Relatives who just don't get it

[Cassie]

We did our house ourselves 6 years ago even though my husband was almost 60.  We used a sprayer. We got some estimates that were ridiculous.

[DadJokes]

On the phone with my 55 y.o. father yesterday:

Him: I got a new truck! Well, new-to-me truck. It's a 2015 Sierra
Me: I'm glad you went down the used route. What was wrong with your old vehicle?
Him: It started having some mechanical issues, so I decided to get a new one rather than deal with the hassle.
Me: ...
Him: We just paid off my wife's car in November, so all we did was trade a payment for a payment.
Me: O...kay? How long is the loan?
Him: 72 months. Our only debts now are the truck, the mortgage, and a home improvement loan (rolled into mortgage).
Me: I guess that's not too bad.
Him: Oh, and the 401(k) loan I took out to pay off the credit cards last year, but that's almost paid off.

Follow up!

Him: Did I tell you I got a new motorcycle?
Me: No...Didn't you just get a truck a couple weeks ago?
My wife overhearing: Be nice
Him: Yeah
Me: And aren't you also planning to get an RV?
Him: We're not getting the RV anytime soon. That's more of a retirement plan.
Me: And when is that going to be?
Him: Well, one of my co-workers is still working at 69, and I think I'll have him beat.

That means my father, who is a truck driver for an oil company, plans to be working for another 14 years at a minimum. As such, I should in fact retire before my own father. He went on to say that he makes about $115k per year, which is more than our household income, and he lives in an extremely low cost of living area.

During our weekly phone call last night, I learned that he expects to be reduced to a 40 hour limit, which would effectively reduce his pay by half. He's already looking into getting a deferment on his truck loan.

The saga continues!

As previously mentioned, my father got a new motorcycle sometime around January/February. He had a motorcycle previously that hadn't run in years (2005 touring bike with ~100k miles). He decided to give the old bike to my step-sister's fiance (we'll just call him Jon). Jon was supposed to get the bike fixed, get a motorcycle license, get the bike registered in his name, and get the bike insured.

Instead, Jon got the bike fixed and was riding the bike without a license, uninsured, and with expired registration still in my father's name. Jon is a pilot, so you'd think that he has some common sense, but apparently that's not the case. While taking a curve too fast, he drifted out of his lane and hit a pickup.

Jon miraculously didn't die, though he has a handful of broken bones and a lot of road rash. However, now we have to wonder how this is all going to play out financially. The pickup will probably be written off as totaled, and I'm sure this could come back on my father, as the bike was still legally his property. Jon can probably afford to pay for the pickup with his income, but who knows what else is going to come of this?

I don't know why, but it just seems that people who make bad decisions with money have more bad things happen to them. This is just one of those things. It's certainly more Jon's fault than my father's, but my father has already put himself in a hole from previous mistakes.

My father is the story that just keeps giving.

He rode his motorcycle halfway across the country to see us for a couple days, so I got to spend some time talking...well, listening. I try to bite my tongue to keep the wife happy.

I was under the impression that the RV (see bold above) was supposed to be part of his eventual retirement plan. Now he is planning on getting it next year. In fact, it's actually the reason he got his truck, apparently. So that'll be a truck, motorcycle, and RV all within a couple years.

But wait, there's more!

He's also planning on expanding his front porch, despite the facts that: 1) he already has a back porch, and 2) the wind in West Texas makes being in front of the house unpleasant fairly often, while the back porch is shielded from wind by the house. His reasoning? On the back porch, their view is just the fence. If they had a porch in front of the house, they would have a view of...fields, which are dirt most of the year anyway.

[ysette9]

Can he even qualify for an RV purchase?

I don’t know how you hold your tongue.

[Imma]

We did our house ourselves 6 years ago even though my husband was almost 60.  We used a sprayer. We got some estimates that were ridiculous.

I'm so glad we have UPVC windows! I don't hate DIY but I can't see myself balancing on my ladder painting them. Only our front and back doors are wood and we had those painted by a professional. He was very fast and very good, the previous owner let the door rot for a long time so there was a lot of repairwork involved. I could never have done it this well.

[shelivesthedream]

We did our house ourselves 6 years ago even though my husband was almost 60.  We used a sprayer. We got some estimates that were ridiculous.

I'm so glad we have UPVC windows! I don't hate DIY but I can't see myself balancing on my ladder painting them. Only our front and back doors are wood and we had those painted by a professional. He was very fast and very good, the previous owner let the door rot for a long time so there was a lot of repairwork involved. I could never have done it this well.

