Vertical Siding Installation??

[tone]

Hi,
I'm considering purchase of a home that has beveled cedar siding that is installed vertically. The building inspector noted this as an installation error and possibility for water intrusion on wind driven rain. His solution is siding replacement. Is this an over exaggeration or did the architect/builder really screw this up? The condition of the siding appears very good and just painted. My concern is resale and when siding starts to wear -- maybe the vertical application will be more prone to water intrusion.

Any thoughts/exeperience would be greatly appreciated.

thnk you

[mrcaptainbob]

The addition on our house has something similar. We purchased the house about a year ago and looked at that siding with a jaundiced eye and figured to replace that asap. It's vertical cedar with battens on the joints. It had a very poor application, as well as very poor maintaince. Only by virtue of tar paper over celotex was there no real water intrusion. However....the wind intrusion was intense! There were drafts throughout thta part of the house that would blow out a candle! Had to do an emergency wrap with sheet plastic in the dead of winter. If you can figure the residing into the cost of the house....or some sort of compromise....

[tone]

Wow. This definitely brings weight to some of our concerns. I am suprized to hear about the drafts though....Do you think this is because the siding was installed vertically vs horizontally? I would immagine the real damage/fear would be to water intrusion by wind-driven rain.

Any other similar experiences would be appreciated...(good or bad)

Thank you.

[Hube]

Hi Tone; If this is an actual siding that is intended to be hung ONLY in a HORIZONTAL position, the yes ,you could have a problem, and its best to have it corrected. BUT, there are sidings that CAN be used in BOTH positions too. It all depends on how well the "under structure" was constructed. Proper sheathing, moisture (tyvex) barrier, strapping, flashing, etc,will serve either horizontal or vertical installations. Again, it all depends on whats "under" this siding. Good luck...Hube

[mrcaptainbob]

Well, I am concerned about water damage. As a matter of fact, when there is a hard driving rain, it does saturate the south foyer floor. Found it was being driven in through the vertical joints above the door and finding a path down the inside of the jambs. That explains why I had to replace the bottom 10" of jamb....and why (I found this while resetting entire door...) the hinge jamb was replaced 'recently'...the rest of the west facing wall shows no interior damage. We are really anxious to rip this stuff off and do it the way it shuold've been done. Just as an aside....(has nothing to do with siding...) we almost used the fireplace one evening in the fall. I couldn't open the flu. A flashlight check showed it was sealed FROM THE OUTSIDE!! with mortar!! Annnnd...there's no chimney for it!! Although there was one at one time, it's gone now! The whole outside of the chimney area was boxed in several years ago with CHIPBOARD and battened and painted to look like the vertical cedar! The sterwardship on this place in the last 30 years was almost nill!