Old Wood, Overdue for a Change
The siding on this Randolph home was original wood, and it had gone past the point where paint could fix it. Rot had taken hold in more than one spot, and every few years the whole house needed repainting just to look decent, and even a fresh coat wasn't hiding how tired the wood underneath had gotten. The homeowner didn't want to keep repainting a losing fight. It was time for a real replacement, not another repaint.
The Material
We tore the house down to the sheathing and started fresh with CertainTeed. The front of the house, the part that sets the tone for the whole property, got Cedar Impressions polymer shake siding in Granite Gray: a shake profile with the texture and shadow lines of real cedar, but it never needs painting and won't rot. The rest of the house got CertainTeed Monogram clapboard vinyl siding, same Granite Gray, for a clean, consistent look instead of a front that doesn't match the sides. New house wrap went on underneath everything, plus new white aluminum trim wrap on the fascia and rake boards, new soffit, new cornerposts, and new seamless gutters. A full exterior reset, not a patch.
Down to the Sheathing
Once the old siding came off, the house sat in house wrap while we worked our way around it. Mid-project it's a strange in-between: one side still bare Tyvek, the other already buttoned up in the new Monogram siding. A job this size went from tear-off to finished in under a week, which is possible because the crew works the whole house at once instead of one wall at a time.
Every Side of the House
It's easy to focus on the front, since that's the side everyone sees from the street. But the whole house was down to sheathing, so the whole house got done: the same material and the same color everywhere, so nothing looks bolted on or mismatched from any angle.
No J-Channel Anywhere
Most vinyl siding jobs give themselves away at every window and door: a J-channel trim strip that overlaps the siding and reads as vinyl the moment you're close enough to see it. We custom-bent the window and door trim instead, so there's no J-channel anywhere on the house. It's more work at every opening, but it's the difference between a house that looks sided and one that looks built, the true wood look this house deserved.
The Finished House
The Granite Gray reads warm in the morning light and cool in the evening, and next to the brick it looks like it was built that way. No more repainting, no more chasing rot before it spreads, backed by CertainTeed's lifetime limited warranty on the material.