I think in America a lot of houses are made of wood, so they are talking about painting their entire exterior.

[Imma]

We did our house ourselves 6 years ago even though my husband was almost 60.  We used a sprayer. We got some estimates that were ridiculous.

I'm so glad we have UPVC windows! I don't hate DIY but I can't see myself balancing on my ladder painting them. Only our front and back doors are wood and we had those painted by a professional. He was very fast and very good, the previous owner let the door rot for a long time so there was a lot of repairwork involved. I could never have done it this well.

I think in America a lot of houses are made of wood, so they are talking about painting their entire exterior.

Oops, yes, I forgot, I'm so used to brick homes. In that case $10k wouldn't even be that much. I know my neighbours were quoted like €3k just for their wooden windows and doors and our house is tiny!

A wooden exterior will probably look really nice but it sounds like a maintenance nightmare! I certainly can't imagine DIY'ing that! But if you're healthy and fit and into DIY, it certainly is a great way to save money. Even if it takes you twice as long because you're not a pro, saving ≈9k is worth a lot.

[zolotiyeruki]

We did our house ourselves 6 years ago even though my husband was almost 60.  We used a sprayer. We got some estimates that were ridiculous.

I'm so glad we have UPVC windows! I don't hate DIY but I can't see myself balancing on my ladder painting them. Only our front and back doors are wood and we had those painted by a professional. He was very fast and very good, the previous owner let the door rot for a long time so there was a lot of repairwork involved. I could never have done it this well.

I think in America a lot of houses are made of wood, so they are talking about painting their entire exterior.

Oops, yes, I forgot, I'm so used to brick homes. In that case $10k wouldn't even be that much. I know my neighbours were quoted like €3k just for their wooden windows and doors and our house is tiny!

A wooden exterior will probably look really nice but it sounds like a maintenance nightmare! I certainly can't imagine DIY'ing that! But if you're healthy and fit and into DIY, it certainly is a great way to save money. Even if it takes you twice as long because you're not a pro, saving ≈9k is worth a lot.

FWIW, I think most new homes are built with vinyl siding nowadays.  Wood siding is considerably more expensive both to install and maintain, but will last forever if you keep the paint up.

[TomTX]

We did our house ourselves 6 years ago even though my husband was almost 60.  We used a sprayer. We got some estimates that were ridiculous.

Yeah, you can buy a pretty good (home) airless sprayer for ~$200, and get one of the extension wands for it for another $50 to give you a lot more reach.

[SwordGuy]

Painting the exterior of a house isn't that big a deal as long as it's not got really high walls. (I don't like being up on really tall ladders.)

I painted the exterior of one of our rentals a year and a half ago.  Did it in nice weather.   I used a brush and roller rather than a sprayer.   I just didn't feel like futzing with having to tape everything over with plastic sheeting and worry about the wind.  Plus it was kind of Zen.   Overall, it was a very pleasant time.

I wouldn't recommend doing it when it's blistering hot or humid outside.   Then it wouldn't be fun at all.

[Plina]

My father changed the wood siding on their house a couple of years ago and painted the house and the rest of the buildings with some help. I have helped with some of the painting. I like painting as you see the results of your work in the end of the day. Today, he told me that he has some more painting for me, when I get there for my vacation and some other firewood work. I actually like mixing it with vacationing.

[Taran Wanderer]

Painting is certainly fulfilling vs. pushing paper (or electrons) at work.  Gives time for podcasts, and this year for the Hamilton soundtrack before the movie release.  Our house is all composite exterior, so no wood to rot on the house, but some soffits in center and a deck with wooden structure.  The original paint job as faded a lot since the house was built, and the spray job was pretty thin in places.  We'll be good for a long while after this.  It's a big house, though, with two very high walls, 2 body colors, 2 trim colors, and 2 exposed wood stain colors, so it's a big job.  I've painted several other houses (mine and extra jobs in college long ago), but this is the most complicated of them.  Still worth the big savings, though.

[ysette9]

We painted the exterior of the family house together when I was a teenager. Two-story, stucco exterior. The high parts looked really scary to me and I didn’t touch them. They had to rent scaffolding for it. Otherwise it was pretty easy but took quite a while because it was a big house and we were just doing it when we could on the weekends. I can distinctly remember being on the roof of the lower story painting the walls around the upper story bedrooms. Fun times.

