Replies

1. 
   user-1072251 | Apr 30, 2016 10:48am | #1

   Many moisture problems and paint peeling on wood siding is caused by interior moisture exiting the home (on air leaking out) and pushing the paint off the siding. You can prevent the paint from peeling by strapping the wall with 1x3 or 1x4 rough pine and fastening the clapboards to the strapping. This allows the siding to breath on both sides and ventilates the moisture, eliminating the "vapor drive" through the siding layer.

2. 
   dipolojarvi | Apr 30, 2016 11:15am | #2

   Thanks Bob. Are you suggesting I remove the clapboards then build out the wall then replace them?

   Wouldn't I get more heat loss?

   Thanks again!

3. 
   user-1072251 | Apr 30, 2016 11:23am | #3

   Basically, yes. Clapboards do not provide insulation, so that alone would not increase your heat loss. On the other hand, adding foam insulation (at the level determined by your climate - or about 3"-4" in central New England) would be an excellent move if the siding is removed. At a minimum, you would want to air seal the existing wall sheathing to decrease the air loss through the wall. On an old section of my home, sheathed with with typical 1800's boards with lots of cracks & joints, I covered the wall with Zip sheathing, (caulking around the edges of the wall). taped it, added two layers of 2" foam, strapped and now can reside the tighter, better insulated wall.

4. 
   user-1072251 | Apr 30, 2016 02:44pm | #4

   Basically, yes. Clapboards do not provide insulation, so that alone would not increase your heat loss. On the other hand, adding foam insulation (at the level determined by your climate - or about 3"-4" in central New England) would be an excellent move if the siding is removed. At a minimum, you would want to air seal the existing wall sheathing to decrease the air loss through the wall. On an old section of my home, sheathed with with typical 1800's boards with lots of cracks & joints, I covered the wall with Zip sheathing, (caulking around the edges of the wall). taped it, added two layers of 2" foam, strapped and now can reside the tighter, better insulated wall.

5. 
   dipolojarvi | Apr 30, 2016 06:50pm | #5

   Thanks Bob. This is a new process to hear about, so to be clear, you removed the old clapboards then covered the exposed framing with Zip sheathing, then added the foam and put back the old boards? Was it expensive?

   Thanks again.

6. GBA Editor
   Martin Holladay | May 01, 2016 04:47am | #6

   Ilmari,
   There are two issues here:
   1. How to lower your energy costs.
   2. What type of siding you want to install.

   The best approach to lowering your energy costs depends on your budget, and whether you can afford to install new siding.

   It's hard to give you advice until you tell us more about whether you can afford new siding, and if you can, what type of siding you want to install. Your original question mentioned shingling; does that mean that you are considering replacing your existing clapboards with unpainted cedar shingles?

   If you like the look, and if you can afford the expense, installing unpainted white cedar shingles as siding is certainly one way to reduce your regular painting expenses.

   If you plan to remove your existing siding and install new siding, you have an opportunity to install a layer of rigid foam on the exterior side of your house. The work isn't cheap, but it will lower your energy bills.

   If you can't afford new siding, the first step to lowering your home's energy bills is to hire a contractor to perform blower-door-directed air sealing.

   For more information on energy retrofit work, see this article: Energy Upgrades for Beginners.

   For more information on installing new siding, see Roofing and Siding Jobs Are Energy-Retrofit Opportunities.

   For more information on installing rigid foam on the exterior side of your wall sheathing, see How to Install Rigid Foam Sheathing.

7. 
   dipolojarvi | May 01, 2016 06:58am | #7

   Thanks Martin. IN order to know what my budget is, I needed to know what the best practices would be. Then I can price out the work and materials. My hope has been to do as much as possible myself. I have summers off from my job, so I have the time to do that work. My plan is also to piece out the project, doing a wall every year until the work is finally done.

   The hard part about budgeting this stuff is working out the cost benefit ratios between initial expenses and long term expenses. I just had someone paint a small section of the exterior last year, and it was 4000.00$, so I'm seeing the cost of painting is pretty high. It may well be that doing it myself, I can save the money and do the better job of creating greater energy efficiency and long term cheaperness by removing the clapboards and installing foam and shingles.

   RE: Blower door. I had a contractor do this, and the house has been reasonably sealed with foam on the basement upper walls/sills and the roofs.

   All your suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks so much for this forum as well.

   Ilmari

8. 
   dipolojarvi | May 01, 2016 07:54pm | #8

   One more question as I'm pondering all these ideas. Is there any reason why I would have to do the whole house all at once? It will be much better for me budget wise to do one wall every year or so.

   Thanks again for your help,

   Ilmari

9. GBA Editor
   Martin Holladay | May 02, 2016 06:35am | #9

   Ilmari,
   If you want to calculate the cost/benefit ratio of any energy improvement, you need to use an energy modeling program (for example, BeOpt) to compare the performance of different versions of your house. Here is a link to an article with more information on this topic: Payback Calculations for Energy-Efficiency Improvements.

   As you'll discover when you read this article, these payback calculations are highly dependent on your assumptions and your predictions of future energy costs.

   It usually doesn't make any economic sense to remove perfectly good siding just so that you can add exterior rigid foam to your walls. But if you plan to strip the siding anyway, because you want new siding, I think the argument in favor of rigid foam is pretty strong, especially in colder climate zones.

   If you prefer to do this work gradually, you can. Here is a link to a series of articles by an owner/builder who performed retrofit work over several years: One Man’s Quest for Energy Independence.

10. 
    Dana1 | May 02, 2016 08:21am | #10

    Old clapboards are usually not painted on the interior side, and typically have multiple layers of low vapor permeance (often leaded) paint on the exterior. This means the moisture enters & leaves the clapboard primarily on the interior side. That's not just interior moisture drives, rain penetration is at least as big an issue. With empty wall cavities become insulated, the temperature of the siding goes down, and it takes much longer for the siding to dry, resulting in paint failure.

    If the clapboards are nailed directly to the studs (which was still pretty common in 1850) and the walls have been insulated, the problem is even worse, since insulation limits all air movement on the back side of the siding, and allows rain penetration to wick toward the interior. It's a bit like having a wet sponge on the back side of the siding.

    If the interior walls are being stripped down to the framing you'll be able to see how the house is constructed, which may determine whether or not the siding really has to go. Sometimes you can keep the siding by painting the back side of it, then leaving an air gap for the rain penetration to dry into between the siding and the insulation layers, if preserving the exterior appearance is part of the goal.