Carpenter question - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

engatwork · #1 10-15-2009, 05:41 AM

Since the weather has cooled off I am going to try my hand at making some repairs around here. As you can see in the attached picture the wood on the upper elevation wall has some issues where the boards need to be repaired. It would be nice to have some scaffolding put up but would be cost prohibitive. I am probably going to get a couple of extension ladders to work off of. I'll use 2x4's nailed to the porch roof to secure the legs of the ladders. I'm considering going back with hardy board if I can find the correct widths. Another thought is to use some barn board off of an old barn that I have access to. I feel that vinyl siding will take away from some of the character. Any suggestions on how to go about doing it and/or what to use are appreciated.

t walgamuth · #2 10-15-2009, 06:13 AM

I would go back in there with cedar beveled siding or redwood if I could afford it. If you do that you will never have to touch it again in your lifetime. Vinyl would not look right imho....nor hardiboard.

barn siding would change the appearance unless it is actually beveled wood instead of straight rectangular boards like they all are in the midwest.

You could also probably just change the boards that are bad.

Whiskeydan · #3 10-15-2009, 09:40 AM

Depends on if you are planning on painting.

Hardie (cement board) if you're painting, redwood or cedar if not.

Also, use ring shank stainless fasteners. The rings will prevent "walking out". I've seen siding nails walk out 2".

If it were me I'd never paint again. I believe a piece of wood will last longer not painted if it is allowed to breath. Placing the grain vertically helps longevity as moisture drains better.

lutzTD · #4 10-15-2009, 09:55 AM

why not rent some scaffold? a broken leg will be more costly in the long run

Stretch · #5 10-15-2009, 10:45 AM

I totally agree with lutzTD - please don't mess about with safety issues.

Every time I'm working up high on a ladder I always have to resist leaning over just that little bit more to reach that bit that is just out of reach - I try to tell my self that life is too short to be sitting in plaster... (that you're not trying to get to stick on your living room walls that is)

As for the quality of wood always try to get the best you can afford for places where it is difficult to reach - I reckon you need to try and extend the time between now and the time you have to do the job again!

Honus · #6 10-15-2009, 11:14 AM

The older I get, the less willing I am to mess around with ladders, although your proposed method sounds reasonable. How would one go about setting scaffolds over that porch roof?

We have an old dairy barn that had German siding (similar to clapboards). Most of the 70-year-old boards still looked fine, but the ones that were replaced in connection with some modifications a few years ago started rotting almost right away. I was shocked at how quickly the new boards deteriorated. I'm sure cedar would do better. Last summer we re-sided one end of the barn with Certainteed's version of Hardiboard. It's not historically accurate, but that stuff takes paint beautifully. I am looking forward to ignoring that wall for many years to come. Painted siding would be a big change in the appearance of your building, but you might consider it.

lutzTD · #7 10-15-2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honus

The older I get, the less willing I am to mess around with ladders, although your proposed method sounds reasonable. How would one go about setting scaffolds over that porch roof?

you can bridge the porch with a trussed putlog scaffold up to around 26 feet. much preferred since the integrity of the porch roof is neither tested nor comprimised. a failed porch roof test is either damage to the porch or to your person, niether is a desired outcome.

kerry · #8 10-15-2009, 12:37 PM

If I am correct, that the view of the house in the picture is the 'main' side of the house, I would consider taking some original siding wood from another side of the house, putting it on the front and then putting the new wood or whatever you choose to use in the less visible location.
If the porch roof is strong enough to support ladders, I would probably use two ladders and ladder jacks to support a plank. Or, I'd consider using pump jack scaffolding, perhaps even running 4x4's thru the porch roof to the ground and patching the hole afterwards.

link · #9 10-15-2009, 01:05 PM

I recently looked into costs for renting scaffolding or a cherry picker for a house related project that is coming up.

The best value I found was to buy a smaller used lift (cost about $4,000) use it and then sell it when done. Only gotcha is to have someone carefully check out the unit. I expect to get a little less than what I paid, but it works out less cost than renting scaffolding.

Using a cherry picker huge time and effort saver, beats the heck out of screwing with scaffolding.