[TomTX]

Painting the exterior of a house isn't that big a deal as long as it's not got really high walls. (I don't like being up on really tall ladders.)

I painted the exterior of one of our rentals a year and a half ago.  Did it in nice weather.   I used a brush and roller rather than a sprayer.   I just didn't feel like futzing with having to tape everything over with plastic sheeting and worry about the wind.  Plus it was kind of Zen.   Overall, it was a very pleasant time.

I wouldn't recommend doing it when it's blistering hot or humid outside.   Then it wouldn't be fun at all.

If you're painting with a roller and doing more than a patch job - always use an adjustable extension pole. They're cheap enough and make the job faster, more pleasant and more ergonomic (since you are using 2 arms instead of one.) I've got two: One which extends to 3 feet (perfect for indoors/single story) - and one which extends to 8 feet. Yes, spring for the adjustable instead of the bottom-end wooden pole. It matters.

Apparently you can get them up to 23 feet long at local Big Box Home Improvement Store, but I've never gone beyond 8.

[TomTX]

We painted the exterior of the family house together when I was a teenager. Two-story, stucco exterior. The high parts looked really scary to me and I didn’t touch them. They had to rent scaffolding for it. Otherwise it was pretty easy but took quite a while because it was a big house and we were just doing it when we could on the weekends. I can distinctly remember being on the roof of the lower story painting the walls around the upper story bedrooms. Fun times.

I painted the exterior of a 2-story house and didn't use scaffolding. 6 foot stepladder (8 would have been better) - plus an 8 foot extension pole.

Protip: Leave the paint tray on the ground while you're up on the ladder - you just need to swing the extension pole/roller down to reload.

[PMG]

They make a clip that holds a brush on an extension pole. With a little practice you can get reasonably accurate for long distance cutting in and color changes.

[ixtap]

They make a clip that holds a brush on an extension pole. With a little practice you can get reasonably accurate for long distance cutting in and color changes.

We always used duct tape!

[Dicey]

DH is getting ready to paint our house. He's a painting contractor, so he has all the tools. We've also had the paint in the garage for two years, ahem.

[ysette9]

We painted the exterior of the family house together when I was a teenager. Two-story, stucco exterior. The high parts looked really scary to me and I didn’t touch them. They had to rent scaffolding for it. Otherwise it was pretty easy but took quite a while because it was a big house and we were just doing it when we could on the weekends. I can distinctly remember being on the roof of the lower story painting the walls around the upper story bedrooms. Fun times.

I painted the exterior of a 2-story house and didn't use scaffolding. 6 foot stepladder (8 would have been better) - plus an 8 foot extension pole.

Protip: Leave the paint tray on the ground while you're up on the ladder - you just need to swing the extension pole/roller down to reload.

I can see that working for the walls but not the underside of the eaves or the trim on the outside.

[TomTX]

We painted the exterior of the family house together when I was a teenager. Two-story, stucco exterior. The high parts looked really scary to me and I didn’t touch them. They had to rent scaffolding for it. Otherwise it was pretty easy but took quite a while because it was a big house and we were just doing it when we could on the weekends. I can distinctly remember being on the roof of the lower story painting the walls around the upper story bedrooms. Fun times.

I painted the exterior of a 2-story house and didn't use scaffolding. 6 foot stepladder (8 would have been better) - plus an 8 foot extension pole.

Protip: Leave the paint tray on the ground while you're up on the ladder - you just need to swing the extension pole/roller down to reload.

I can see that working for the walls but not the underside of the eaves or the trim on the outside.

I guess it depends on the trim. On that house the trim was just some 1x4, so it was easy enough to come back and do the trim with a half-width roller.  I didn't really "cut in" at the trim - I painted all of the main wall color, let some slop over onto the trim to make sure the transition was covered and then painted the trim in the trim color, covering up the main color slop. Worked fine.

 I don't recall any issues under the eaves - those just got painted with the main color.

[Plina]

We painted the exterior of the family house together when I was a teenager. Two-story, stucco exterior. The high parts looked really scary to me and I didn’t touch them. They had to rent scaffolding for it. Otherwise it was pretty easy but took quite a while because it was a big house and we were just doing it when we could on the weekends. I can distinctly remember being on the roof of the lower story painting the walls around the upper story bedrooms. Fun times.

I painted the exterior of a 2-story house and didn't use scaffolding. 6 foot stepladder (8 would have been better) - plus an 8 foot extension pole.

