Indepence Day weekend - HOT siding job

[tbellemare]

I live on a hill in a tri-level house. Two of the levels have gable roofs with parallel ridges - one higher than the other. This makes a small vertical wall in between.

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I have had problems for quite a while now with creatures, (that would like to use my attic as theirs), making holes in the crappy (pressed paper like) siding on that vertical wall. I have had to plug a few of their holes. At one time, I had about a dozen squirrels nesting in the attic. I have raccoons, squirrels and rats trying all the time to go through that siding and succeeding occasionally. In the image above, there is one of my quick patches evident near the peak. There is more evidence of squirrels chewing the trim at the left. There's always a massive amount of raccoon feces up there as well.

My solution to the problem is James Hardie...

So, I got out my trusty electronic Stabila and determined that the roof pitch is 4" per foot. I calculated the pieces required and got some Hardie plank about 3 weeks ago. I had already changed out the crappy siding on the entire back of the house a few years ago. The other 3 sides are limestone veneer.

I set up some saw horses and started cutting using my old Ryobi circular saw and a carbide fiber cement blade I bought at BBRG when I did the back of the house.

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I made a few cuts.

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Then it got very difficult to keep the saw going straight, the blade had really dulled.

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Time to try one of them there fancy diamond blades I sell...

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The new blade cut like a hot knife through butta' and made a lot less dust.

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Soon, everything was cut and ready to go up.

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This was two weekends before the 4th. I took the next weekend off of this project because by noon, it was 105 in the shade and I was going to be up on the roof.

So, we got a little cold front or something and had the coolest 4th of July I can ever remember here. We were setting low temp' records??? I decided to take advantage of the lovely weather (mid 90's) and get this siding done.

I took it down to the framing.

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I put up some tar paper and did a quick layout to make sure I started the first course at the right height.

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I fine-tuned the bottom 2 courses based on the layout and thanks to a Hitachi coil nailer and the Solo Sider that a member here suggested a while back, I went to town. I normally work alone and the Solo Sider was a fantastic addition to my crew of 1.

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I'm certainly glad we had a cold spell but don't let anyone tell you that 96 degrees isn't hot on a roof. I literally burned my cheeks sitting on the shingles until I figured out to sit on a board instead.

Festools used on this project: FS 1400/2 Guide Rail, 2 Quick Clamps, C 15, various Centrotec stuff.

Tom

 

[leakyroof]

Nice work Tom. I don't envy you with that heat on the roof[I lived in Texas for 2 decades before leaving for cooler, greener temps. [wink]]

 

[tbellemare]

Thanks, Leaky...

I deal with the heat for about 4 months so that I can enjoy the other 8.

What I failed to mention above is that about 6:30, when I was starting to put back the soffit supports, a thunderhead moved in and chased me off the roof. It made a lot of noise so I hurried to get my tools in the dry shed. It never actually rained, just a light drizzle.

I know what I'll be doing this weekend...

Tom

 

[tiralie]

Tom:
Certainly looks a lot better.
You really can't blame the "critters" trying to get outta that heat, but really the attic would be the last place I would go.
Tim

 

[tbellemare]

I agree that it isn't their fault, Tim. It doesn't make me want them in there anyway...

They are more into nesting in there in the winter. During the summer their destruction seems to be more malevolent than survival oriented.

I used to have telephone and coax running around the outside of the house where AT&T and Time Warner had run them. The squirrels chewed through the telephone cable so I ran all the communication cabling through the attic. I never did like the look of it on the outside so maybe they did me a favor?

Tom

 

[leakyroof]

I agree that it isn't their fault, Tim. It doesn't make me want them in there anyway...

They are more into nesting in there in the winter. During the summer their destruction seems to be more malevolent than survival oriented.

I used to have telephone and coax running around the outside of the house where AT&T and Time Warner had run them. The squirrels chewed through the telephone cable so I ran all the communication cabling through the attic. I never did like the look of it on the outside so maybe they did me a favor?

Tom

  Oh, Lord, I hadn't thought of that as an issue  [scared] [scared] [scared] . Here in  Chicago, with so many masonary type builds, it's totally the norm to run all the cables on the outside until the entrance hole into whatever room is getting your TV type box. We have lots of squirrels, a few raccoons and possums, but haven't had any chewed cables so far...  [eek]

 

[tiralie]

I used to have telephone and coax running around the outside of the house where AT&T and Time Warner had run them. The squirrels chewed through the telephone cable so I ran all the communication cabling through the attic. I never did like the look of it on the outside so maybe they did me a favor?

I feel your pain Tom. Just after I bought a new car the mice liked it so much they decided to make a home in the engine block and ate through the electrical cables. I had to replace the entire electrical harness.

 

[sancho57]

Wow Tom,
Is that what you were doing when I called you for that order?

You still picked up?
ou're awesome dood.

BTW how much rent did ya charge the squirrels for their stay at the Bellemare Hotel?

 

[tbellemare]

Yeah, I was putting the structure (2x4's) back up for the soffit when you called. I got interrupted by a rain fake-out while trying to do that last Sunday.

BTW, the squirrels for some odd reason, didn't bring any cash, checks, money orders, or credit cards... What were they thinking?

Tom

 

[sancho57]

Hmmm bunch of dead beats.

I just chased a bird out of my shop. Tough he was gonna get some free rent onme.

 

[tbellemare]

Because of the onset of extreme heat and other things tugging at my time, I left this project vermin-proofed but not finished. Last weekend, I got a couple of 4' x 8' sheets of HardiePanel for the soffit. I wanted to rip them into 6 sheets that were each ~16". I decided to stack them and make only two rips.

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The CMT diamond blade I put on my old Ryobi to cut the HardiePlank flew through those cuts, 2 sheets thick, with ease. I'm very pleased with that blade...

Tom

 

[leakyroof]

Because of the onset of extreme heat and other things tugging at my time, I left this project vermin-proofed but not finished. Last weekend, I got a couple of 4' x 8' sheets of HardiePanel for the soffit. I wanted to rip them into 6 sheets that were each ~16". I decided to stack them and make only two rips.

[attachimg=#1]

The CMT diamond blade I put on my old Ryobi to cut the HardiePlank flew through those cuts 2 sheets thick with ease. I'm very pleased with that blade...

Tom

  That DOES look like a nice cut.  [smile]