"stk" wrote in message
ups.com...
Wife and I have a 2nd home built in 1910. Because of some storm damage,
we're having to do major repair and are considering some significant
rennovation, but have some concerns...Please excuse me if I don't use
the right terminology; I'm certainly not a construction expert!

The big issue is, the house has no sheathing. We've removed the
interior wall-board (some kind of early sheetrock), and I see...studs
and the back of the clapboard siding, which are planks of pine, I
believe.

Because of the age of the house, there are some gaps in the clapboard,
so I can see lines of daylight, from inside the house.

The first question is, how to seal this? If I just replace the damaged
wallboard with new sheetrock, the next big storm will blow moisture in
the cracks of the clapboard siding. Conceiveably I could somehow caulk
everything from inside, but that strikes me as a mammoth job, and I
wouldn't trust the integrity, if the siding expanded or contracted in
the summer/winter....

Second, we're considering raising the house onto a higher foundation.
It's very low to the ground, and doesn't have sufficient piers. The
building code would consider that as "moved" and we'd need for the
structure to meet current codes. That's fine for the wiring/plumbing,
as I was planning to do that anyway. But I'm concerned that the wall
structure as I've described it -- just studs and siding -- will
certainly be an issue. There's no insulation, and I doubt the roof is
properly "tied down" etc..

Short of stripping the entire house of its siding, do I have any other
good options?

Thx!

Be aware that it is easy to trap moisture in the wall if you start trying to
seal it up. Many old structures last partly because they are well
ventilated. Wood shingles, for example, often do not keep out all of the
water but they allow any penetrating water to evaporate readily.

Don Young