Protip: Leave the paint tray on the ground while you're up on the ladder - you just need to swing the extension pole/roller down to reload.

I can see that working for the walls but not the underside of the eaves or the trim on the outside.

I guess it depends on the trim. On that house the trim was just some 1x4, so it was easy enough to come back and do the trim with a half-width roller.  I didn't really "cut in" at the trim - I painted all of the main wall color, let some slop over onto the trim to make sure the transition was covered and then painted the trim in the trim color, covering up the main color slop. Worked fine.

 I don't recall any issues under the eaves - those just got painted with the main color.

A small paintbrush works pretty well for that. You might get a blop somewhere but that can be fixed afterwards. We actually used big paintbrushes to paint as rollers would not have worked due to how the woodplanks were set.

[SunnyDays]

I had my whole house painted on the exterior last year (cedar siding, which I won't replace just for ease of maintenance.  HATE vinyl siding!)  I used college students, and they did a very good job for $1400.00 Cdn.  It would have taken me years to do what they did in a week, with all the scraping and sanding.  However, by the end, I think they realized it had been a bigger job than they's planned.  I actually enjoy painting, but don't have the arm stamina for it.

[Just Joe]

Neighbor said he received a quote to re-stain their house for $6K. Doesn't want to do the high climbing required and I agree.

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

My problem with vinyl siding is to me - it isn't as weather tight as wood siding has the potential of being. We get several driving rains a year and I worry about all that rain getting under the plastic siding and going who knows where. We noticed water marks on the wall below a light switch recently so something is leaking. A new roof before the end of summer is a must. The existing roof is not old but it was not well installed.

All this happened before we bought the house. The home inspector seemed to overlook the water spots in the attic over the front porch (above the wall with the wet light switch). If I can see that (after we purchased the house) why couldn't he? ;)

[SwordGuy]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

[Model96]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

Unfortunately Cement Fibre planks and sheets do rot since they replaced the asbestos fibre with wood fibre, so make sure they get a good coat of paint!

[Taran Wanderer]

Good to know!  My house is fiber cement (Hardiplank) on most of the exterior, and the corner trim is L-shaped plastic (no joints).  While we are several miles from the beach, our builder has built several dozen houses right on the beach with 100+ mph wind exposure, so we don't even hear wind until it's blowing 45+ mph, and every nail, screw, bolt, and piece of sheet metal on the exterior of the house is stainless steel.  With the new coat of paint, it will be weather-proof for quite a while.

[SunnyDays]

If for some reason I absolutely had to get rid of my wood siding, I'd go with stucco instead.  It comes pre-tinted, so don't even have to paint it.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

If for some reason I absolutely had to get rid of my wood siding, I'd go with stucco instead.  It comes pre-tinted, so don't even have to paint it.

The more recent stucco is glorified papier-mâché over chicken wire. Nearly impossible to maintain especially on walls or parapets. Don't do it. Brick, for example, would be a far better choice.

[merula]

If for some reason I absolutely had to get rid of my wood siding, I'd go with stucco instead.  It comes pre-tinted, so don't even have to paint it.

The more recent stucco is glorified papier-mâché over chicken wire. Nearly impossible to maintain especially on walls or parapets. Don't do it. Brick, for example, would be a far better choice.

Agree. This is "synthetic stucco" and is a major category of construction defects. Basically if it's not done perfectly, you're asking for mold.

[Goldielocks]

If for some reason I absolutely had to get rid of my wood siding, I'd go with stucco instead.  It comes pre-tinted, so don't even have to paint it.

The more recent stucco is glorified papier-mâché over chicken wire. Nearly impossible to maintain especially on walls or parapets. Don't do it. Brick, for example, would be a far better choice.

Agree. This is "synthetic stucco" and is a major category of construction defects. Basically if it's not done perfectly, you're asking for mold.

I imagine it works great in arid climates.  (Arizona, parts of California and Nevada, etc).

[facepalm]

If for some reason I absolutely had to get rid of my wood siding, I'd go with stucco instead.  It comes pre-tinted, so don't even have to paint it.

The more recent stucco is glorified papier-mâché over chicken wire. Nearly impossible to maintain especially on walls or parapets. Don't do it. Brick, for example, would be a far better choice.

Not true for commercial sites. Just find a good contractor that knows how to do stucco right and will do it in three steps. Done right, stucco lasts forever.

[ysette9]

I didn’t realize there was fake stucco out there. The house I grew up in has stucco and     at 40 years old has had zero maintenance aside from a paint job or two (for cosmetic purposes).

