The joys of home ownership

One of our Home Improvement goals for the summer was to get the house painted.

Margie handled finding a painter. I handled contacting the HOA.

Everything was all set. They would arrive 2 September — and not a moment too soon, as a cursory exam of the flaking paint on our house would demonstrate.

But …

Friday afternoon, I spotted an envelope from the painters tucked in front door.

Inside …

After performing your estimate, I was not comfortable with the condition of the house siding; therefore, I requested to have an independent analysis made on your house siding. Please see attached document.

Urg.

I was worried about this. Our cedar siding is not in good shape, to be honest. Lots of cracks, lots of caulk. Last paint job, about five years ago (!), the painter said, “This will probably be the last time before you have to have the siding redone.”

I’d been waiting for that other shoe to drop when painters came out to give us estimates. It hadn’t, so I’d relaxed.

Thud

So … now I get an estimate of re-siding the house. Along with the debate of whether to continue with cedar — which I prefer, aesthetically, but which is prone to, well, weathering (granted that this siding appears to have lasted the 25 years the house has existed), or go for something like Masonite siding, which is what most of the houses in the neighborhood have.

And what’s the cost delta?

And what’s the cost in the first place?

And will the HOA approve a siding change?

And when can it be done?

And can we get the house painted after that?

And … well, at that point, what color will we want to do the house? The same? Or use a wood stain, if we stick with cedar? Or …?

Rrg.