Hisey House Rehab: Sealing Our Home w/ Siding, Wrap, Caulking, Foam

Our old siding and gutters were hauled off and recycled. Aluminum is in demand. The Grafton Township house had previously had blown-in insulation through the siding and tar paper wrapped the house under the siding.

Prior to installation I topped off all of my blown-in insulation with a green eco-friendly product. It's amazing how much I used. Some areas that had plugs took bags of siding - including our original bathroom exterior walls. (I always had trouble with the pipes freezing - now I know why). I went through an entire box of caulking tubes and 8 cans of foam making the house as airtight as possible prior to the wrap and siding being installed. Our new siding is CedarMAX thermal siding (foam on the back) over a green house-wrap. This is thick siding with up to 500% greater impact resistance than standard siding. Heartland guarantees a 20% energy savings with 4.0 R factor. Because of the design it is more insect resistant and wind resistant - important living in the country surrounded by fields.

We also had the contractor, Dan Bieri, build out the casings and wrap everything not covered in vinyl in aluminum. The seams were again caulked. (Daniel Bieri Construction, P.O. Box #69, Amherst, Ohio 44001 440-669-2816) We added new gutters to the house as well as adding gutters to the pole building. I'll be running piping underground in the spring to carry water from the downspouts to the pond. I have a pump supplying water from the pond to faucets to irrigate my landscaping and vegetable garden.

My wife Maria and I are hoping to get maximum life out of the products we chose as well as substantial energy savings. We recycled what we could, and have a home that looks fantastic! We are updating an existing 150 year old home on it's existing footprint making it far more energy efficient. We've added solar sensors on most of our exterior lights, replaced older lights and bulbs with energy efficient options, and hope to add more energy saving features in the future.

We still have many projects in the works, but the 203k loan made this part of the project possible. Please feel free to call or email me for information, recommendations or if you'd like to utilize the Hisey Group to search for your next home. 440-315-6000 or lee.hisey@realliving.com