[ysette9]

I didn’t realize there was fake stucco out there. The house I grew up in has stucco and     at 40 years old has had zero maintenance aside from a paint job or two (for cosmetic purposes).

[Dave1442397]

My friend lives in an early-2000s development with stucco exteriors. After noticing some moisture around window sills, he had it checked out. $70,000 later, his house was fixed.

It turned out that all the houses were having the same issue, and now there's a class action lawsuit against the builder, which will probably go nowhere. My friend stayed out of the lawsuit, and decided to just get it fixed.

[Just Joe]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

Good idea. If nothing else I think I might use hardy board on the dormers this year and work my way around the house with hardy-boards next year.

[JoJo]

Holy Cow...   just discovered my sister, who's worked at a very good company for 20+ years, hasn't put a penny in 401K, Roth IRA,  any funds, etc.   She's 44 years old and literally has no clue what an index fund is.  Yet her "stay at home" husband of 20+ years has had plenty of money for guns, trucks, RVs they barely used, upgrading their house every few years, his start up mechanic garage (he wanted to fix cars but then was mad when people wanted to pick up their car at 9pm and gave that up after less than 2 years, didn't come close to breaking even on all the gear he bought), he recently spent $hundreds on fireworks for the 4th.    So... this guy who spends all day "studying" stuff on the internet... like about how bad immuizations are, how planned parenthood sells baby parts, how Christmas is a pagan holiday, that soon we will have a race war and they'll have to create a militia to fight against the government,  yadda, yadda, couldn't spend a couple hours learning about investments and setting a little bit of the money that she earned or my parents gifted them aside. 
Luckily, I was looking at her benefits and it looks like she has a pension.   But at 43, she is having health problems that may limit her ability to continue working there. 
The good news is that she asked for advice, so I'm trying to get her to do the 401K to matching and a Roth at Vangard or Fidelity if she has any left over.   But to think of the thousands of dollars of matching and gains she lost over 20 years makes me sad.

[ixtap]

I don't think you want that gullible guy 'researching' what to do with money!

[six-car-habit]

Holy Cow...   just discovered my sister, who's worked at a very good company for 20+ years, hasn't put a penny in 401K, Roth IRA,  any funds, etc.   She's 44 years old and literally has no clue what an index fund is.  Yet her "stay at home" husband of 20+ years has had plenty of money for guns, trucks, RVs they barely used, upgrading their house every few years, his start up mechanic garage (he wanted to fix cars but then was mad when people wanted to pick up their car at 9pm and gave that up after less than 2 years, didn't come close to breaking even on all the gear he bought), he recently spent $hundreds on fireworks for the 4th.    So... this guy who spends all day "studying" stuff on the internet... like about how bad immuizations are, how planned parenthood sells baby parts, how Christmas is a pagan holiday, that soon we will have a race war and they'll have to create a militia to fight against the government,  yadda, yadda, couldn't spend a couple hours learning about investments and setting a little bit of the money that she earned or my parents gifted them aside. 
Luckily, I was looking at her benefits and it looks like she has a pension.   But at 43, she is having health problems that may limit her ability to continue working there. 
The good news is that she asked for advice, so I'm trying to get her to do the 401K to matching and a Roth at Vangard or Fidelity if she has any left over.   But to think of the thousands of dollars of matching and gains she lost over 20 years makes me sad.

  Well at least your Brother-in-law has been living his life enjoying the best of 1st world "freedoms" these last 20 yrs.... at what sounds like minimal  physical or mental exertion on his part. Not much grinding him down over his working lifetime.
 

[iris lily]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

Unfortunately Cement Fibre planks and sheets do rot since they replaced the asbestos fibre with wood fibre, so make sure they get a good coat of paint!

I have original asbestos/cement siding on my 1941 cottage and I’m smack dab in the middle of deciding if I’ll rip it all off and put up Hardie board, or will keep it.  Money is not an issue, my decision point is aesthetics.

We are doing major renovations to the house and I will have to figure out something to match that siding  if I keep it. There are copies on the market so it shouldn’t be impossible to match it aesthetically. Also for the dormer that we’re making at the back of the house, that could be Hardieboard because it is a new structure that juts out.

My main reason for wanting to keep the asbestos siding is that it is original cladding for this 1941 cottage and I like the idea of that. While  I don’t especially like the aesthetics of it, I’m trying to train my brain to find it acceptable. It is used in this area on this era of house.

