Here's a picture of my in-law's neighbors. It used to be nondescript white vinyl sided with stock plastic shutters that looked like every other house on the block. Only the overall shape gave it away as an Italianate as compared to all the nearby Victorians. But they've been updating. It's hard to tell, but half the roof is now tin instead of shingles and the window trim has been repainted. But the biggest surprise to me was the great, original wood siding. It's just right, their width, depth and pitch just made the house pop! If they would only paint the siding and make the trim a nice color, I think the house would look great. But get this - their installing new vinyl siding! What is it that possesses people to bury beautiful treasures like that?
i do not know. that would make me weep. one of my three favorite houses in our neighborhood always had the most beautiful flat stone walls and black wood siding until they decided to slap up some beige vinyl siding--and only on one part of it. it's absolutely hideous. i nearly cried the first time i saw it. i used to make a point of driving home past it; now i avoid it so i don't have to look at this abomination any more.
ReplyDeletethe real crime is that i don't know how to undo the damage: our queen anne is covered head to toe in the stuff, except for the trim and chimneys. i loathe it. but we'll already sink probably as much as our purchase price into remodeling and rehabbing costs as it is; i'm not sure how we could go about tearing off vinyl siding and replacing wood clapboard and shingles (characteristic of queen annes of this particular style) even if we wanted to. such a bad, bad move.
but apparently buyers (pragmatic ones, anyway) love the stuff. low maintenance. power wash it every year and it's just like new. the naugahyde of housing materials. the honda element of architecture. (not that there's anything wrong with naugahyde or honda elements--just not for architecture, please!)
One great thing about old houses clad in vinyl siding is that it usually preserves the original wood siding. Our Queen Anne was covered from top to bottom in the stuff and about 75-80% of the original wood siding was in good shape. We replaced the rest and now all we have to do is scrape the old paint off and give it a fresh coat.
ReplyDeleteIf you want it off, get a couple of prybars and go at it. The pieces interlock together, but the only thing holding them up are nails (they used roofing nails on ours); once you get it started, it comes off pretty easy.
I'd save removing the vinyl till last. It's keeping the water out and you can wait to tackle this project later. A few more years won't make any difference.
Patience is all you need.
I hate vinyl siding too. My house is covered in aluminum siding at the moment, but at least it's recyclable.
ReplyDeleteNo! No siding! What a horrible thing to do to that beautiful house!
ReplyDelete