Big Doings: Exerior Work Begins

A very exciting day at my house.  Today my contractor began work on the siding and windows on the street side.  There are certain fears that arise when you change the envelope of a house. My worst fear was that there would be mold in the walls.  My second worst fear was that there would be asbestos siding under the vinyl siding that would have to be abated.  In the end, nothing could prepare me for what we actually did find.  But first things first - photos of the house before the siding demo:

 

My house is U shaped and has a privacy wall in front, so it's difficult to get a direct shot of the whole front of the house.  But as you can see, there are some rather obvious issues with the vinyl siding.  My fears of mold were not entirely unfounded.

Fears of mold aside, my assumption from the beginning was that underneath the vinyl siding would be the original siding, which I imagined was the same asbestos tile as on the rest of the house.  I was right in one regard.  The original siding was underneath the vinyl but it wasn't asbestos . . . it was redwood board and batten painted a rich blue.  BLUE.  Do you know how weird it is to discover that your house was originally blue when you've always seen it in white?  My mind was BLOWN. 

The red stripes are where the battens were removed in 1987 when the vinyl siding was installed.  It seems odd to me that the front of the house was done in blue board and batten while the rest of the house was done in white asbestos tile.  My assumption is that the owner put the fancy siding on the front (where it counts) and clad the rest of the house in a more economical material.

I really wish I'd known that the house was blue. I'd have loved to return the house to its original look.  I probably would not have gone with board and batten but I would have tried to get the color right.  Oh well.

More excitement tomorrow when the contractor comes back to do the two other windows . . .