Our insurance company doesn’t mind asbestos and actually gave us a refund when it learned we have asbestos siding rather than vinyl. It is impervious to hail damage.

I’ve done some googling to find articles to convince me to keep the siding for aesthetic purposes and have not found them. I suspect I need to get into “this old house“  type sites that will sell me on the idea of keeping the original cladding because the cladding does add so much to the originality of a structure, and I am all about keeping the cottage aspect of this funny little house.

[SwordGuy]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

Unfortunately Cement Fibre planks and sheets do rot since they replaced the asbestos fibre with wood fibre, so make sure they get a good coat of paint!

I have original asbestos/cement siding on my 1941 cottage and I’m smack dab in the middle of deciding if I’ll rip it all off and put up hardy board, or will keep it.  Money is not an issue, my decision point is aesthetics.

We are doing major renovations to the house and I will have to figure out something to match that siding  if I keep it. There are copies on the market so it shouldn’t be impossible to match it aesthetically. Also for the dormer that we’re making at the back of the house that could  Logically be Hardieboard because it is a new structure that juts out.

My main reason for wanting to keep the asbestos siding is that it is original cladding for this 1941 cottage and I like the idea of that. While  I don’t especially like the aesthetics of it, I’m trying to train my brain to find it acceptable. It is used in this area on this era of house.

Our insurance company doesn’t mind asbestos and actually gave us a refund when it learned we have asbestos siding rather than vinyl. It is impervious to hail damage.

I’ve done some googling to find articles to convince me to keep the siding for aesthetic purposes and have not found them. I suspect I need to get into “this old house“  type sites that will sell me on the idea of keeping the original cladding bit. Because the cladding does add so much to the originality of a structure, and I am all about keeping the cottage aspect of this funny little house.

I know there are non-asbestos shingles that are made to look like asbestos shingles.    We used some on a recent flip house to make repairs, since some of the original shingles were broken.    Make sure you specify whether you need straight or wavy on the bottom edge.

[TomTX]

If for some reason I absolutely had to get rid of my wood siding, I'd go with stucco instead.  It comes pre-tinted, so don't even have to paint it.

The more recent stucco is glorified papier-mâché over chicken wire. Nearly impossible to maintain especially on walls or parapets. Don't do it. Brick, for example, would be a far better choice.

Agree. This is "synthetic stucco" and is a major category of construction defects. Basically if it's not done perfectly, you're asking for mold.

Are you referring to EIFS?  Modern installations should have a drainage plane to deal with any small infiltrations and does not need to be perfect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exterior_insulation_finishing_system

[Model96]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

Unfortunately Cement Fibre planks and sheets do rot since they replaced the asbestos fibre with wood fibre, so make sure they get a good coat of paint!

I have original asbestos/cement siding on my 1941 cottage and I’m smack dab in the middle of deciding if I’ll rip it all off and put up Hardie board, or will keep it.  Money is not an issue, my decision point is aesthetics.

We are doing major renovations to the house and I will have to figure out something to match that siding  if I keep it. There are copies on the market so it shouldn’t be impossible to match it aesthetically. Also for the dormer that we’re making at the back of the house, that could be Hardieboard because it is a new structure that juts out.

My main reason for wanting to keep the asbestos siding is that it is original cladding for this 1941 cottage and I like the idea of that. While  I don’t especially like the aesthetics of it, I’m trying to train my brain to find it acceptable. It is used in this area on this era of house.

Our insurance company doesn’t mind asbestos and actually gave us a refund when it learned we have asbestos siding rather than vinyl. It is impervious to hail damage.

I’ve done some googling to find articles to convince me to keep the siding for aesthetic purposes and have not found them. I suspect I need to get into “this old house“  type sites that will sell me on the idea of keeping the original cladding because the cladding does add so much to the originality of a structure, and I am all about keeping the cottage aspect of this funny little house.

If the asbestos is in good condition and not crumbling it is probably best to leave it alone for the sake of originality especially if it adds value to the home.
If it's in poor condition or of no value, I would change it out before the cost of disposal goes crazy in your area. It's also an opportunity to improve the structure with a vapor permeable barrier and noise & thermal insulation etc

[iris lily]

I'd like to tear the vinyl siding off of our house and put back wood or concrete siding despite the higher maintenance BUT one end of the house is three stories. I'm not climbing ladders that tall. If anything I'd rent a cherry picker or buy a set of scaffolding and store it in our barn.

