This post will show you the DIY siding removal of the T1-11 plywood panel siding and our DIY prep work for new wood panel siding at the fixer upper house.
The fixer upper house here at One Hundred Acres Home has some T1-11 wood panel siding in need of a full siding removal and replacement. There are areas where the siding is frayed – creating an increased wildfire risk. And siding along the old decks is completely rotted through. Rats are getting into the crawlspace and here and doing who knows what! Lol. Want to see T1-11 wood panel siding gone bad? Ok. I’ll show you.
But first, here is a refresher of the progress on the house. I replaced the roof. Now it’s time to replace the siding.
Rotten Wood Panel Siding:
The worst rotten siding is surprisingly at the back wall which has the most sun. However, there was a deck with a ledge connected directly to the siding that created the perfect condition for rot. Th deck was in such poor shape that it wasn’t safe to walk on, so we demo’d that first. I built a janky but mildly acceptable temporary stair landing for the time being in its place.
Here is a photo the back wall where you can see the rotten siding along the old deck line. Click on the photo to expand it if you like.
You can also see the fraying siding below the left window. But do you notice the roof looks pretty good? Yeah, that’s new. You can check out that DIY project here too.
Prep Work:
Before pulling off the siding, I took a bottle of primer spray paint and marked the bottom line where the siding meets the concrete stem. This isn’t necessary if you know what you’re doing, lol. But this is my first siding job and I wanted that line as a reference of how far the panel siding extended below the wood sill plate. The line of reference simply gives me so comfort to know EXACTLY where the old siding was. You can see the white line of primer in the photo above.
Trim Removal:
Start the siding removal by removing the trim. I’d recommend a good crow bar, actually I used 3 different ones depending on the location and trickiness of the prying – a small one, a flatter medium one, and the big one. They all come in handy!
Here is my husband prying off the trim at the top of the windows. It’s OK if the windows break. We’re replacing those as well.
More husband at work. I worked too! (just also took pictures). The old windows are precariously easy to pry up!
Wood Panel Siding Removal:
Now that the trim is off, let’s have at the siding! Just force the end of the crow bar underneath the edge of the panel and start loosening the nails. It will come up. As you get more movement, you can grab the panel with your hands and start lifting, swaying. Be carful though, these panels are heavy.
Here is progress on the siding removal at the front wall.
Once you get started, it goes pretty quick. These are 4 foot wide panels so it only took about 9 panels to cover the front wall. Here the front with no siding! Ahh! No turning back now! Oh and I took out the insulation because we’ll be replacing that with better stuff.
If you replace your insulation, and it’s still good, keep it! You can rip off the paper backing and throw it up in the attic for free extra warmth. Woohoo. That’s exactly what I did and saved a trip to the dump as well.
Here is the back wall with no siding, no insulation. I should mention, if you do this, take pictures! You can see where all the electrical and plumbing lines run. This information can be invaluable later!
It may be tough to tell in the photo, but the rim joist below the back door is badly rotten. There it a rat-sized hole in the double top plate below too. I’ll address that in the next post where we’ll replace rotten siding.
Here is the side wall progress. You can see some of the panels tore in half. Whoops!
This side wall is the most challenging because
- It’s the tallest gable wall so reaching the gable siding is tricky.
- We need to work around the electric meter….
How to Wood Panel Siding at Existing Electric Panel:
How to replace T1-11 panel siding around an existing electric wall meter? Good question. I would like to know as well, lol, and searched hours online for help. I found nothing of real help, so I used my brain and deduced a best path forward. Here it is. I hope it helps someone, and if you have any tips for improvement, feel free to comment below. But be nice! We’re all just doing our best here….
The basic plan goes like this: We’ll cut the existing siding around the electric box, leaving the existing siding behind the panel to extend approximately 1-1/4 inches beyond the box. Add 2×4 blocking around the panel edges to give a solid backing at all sides. I am also adding house wrap in another blog post coming soon! So I also worked out a plan to install the house wrap around the existing siding.
Here is a hand sketch I made showing the siding panels and trim around the electric panel from the front and the side. 2×4 studs or blocking is in red. Panel edges are in purple. The side view shows my plan for the house wrap. Click on the image to enlarge it.
This is the cut wall siding behind the electric panel. If you’re going to do this, be VERY VERY careful around the electrical wires!! As an extra precaution, I had our electric company remove service to the house for the weekend while we worked. I didn’t expect them to come out and actually remove our electric meter, but after I informed them that we’ll be removing and replacing siding around the box, that’s what they did. You can see it is missing in the photo below.
Why did we not remove the electric box and replace the siding behind the panel? Well, I could see that the siding behind the panel was in good condition and felt that I have a solid plan of working around the existing backing. Plus, we would have had to uninstall and rewire the whole panel to remove it. I did not to do that myself nor hire it out.
Gable Wall Siding Removal:
The gable wall siding is one of the trickiest to remove. That siding up by the roof is tough to reach and feels a bit dangerous to be yanking panels on a simple ladder. So, my husband and I splurged with some of the money we are saving by DIYing this house and bought a scaffolding set from Home Depot.
Here is the scaffolding in place. It was a godsend!
The original construction crew must have installed the siding on the gable truss while it was on the ground because I discovered that the sharp ends of the nails (on the interior of the attic) were ALL bent sideways back into the wood. Oh joy. It made removing that gable siding truly challenging. I almost cried. And I did use a hack saw to saw through some nails instead of trying to wrestle them out.
Good thing I’m persistent if nothing else. One way or another, I finally had all the siding off! Hurray! and a sigh of relief. That was a tough job.
Stay tuned for the next blog post on how I replaced the insulation and added proper house wrap. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
