New siding goes on a wall we have seen with the old siding off.
Vinyl, LP SmartSide, or James Hardie fiber cement for Holt homes, hung by our own crew. We are certified installers of the last two, we never subcontract a wall, and your house is closed up tight at the end of every working day.
Tear-off day, and what the house has been keeping quiet.
The first morning of a re-side is the most honest look anyone gets at your house. With the old siding stripped off a wall, we can see the house wrap, or the lack of it, and put a hand on the sheathing behind. On a lot of homes the wrap is torn where the last installer stapled it in a hurry, or it was never there at all and the siding went straight onto bare board. We find trim that was wrapped in aluminum years ago with soft wood underneath, and window openings that have been leaking quietly into the framing for longer than anyone knew.
None of that is cause for panic, and most of it is ordinary. It is the reason we don’t quote siding off a photo, and the reason your written scope explains how sheathing repairs get priced if we find any. When we open a wall and something is soft, you hear about it that day, you see the photos, and we agree on it before the new wrap covers it. Nothing gets added at the end that we did not talk about at the start.
Once the wall is sound, a continuous layer of house wrap goes on, lapped in the right direction, taped at the seams, and flashed at every opening. That layer does more to keep the wall dry than the siding hung over it, so it gets the same care as the part you see from the street.
Windows get flashed into the new wall, every one.
The weak spot on most re-sides is the window. The quick version wraps aluminum coil around the old casing, runs channel around it, and caulks the gap. It looks tidy for a season or two. Then the caulk splits, water runs behind the coil, and the casing underneath rots where nobody can see it until the interior trim starts to stain.
We tie each window into the new wall. Wrap gets cut and folded into the rough opening, flashing tape goes on in an order where every layer sheds onto the one below it, a head flashing kicks water out over the top trim, and the trim itself becomes part of the cladding. On LP SmartSide and Hardie jobs that means trim boards from the same product family as the siding, so the window surround and the wall weather together. Vinyl installs get proper channel with the ends folded and the drainage left open.
It is slower work, and it is where our certifications matter most. Both manufacturers spell out how their products go on around an opening, and we follow it to the letter, because that is what keeps their warranty intact and the window dry through a Michigan winter.
Lap, board and batten, or both on one house.
Plenty of Holt homeowners call us wanting a change in the look, and mixing profiles is the most common way to get one. Lap on the main walls with vertical board and batten on a gable, a bump-out or the lower story gives a house some shape without making it look like it was built in pieces. The change has to line up with something real on the house: a floor line, a roof break, the head height of the windows. Put it anywhere else and the house reads as two jobs.
The details decide whether it lasts. Board and batten needs solid backing for its fasteners, a horizontal break needs flashing so water from the upper wall cannot run behind the lower one, and the trim at the transition has to be planned before the first piece goes up. Color matters too. We bring samples out and hold them against your house in daylight, next to the roof and any brick or stone, before anything gets ordered.
If you would rather keep the house looking the way it does now, that is a perfectly good answer. Matching the original profile and color in a better product is a big part of what we do.
Picking the cladding for the house you actually have.
We install all three, and we will tell you which one fits your house and how long you plan to stay in it.
Low upkeep, honest limits
Good vinyl, hung correctly, asks for little more than a wash now and then. It moves with temperature, so it has to be nailed loose, and it can crack under hail on a cold day. On many Holt homes it is the sensible choice, and we will say so.
Wood look, engineered core
LP SmartSide is treated engineered wood that takes impact well and holds paint. Being certified installers matters here, because its cut ends need sealing and its clearances to roofs and grade are specific. Skip those and it fails like old hardboard.
Heavy, stable, slow to age
James Hardie fiber cement is the heaviest of the three and the least bothered by sun and weather. It takes more labor to cut and hang, which shows in the price. We are certified Hardie installers and follow their rules on clearances and fastening.
Closed up tight at the end of every working day.
A re-side takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks depending on the house, and Michigan weather does not wait for us to finish. So we never leave a wall open overnight. Whatever we stripped that day gets wrapped and sealed before the crew leaves, scrap goes in the trailer, and the yard gets swept with a magnet for nails. You should be able to let the dog out at night without a second thought.
Holt has both kinds of house we see most. On the older established streets, tear-off tends to turn up more under the old cladding: layers from earlier jobs, trim that was covered over instead of replaced, sheathing that has seen a few leaks. The newer subdivisions usually have cleaner walls under builder-grade siding that is starting to look tired, and the conversation there is more often about the look than about damage. Either way you get the scope and a fair price in writing before we start.
Read more about our siding replacement work, see everything we do in Holt, or have us walk the house with you.
Who shows up in Holt, and what else they handle.
We are based in St. Johns, and Holt sits well inside the 60-mile radius we cover. The crew that walks your house with you is the crew that sides it. If a wall turns out to need less than you feared, see siding repair; the rest of our Holt work covers shingle roof installation, gutter repair, and roof ventilation. The photos are from our jobs around mid-Michigan.
More on siding replacement · the full Holt service list · call (989) 900-0018.
Holt re-siding questions, answered plainly.
The things people want settled before they sign. Our gallery shows finished houses, and the contact page gets you on our schedule.
Which siding is best for a Holt home?
There is no single answer. Vinyl suits a lot of houses and budgets. LP SmartSide gives a painted wood look with better impact resistance. James Hardie fiber cement is the most stable and the heaviest. We look at your house, the trim, and how long you plan to stay, then recommend one.
Do you put new siding over the old?
We tear off. Covering old siding hides whatever is wrong with the wall and leaves nothing solid to fasten into. Taking it off lets us check the sheathing, replace soft spots, and put down new house wrap that is lapped and taped properly, which is the layer that actually keeps water out.
What happens if you find rot under the old siding?
You hear about it that day, with photos, before anything new covers it. Soft sheathing gets cut out and replaced, and only the pieces that are actually soft. Your written scope already explains how that work is priced, so a surprise behind the wall never turns into a surprise on the bill.
Can I mix board and batten with lap siding?
Yes, and it can look very good when the change lines up with the house, at a floor line or a gable. We flash the transition so water from the upper wall cannot get behind the lower one, and we plan the trim before the first board goes up.
How many days does a re-side take?
Anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks, depending on the size of the house, the material, and what tear-off turns up. Fiber cement generally takes longer than vinyl. You get a timeline you can plan around once we have seen the house, and every opened wall is closed before we leave.
Why does installer certification matter for siding?
LP SmartSide and James Hardie both publish exact rules for clearances, fastening, sealing cut edges, and flashing. Installing to that spec is what keeps the product warranty intact. We are certified with both, so the siding goes on the way the maker requires, even where a shortcut would be quicker.
Thinking about new siding? Start with a walk around the house.
We look at every wall with you, talk through the materials, and put a fair price in writing. There is no pressure to sign anything that day.
(989) 900-0018