This home is not that old and it cost over one million dollars to build. Unfortunately, the money spent did not get it done right. The home was built with real cedar shake shingles (very expensive), however they did not stain or seal them properly causing them to totally fail in 7 years. To make matters worse the builder did not do proper moisture management work during construction. They did not install a vapor barrier or any flashing, and this caused major damage to several areas of the wall cavity. We replaced the ruined cedar shake with Hardie straight edge shake, as well as all the trim after we fixed the damaged areas and installed our Hardie moisture management system. The house is now truly what it was intended to be.
We bought the house of our dreams in a foreclosure sale. We knew the original builder/owner so we knew that when the house was built 12 years ago it was "the" premier house in our community, however through years of neglect the cedar shingle siding had deteriorated to the point that something had to be done or we would lose our investment. Being such a grand house with over 6,000 sq ft, we knew we had to use the best product available and that was the Hardie shake siding. It is an expensive product but worth every penny. Our house looks better than brand new. It is once again the preeminent house in the area thanks to Sideco and the Hardie product. The construction techniques used by Sideco such as wrapping the entire house, double sealing the windows/doors, caulking, painting, new mounts for light fixtures, etc. make the house a veritable cocoon. Before the house was completed my wife remarked several times how much more temperate or lack of temperature swings she felt. We can't wait to have some holiday parties to show it off! It's very obvious that Jimmy Russell is 10. He worked tirelessly to assure me my large investment was just that....an investment and I was not going to get some run-of-the mill contractor with vinyl siding experience. He visited the work site almost daily and kept us abreast of everything that was happening. I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize Anthony, the day-to-day supervisor. Very professional. I'm a perfectionist....do it yourself guy who thinks no one can do it better than I can. Every time I walked around to inspect the work, Anthony was by my side. If I saw something I didn't understand, Anthony had the answer. I don't know all the crew members names but at one time there were more than 20 folks there. It was a symphony of action. Everyone knew his job and they performed flawlessly. Its hard not to characterize my experience as the perfect storm. Jimmy Russell is a great man and a conscientious contractor. Combine that with the superior Hardie product and you've got a combination that can't be beat.