I like the hardy-board planks because they don't rot.   Really easy to install and work with if you use the gecko clamps to hold the planks in the right spot.
We put them on part of the outside of one of our rentals.  They went up REALLY fast until I had to start climbing up the ladder.   So easy to do a good job with that people driving thru the neighborhood would stop and try to hire me to do their house.    If I didn't have a day job I could have effectively gotten that siding on my house for free. :)

If you don't want to do the work 3 stories up, consider doing all the work up to the height you feel comfortable at and hire the rest.

Unfortunately Cement Fibre planks and sheets do rot since they replaced the asbestos fibre with wood fibre, so make sure they get a good coat of paint!

I have original asbestos/cement siding on my 1941 cottage and I’m smack dab in the middle of deciding if I’ll rip it all off and put up Hardie board, or will keep it.  Money is not an issue, my decision point is aesthetics.

We are doing major renovations to the house and I will have to figure out something to match that siding  if I keep it. There are copies on the market so it shouldn’t be impossible to match it aesthetically. Also for the dormer that we’re making at the back of the house, that could be Hardieboard because it is a new structure that juts out.

My main reason for wanting to keep the asbestos siding is that it is original cladding for this 1941 cottage and I like the idea of that. While  I don’t especially like the aesthetics of it, I’m trying to train my brain to find it acceptable. It is used in this area on this era of house.

Our insurance company doesn’t mind asbestos and actually gave us a refund when it learned we have asbestos siding rather than vinyl. It is impervious to hail damage.

I’ve done some googling to find articles to convince me to keep the siding for aesthetic purposes and have not found them. I suspect I need to get into “this old house“  type sites that will sell me on the idea of keeping the original cladding because the cladding does add so much to the originality of a structure, and I am all about keeping the cottage aspect of this funny little house.

If the asbestos is in good condition and not crumbling it is probably best to leave it alone for the sake of originality especially if it adds value to the home.
If it's in poor condition or of no value, I would change it out before the cost of disposal goes crazy in your area. It's also an opportunity to improve the structure with a vapor permeable barrier and noise & thermal insulation etc

I suspect it does not add to the value of this house, although the asbestos tiles are in decent condition, only a handful are cracked.

I had not thought about how new siding would offer better barriers. I’m sure DH and the contractor would’ve addressed that though. I was considering it thoroughly from the point of view of aesthetics since I know neither one of them will consider that.

But you are probably right that taking the $79,000 cottage, dumping 150,000+  into it, Not improving these barriers may be silly so now I’m back to yes let’s put up Hardieboard.

[ixtap]

So now orange foam contains asbestos?

[Just Joe]

I don't think you want that gullible guy 'researching' what to do with money!

Buy these "rare" gold (plated) coins. Just $XXX and $29.95 shipping and handling... Each month we'll send you the next coin in this 250 theme coin collection. If you buy all of them we'll send you for free the cardboard display case. Call now! But wait... If you call now... Don't wait!

Its a shame that they spend their days goofing off rather than helping their spouse earn a living. Maybe they have some mental health issues? I have a relative that is surely dealing with mild depression that seems to prevent keeping a job.

[Njdealguy]

Have a brother in law who pays 6% interest on a mortgage with about 15 years remaining and refuses to refinance even though can easily get 2.5% interest 15 year fixed rate mortgage now with no closing costs.  Reason is thinks that besides the "hassles" is he gets to deduct more interest on his tax return on what is paying now while ignoring when I explained that even with the tax deduction is still paying a lot more overall every year.

Besides this also paid $60 per person for a family of 3 for some premium lounge access at Hong Kong airport while transitting even though has a priority pass card from one of his credit cards that would've included access to the exact same freaking lounge at no cost (And argued with me, wouldn't listen when I explained this once again). 

He keeps getting the latest IPhones for himself and wife every year and keeps all the old ones (not sell or trade in) as claims somehow all their personal data can somehow be extracted even if does a factory reset on the phones. 

Pays for premium gas for a Honda Accord (car will "run better" as per him).  This is besides a bunch of other things I've observed them do over the years, somehow finds ways to spend money I didnt think possible, and believes that everything is automatically better by spending more money in any case! 

All this on less than a third of our annual income which for them is barely above 6 figures.

[ysette9]

Wow. It would be so hard to not want to just bang your head against the wall for stupid stuff like that.

