My house had old asphalt siding, two layers of roofing, box gutters that
leaked and drained the way, old windows. If it had to be done over,
remember to insulate the exterior walls. Getting rid of the box gutters was
a good decision because the water can be put into the street. Large
commercial grade seamless gutters give a balance in place of box gutters.
Add insulation, but knob and tube creates a problem. Good luck. Good
market.

"John Albert" wrote in message
...
Hello all -

I've got an old 2-story house, built in 1911. The outside
has been unchanged for 30 years now, and it needs EVERYthing
done over: roof, windows, siding, all of it. It doesn't have
to be fancy, just functional. I plan to live here 2-3 more
years, and then sell for what I can get (I'm in a
neighborhood that is in a mild state of decline).

The roof has either 3 or 4 layers of shingles on it already.
That all has to come off - back down to the original
sheathing - and start over.

Lots of loose shingles on the sidewalls, so I will probably
have to have the existing siding (old wood shingles or
something else they were using back in 1911) stripped off,
too, back down to the sheathing, and built back up.

Not sure what to do about the windows. I don't care for
vinyl "replacement" windows, I'd prefer either full
replacements (real wood with aluminum cladding on the
outside), or something similar.

I've been checking out something the Marvin windows company
offers called "Tilt Pac". Not a replacement "insert", this
is a double-hung replacement kit that replaces your old
sashes with new wood/thermal glass, and has jamb liners that
once installed, allow the new sashes to tilt inward.

The end result is a "reconstructed" traditional window that
uses the old casings.

I was wondering if anyone out there has tried these, and can
offer opinions on them.

They aren't cheap. They cost about the same as Marvin's
"Integrity" double-hung FULL window assemblies. The sales
guy said there might be extra installation cost involved
with full windows due to trim removal/reinstallation on the
outside, however.

Some questions:

- When doing a complete exterior remodel, would it be best
to start "from the top down" (the roof first)? I'd kind of
like to take this in steps so I go broke a little at a time,
not all at once.

- With the roof done, should the windows be taken care of
_before_ the siding is removed/replaced? I'm thinking by
doing windows first (especially if it is going to involve
complete replacements that require trim work on the
outside), the siding job will go more smoothly as the last step.

Speaking of siding, I don't care for cheap vinyl "strip
siding". I've seen some newer-design products by Certainteed
and Nailite that use a heavier plastic (polypropylene) with
molded designs that mimic individually-installed shingles
(and do a very good job at it, too). Anyone tried this
stuff? Opinions?

Thanks,
- John