New Siding and Learning to Accept REAL Help *panics*

I may be more excited then anyone has ever been to put up vinyl siding lol. This job has been a weight on me for YEARS. My ex husband’s lousy stone job meant my house was literally MOLTING fake rock. He didn’t fix the house or remove the old stucco like he should have which meant I had multiple mice (and squirrel and chipmunk) highways into my home. Not to mention water damage etc… So this job was just a whole boat of suckage and rage for me. I used all of the swear words ripping the stone and stucco off, making an enormous mess, fixing my house and then putting on flashing and wrapping my house up with Tyveck. From there I tacked J-Channel to the top and bottom and sides and FINALLY I was ready for new siding!

DISCLAIMER: I know this post coming out in November is really weird. Us northerners only have so many decent days for outdoor work so, to catch you guys up on everything I got done here this summer, its gonna take awhile! So, here is my lovely September yard lol

I used screws here to put up all of the siding but the easiest way to put up vinyl siding is actually with an air powered roofing nailer.

Pretty sure how they EXPECT you to put up vinyl siding is with a hammer… as in NOT a power tool… and I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that that was not how I was EVER going to do this. I used screws and my Dewalt Impact Driver.

One thing I made absolutely sure to do was tack the J-channel on the house exactly the same distance a part ALL OF THE WAY. So then I could simply cut all of the siding at one time, at the exact same length, and not have to worry about measuring and cutting as I went.

This saved me a huge amount of time.

Vinyl siding is pretty easy to cut, a pair of tin sheers will work but you WILL wear your hand out right quick doing it like that. I cut all of mine with my miter saw which is a little OUCHY. The siding can kind of shatter so I always wear glasses and go really slow with the blade. Also, you and your workshop will be covered with bad smelling plastic “snow” when its all said and done.

This kind of vinyl siding goes up vertically, but, like all vinyl siding it just snaps together. I REALLY like it and am still happy with my choice. White would have been more in keeping with the age of the home but its just so hard to keep clean!

I’ve always loved gray and I think (especially for vinyl siding) that it looks nice too!

Because its supposed to be kind of a “wainscoting” I do think it looks kind of weird that the same material is on the top and on the bottom of the house. But I already owned the majority of the materials and no one is going to see it in my dog kennel (enclosed by a privacy fence) which is where over half of this went.

Thinking about if money was NOT an issue I’m torn on what I would have done differently here…

A part of me loves the look of the “wainscoting” just because its ALWAYS been there. This portion of the home used to be a screened in porch (the above area was screen etc.) which is why this all looks like it does.

On the other hand though ripping it all off, leveling the walls, and putting up full pieces of siding feels far more “correct” in my head. (I did do that to the left side of my front door because that area just looked SO WEIRD before.) Regardless, this is the best I can do for my home for now and I personally think it at least looks SO MUCH BETTER.

It is water tight, fixed and complete and that is absolutely the most important thing!

Putting up vinyl siding is a great example of a perfect two person job. My boyfriend helping with half of this saved me a ton of time and, OMG, I have pictures of me to actually share with you guys for a change lol

Wow to having help, its really cool! And, speaking of help…

He went ahead one Friday afternoon when I was at work – He loaded up all that damn stucco, took it to the dump and then proceeded to clean up my entire yard!

I am totally not used to this at all!!!!!
My Mom: This is NORMAL! For God’s sakes most people have help! Accept it, you deserve it, you don’t always have to do everything all of the damn time!

But this left me feeling a bit shook like I was in some kind of alternate reality I couldn’t trust. I just came home and it was DONE… I didn’t have to do it… and I didn’t have to pay him either… My brain had a lot of trouble believing it. In fact my brain was suspicious as hell making me feel like I would somehow, someway, someday regret this because that’s how its always been. (Cheers to my ex husband for that.)

I realized just how tight a grip I was keeping on this place.

I had locked down SO HARD to make certain I never allowed anything to happen here again (or to me for that matter) without my say so. SO MUCH was trashed and done wrong here behind my back by my ex I didn’t realize what a suspicious control freak I’d become.

Giving up a bit of that control was crazy, silly and stupid nerve racking! Like someone convincing me I could finally remove my armor because I’m not in battle anymore… I’m like seriously: ARE YOUR SURE!? I FEEL LIKE THAT IS A TERRIBLE IDEA THAT I WILL SURELY REGRET!

But it was SO cool that I didn’t have to move all the fricking stucco again. LIKE AMAZING COOL. He saved me so much time! Because he did all of that I was able to move right on to the fun stuff: my bucket list for my front yard!