I found this place, http://www.bidadoo.com/ but there are probably other similar groups near you.

For the siding use any wood but not vinyl. It painfully doesn’t go with a log cabin.

lutzTD · #10 10-15-2009, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by link

I recently looked into costs for renting scaffolding or a cherry picker for a house related project that is coming up.

The best value I found was to buy a smaller used lift (cost about $4,000) use it and then sell it when done. Only gotcha is to have someone carefully check out the unit. I expect to get a little less than what I paid, but it works out less cost than renting scaffolding.

Using a cherry picker huge time and effort saver, beats the heck out of screwing with scaffolding.

I found this place, http://www.bidadoo.com/ but there are probably other similar groups near you.

For the siding use any wood but not vinyl. It painfully doesn’t go with a log cabin.

surprisingly enough home depot rents those for a couple hundred a week, but one mistake driving it and you will do a world of damage. for this you could rent 4 scaffold bucks and 2 pulogs and have very easy access for worker and materials and never touch the porch roof, which from the looks lof the picture, would be a questionable support and wiouldnt react well to roof jacks. by the time you fix all of the roof jack issues you could have paid for the scaffolds. just my thoughts on this, but as I get older I have realized that cheap upfront cost is inversly proportional to final realized cost....

Billybob · #11 10-15-2009, 01:43 PM

The least expensive and possibly the easiest might very well be to use simple thru-wall bracket scaffolding. If the interior walls are unfinished it would be a snap, if they are finished you can run 2 x 6 horizontally with some scrap carpeting applied to the side facing the finished wall. You'd only have a couple 3/4" holes to patch on the drywall or plaster interior. Four brackets will be around $100-120 new and even less if you can pick some up used. A handy guy with a welder and a supply of angle steel could fab up what is needed in a couple hours at best! You can always make use of them again when you do a roof job also.

A big eye bolt or other safety anchor point at the peak will always be a good investment when you use it to clip your safety line/tether into!

barry123400 · #12 10-15-2009, 05:14 PM

If it were practical to move the upstairs right window over. Until it was right above the lower one the front would look more symetrical. Or adding a third window up there. It appears unbalanced right now to me. Of course that unbalance may be the charm. It is always what pleases the eye of the beholder. Plus practicallity.

Tom is a working architect and we may have others. If there is a cheap rot resistant growing wood in your area? A bandsaw portable mill finish is a possible choice. No texture on the boards may not look the best. Your place is rustic in concept. Usually in my area portable bandsawing is very cost effective if the logs can be located.

If I were redoing it I might consider building a flat platform on the porch roof if it was rugged enough. On second thought it has little pitch. Your ideal of securing a two by six horizontally to contain the ladder legs is not bad. Tie the top of the ladder off every time you move it and you should be safe enough. Depends if you have or can scrounge the materials I guess. Make sure the flashing under the first board is really good and durable or change it while your in there.

Yak · #13 10-15-2009, 08:03 PM

Is that an unfinished attic/crawl space? If so, I'd doublecheck on the ventilation up there. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the wood siding appears to get worse the higher up you go, so it might be rotting from the inside out due to trapped moisture and humidity in that attic area.

That single vent on the front may not be sufficient for ventilation.

Also, if that fascia board has been missing for a while, you may have other issues with water getting into the walls or the roof. A trip into that crawl space with a powerful flashlight and a dust mask is in order. Watch out for bats.

engatwork · #14 10-15-2009, 09:16 PM

I can stand upright in the attic crawlspace. I will get pics from the inside over the next couple days. There is some wood rot going on a little under the shingles so I have about made up my mind that there will be some repairs to be made to the structure underneath the wood.

I'll probably try the ladder trick first and see if I can pick up some redwood or ceder. Some of the exterior got the redwood when some of it was remodeled in the early 60's and the carpenter bees got into it pretty good.

The pic shown at the start of this thread is actually the "backside" of the house. I have attached a pic of the front where the nice cars pull up

. The side opposite this has a big picture window looking out over the lake.

Hatterasguy · #15 10-15-2009, 09:23 PM

I'd slap some vinyl siding on it and call it good.