Hello,

We are re-siding 1 side of our house (climate zone 4c) where a masonry chimney was torn down and a new framed chase was constructed which will have cultured stone.  The existing siding is cedar lap on the diagonal and is at the end of its life span. New siding will be hardi plank and this is a gable wall on a one story home. see attached pic.

How do we line up our courses around an obstacle, in this case the chimney chase? I can rent a laser level but I’ve got 2 trees (one you can sort of see, the other one is a large spruce) in the way and would have to shoot it pretty high (8 ft / right above the large window) to catch both corners of the house.  Or would I be better off using a water level like a Zircon electronic water level?  

Also we have 2 existing windows that I would like to avoid taking out and re-installing.  There is no wrb on this wall at this time but we will be installing one. Is there anyway to install a wrb without removing the windows and flash it properly? If we have to we will but we’re hoping there is a work around.  remodel and siding contractors must deal with this all the time. These windows were replaced at some time and I peeked under the trim and saw Vycor over the nailing flanges directly onto the sheathing.  

What are my chances of removing the Vycor from either the sheathing or the nail fins?  Not all wrb’s (hydrogap for one) are compatible with asphalt based flashings.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
KJ