Ain't No Party Like A Siding Party!

Bet ya' thought we didn't get any work done last week.  Wrong-o.  There were a ton of little details we needed to tie up before we could start siding on Saturday morning.  Plus, it was crazy hot out so one hour per night was all we could handle.  One evening we had to go pick up our siding from Menard's, the next night we had the ultimate pleasure of unloading it - all 40 pieces.  By Friday night, we were set up for a success full siding adventure.  That same night, Brent put the front windows in after lots of pleading on my behalf.

Saturday morning, Brent's dad and our neighbor Brad came over to help us with the siding.  It was a slow start because the nail gun we borrowed from a friend broke after putting a few pieces up so we had to run to ABC Rental and rent one.  Here's our process and progress.  Warning - this is NOT Siding 101.  We had no idea what we were doing.  There were a lot of moments that started like this..."um....I think we could do it this way...".  If you are a professional siding contractor reading this, please stop now.

We started by setting the bottom piece of siding around the entire shed so we could make sure everything would be level off of that piece.  This was also a way that we could ensure that when you look at the shed at a corner, the siding on each side of the corner would match up.

Our pieces of siding came in 12 foot lengths.  The shed is about 19 feet long.  Where ever there was a seam, we would slide a piece of tin behind the siding to help shed water and then we would leave a tiny gap between the two pieces of siding.  Water isn't the enemy...trapped water is the enemy.  Luckily, no one will be living in this structure, so we don't have to be too terrible concerned if a drop or two of water leaks in.

Once we got that first course up, it was time to rock.  Brent's dad would cut our siding to length, Brad and I would get the piece lined up and then Brent would nail it on.

Brent made these two handy templates to make sure we were staying consistent with our siding placement.  You just tuck that bottom piece under the siding lip and then rest the new piece of siding on top.

That's concrete dust haze in the air.

 The first full side we did took the longest because we were like Stella...trying to get her groove back.  After that first side was done, we did the opposite side and the back sort of simultaneously.

This is the back.  Scaffolding needed to be set up to reach the higher points.

Here's Brad and Brent, looking busy.  They were in a huge hurry to get done because their football game was on in the afternoon. 

By the time 1pm rolled around, we were completely done.

We don't get invited to a lot of parties, unless you count little kid birthday parties.  Nor do we host a lot of parties.  But this was one EPIC siding party!