[Njdealguy]

Have a brother in law who pays 6% interest on a mortgage with about 15 years remaining and refuses to refinance even though can easily get 2.5% interest 15 year fixed rate mortgage now with no closing costs.  Reason is thinks that besides the "hassles" is he gets to deduct more interest on his tax return on what is paying now while ignoring when I explained that even with the tax deduction is still paying a lot more overall every year.

Besides this also paid $60 per person for a family of 3 for some premium lounge access at Hong Kong airport while transitting even though has a priority pass card from one of his credit cards that would've included access to the exact same freaking lounge at no cost (And argued with me, wouldn't listen when I explained this once again). 

He keeps getting the latest IPhones for himself and wife every year and keeps all the old ones (not sell or trade in) as claims somehow all their personal data can somehow be extracted even if does a factory reset on the phones. 

Pays for premium gas for a Honda Accord (car will "run better" as per him).  This is besides a bunch of other things I've observed them do over the years, somehow finds ways to spend money I didnt think possible, and believes that everything is automatically better by spending more money in any case! 

All this on less than a third of our annual income which for them is barely above 6 figures.

Forgot to mention another good one, for a weekend family trip rented a minivan from his local Hertz car rental for about $650 (plus probably a whole bunch more to buy their insurance as thinks the credit card ones wont cover his ass) for I think 4 or 5 days while a Alamo place about 15 miles from his home had the same type of car for same period available for about $250.  Difference was Hertz would pick up/drop off from his home while Alamo did not.....so just refused to be hassled in any way, couldve taken a uber ride to Alamo and still came out ahead.   Gives almost no regards to costs and will pay anything if means avoiding the slightest of hassles!  If I owned a business, would love to get customers like him :)

[Roadrunner53]

This is something I may have mentioned a while back but there are too many pages to look back so I will just repeat myself if I did. Some relatives, years ago, were approached to buy into a freezer plan. I am sure this doesn't exist anymore. So they buy into this. The plan delivers a upright freezer and they were grilled on what they eat, how much per week and then presented with the cost of the meat and a finance plan. The meat in the freezer was supposed to last maybe 6-8 weeks. I am not sure of the details. Well, the freezer gets delivered, the meat arrives and the freezer is filled to the brim. They must have thought they went to hog heaven and began devouring the meat like starving animals. They were cooking steaks for breakfast! They gobbled up all the meat in maybe 3 weeks time or less. So now the food that was supposed to last 6 or 8 weeks was gone. They then had 5 weeks before the next delivery would come and they had to still pay for the meat and freezer in monthly payments. So, they had to go to the grocery store to buy more food. I don't know all the details but I am sure they didn't keep up with the payments. Not sure if the freezer was repo'd or not but probably! These are the same people that frittered their money away in other stupid ways and didn't pay their electric bill or oil bill and would run out of oil and got the electric shut off. OMG! Really...eating steak for breakfast when you can't pay your electric bill! They would eat at the local diner all the time later on in life when they could have been frugal to eat at home! It just never ended! One of their children had to try to get them out of debt and I think it was a home equity loan but they never, ever changed their ways.

[Dicey]

Have a brother in law who pays 6% interest on a mortgage with about 15 years remaining and refuses to refinance even though can easily get 2.5% interest 15 year fixed rate mortgage now with no closing costs.  Reason is thinks that besides the "hassles" is he gets to deduct more interest on his tax return on what is paying now while ignoring when I explained that even with the tax deduction is still paying a lot more overall every year.

Besides this also paid $60 per person for a family of 3 for some premium lounge access at Hong Kong airport while transitting even though has a priority pass card from one of his credit cards that would've included access to the exact same freaking lounge at no cost (And argued with me, wouldn't listen when I explained this once again). 

He keeps getting the latest IPhones for himself and wife every year and keeps all the old ones (not sell or trade in) as claims somehow all their personal data can somehow be extracted even if does a factory reset on the phones. 

Pays for premium gas for a Honda Accord (car will "run better" as per him).  This is besides a bunch of other things I've observed them do over the years, somehow finds ways to spend money I didnt think possible, and believes that everything is automatically better by spending more money in any case! 

All this on less than a third of our annual income which for them is barely above 6 figures.

For your own sanity, just look away. Really, you need to stop noticing this shit. It isn't worth the aggravation it's causing you. He's never going to change, and you have a million things better to spend every iota of your life energy on.

I understand the purpose of this thread. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems this idiot's idiocy gets under your skin a bit. Don't let it.

[Just Joe]

Sometimes feels good to unload though. Sort of a "do you see what I see?" moment. ;)