insect infestation.

Take a look at these links and give us some feedback and we can fine tune your project from there.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,1174950,00.html

Norandex and other outside siding companies have variations of this project if in fact you want to go with something along those lines...

http://www.norandex.com/Products/Finish%20Works/Beaded%20Porch%20Panel.aspx

and here is another very popular approach and that is a T & G ceiling You could do this with any species and don't have to go with a 1 x 8

http://video.bobvila.com/m/21319568/tongue-and-groove-pine-porch-ceiling.htm

Good luck be safe and let us know how it goes!