It's Been a While...

Once again, it's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry about that. There is an update I'd like to share with you. Remember when I posted about our Hardie board rotting? That was a post in November 10, 2013. Well, here's proof it was Hardie board that rotted.

Hardie Board Tags from Back of Fascia

Yes...we were slow in replacing the front. We did it a couple of months ago when we didn't have rain. Anyhow, all of the fascia that was rotten has been replaced with wolmanized board and vinyl sheeting. It didn't take all that long to do since we figured out the back side of the house with our trials and errors. The front went rather well and quickly.

Like I said before, we have never had problems with Hardie board before. We used items from the Jedburg, SC plant and that stuff is going strong! Too bad they closed the plant in Jedburg. They must not have figured out a good recipe for the stuff at the other plants. I won't be buying any more of the Hardie board in the future. Nope.

A word of wisdom to those of you who have to have the newest item...do your research! Wait until it has been proven that the item will work! Not only will you be sure you have a good item that you spent your hard-earned cash on, but you'll probably pay a lot less for it when it isn't such a hot commodity.

Take care. Best wishes to you all.

Weekend Work - Hardie Board Pics

As I mentioned a few posts ago, we had a problem with Hardie Board. It was rotting and coming off of the fascia on the house. Here are some pics I took of the process. Sorry they are late in coming, but I wanted to show you what I was talking about.

Hardie Board Joint Rotting

This pic is of the front of the house where the Hardie Board was soaking up water and growing mold. This is rotting because of the water wicking and the mold growing.

Hardie Board Rotting in General

This pic is of the Hardie Board after it soaked up water and the paint was peeling off. We've had a few pieces laying around the yard from other projects and it does soak up and hold water. It takes a few years to rot, as this has done. The next pic will show you how the Hardie Board did not protect the backer board.

Hubby Working

Hubby was pulling off sections of the OSB backer board a little bit at a time. He was working in about 12 foot sections so we could replace the OSB board with pine lumber and cover it with vinyl. Personally, if I was the manufacturer, I wouldn't have used the OSB board anywhere on a house. I'm also betting that the roof wasn't finished properly so I can't blame all of this solely on the Hardie Board. I still don't like the stuff nor do I like OSB board. I don't think I'll ever pay to buy this stuff again.

Extra Framing

Since the roof joists are 2" x 2", Hubby made blocks which wrap around the 2" x 2"s so we can nail a solid backer in place. I would never have made a roof with 2" x 2"s. In SC, we have hurricanes and I don't know how this kind of building passed the requirements for strong winds. We are now concerned that the walls and the rest of the house will have to be repaired little by little.

Vinyl Fascia

Here is a picture of the vinyl clad board we put up. It's not the best job in the world but it should keep water out. We used construction adhesive on the board to attach the vinyl. Then we stapled the vinyl onto the new backer board. Then we caulked all of the seams and the dents the stapler made. It may be overkill, but it should last until we can replace the whole roof, which looks like it will be in the near future.

While we were up on the ladders, we noticed some of the shingles were lifting. Not good! I hope it was lifting because of the heat, but I think I know better.

Oh well. I guess you live and learn and do a lot of work.

Take care.

More Weekend Work

More work for us this weekend! We saw that the fascia on our house is rotting and falling off, as I mentioned in a previous post. Hubby took down part of the fascia, which is Hardie Board, and saw a whole bunch of new problems. The backer board is OSB board and that is rotten. The Hardie Board wicked the water into the OSB backer and it is like a sponge. One more headache with this Hardee Board saga. So, not only is the Hardie Board falling off, the backer board is rotting AND...the roof was made with 2" x 2" joists. Guess what? The ends of the 2 x 2's are rotting! Go figure. Yesterday we made a trip to Lowe's to get our supplies for this mess. Hubby is making supports to wrap around the 2 x 2's so we can nail a new backer board on and clad it with vinyl. He did about 24' of replacing today. I helped where I could. I was a holder and a nailer and a climber. We will be at this a while. Moral of the story, if you see Hardie Board on a structure you're thinking of buying...RUN! That's my opinion and only MY opinion.

I made another set of curtains. This time it was for the kitchen. I'll be getting some pics in here as soon as I move the other project I'm working on. That is polyurethaning an old entertainment center. I have the shelves done and now I'll need to do the body. The entertainment center is in my kitchen between the wall and the windows where the new curtains are. This is going to be  pretty tight. I'll have to take down the curtains so they don't get anything on them.

Take care.

Weekend Work...continued

Well...we've finished our deck. At least the woodworking part of it is done. Now, all I have to do is paint it and add some solar lights to the steps. Pics to come.

I finished my project for the company bathroom. I just need to get some stuff for it at the fabric store. Pics to come.

Next project will be to repair the fascia board on the house. We have a double-wide trailer. It's pretty nice. Inside, you'd never know it was a trailer as the roof is not 'cathedral' style. They are 'residential' style, which means flat. However, the Hardie Board that is on the fascia, has rotted through. It was painted and taken care of. The blasted stuff isn't any good. Water must've gotten into it and weakened the cement. It's not supposed to do that. The Hardie Board is only 10 years old! IMHO, if you're thinking of using this to side your house, think again. You may have to replace it. We have a couple of sheds and our barn sided in Hardie Board. It's OK and not rotting. The siding on the barn gets weak if it gets wet. So it's porous. The two sheds we have sided in it are OK. They have been painted with about 4 or 5 coats of oil-based paint on them. This works well. If you do go for the Hardie Board, make sure you put on a few coats of oil-based paint on it. Maybe if the span between the framing boards are closer together, you'll have good luck. That is how our sheds are built. So good luck if you use Hardie Board. Not to dis it altogether. It has good and bad qualities. For short framing spans, it seems to be good.

Take care.