Siding in Fraser, MI
Our shop is in Fraser, on Fraser Drive, and has been since 2011. Most of the houses here went up between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s: single-storey ranches and modest two-storeys on regular lots, built close enough together that a crew works from a driveway rather than from all four sides at once.
That age band decides what we find when the old siding comes off. A lot of Fraser homes are still wearing their original aluminium, or the vinyl that replaced it in the 1990s. Both are past the point where they are protecting anything; they are just a surface.
Siding work from our own back yard
Completed 3G jobs from around Macomb and Oakland counties. At the estimate we can point you to work closer to your own street.
What old aluminium siding hides
Aluminium was the standard on Fraser houses of this era, and it was usually nailed straight to the sheathing with no housewrap behind it. When we pull it, these are the four things we look for before anything new goes up.
- Sheathing condition at the bottom course. Water that ran behind the panels for thirty years ends up at the rim joist. Soft board there is cut out and replaced, not covered.
- Whether there is any weather barrier at all. On a lot of houses of this age there is none. The new siding gets a proper wrap behind it, which is most of what actually keeps wind-driven rain out.
- The window and door openings. Old aluminium was often trimmed with a bent coil that was never flashed. Openings get flashed and sealed as part of the job.
- Nail-line rot on the fascia and rake. Aluminium fascia covers a lot of sins, and it is worth knowing before a gutter goes back on it.
Vinyl or fiber cement on a Fraser house
On most houses here vinyl is the sensible answer. The elevations are simple, the runs are short, and a good insulated panel with proper trim looks right on a mid-century ranch without asking the house to be something it is not. Our vinyl siding and trim page covers the profiles and the trim details we work to.
Fiber cement is worth the extra where a house has been substantially remodelled, or where a front elevation is doing a lot of visual work and the owner wants board-and-batten or a wider exposure lap. That is the Hardie board conversation, and it is a different price and a different install.
We would rather talk through both at the house than quote a material over the phone. What the walls are made of, how much trim there is, and how the gables are cut all move the number more than the brand on the box.
What a Fraser re-side actually involves
A re-side is not one trade. On a typical Fraser house the days break down roughly like this, and knowing the order helps you read a quote.
- Strip and inspect. The old panels, the old trim coil and the old fasteners all come off and leave the same day. Nothing goes back over the top. This is the point where we find out what the sheathing looks like.
- Carpentry. Any soft sheathing, rotten trim board or damaged rake gets cut out and replaced with sound material. On houses where a gutter has been overflowing for years, this is usually the fascia and the corner boards.
- Weather barrier. House wrap goes on properly lapped, shingle-fashion, so water that gets behind a panel runs out rather than in. Most houses of this age have never had one.
- Openings. Windows and doors get flashed and taped at the head and the sill before any trim goes on. This is the detail that separates a siding job that lasts from one that looks fine for two years.
- Siding, trim and accessories. Panels, corners, J-channel, soffit and fascia. Soffit and fascia are part of the same envelope and we would rather do them together than leave a new wall under old trim.
- Clean-up. Magnet over the lawn and the drive. Siding jobs produce a lot of small fasteners and offcuts, and they should not still be in your grass in spring.
Short eaves and the splash line
Fraser ranches tend to have shallow overhangs. There is not much roof sticking out to throw water clear of the wall, so the bottom three feet of siding takes a beating from both the roof above and the splash coming back off the driveway and the patio.
That is where we see the first failures: chalked or brittle panels at the bottom course, staining that will not wash off, and trim that has gone soft at the corners. If your gutters are also overflowing, the two problems are one problem. The gutter side of it in Fraser is worth sorting at the same time, because the scaffolding is already up.
Siding is one layer of the wall, not the whole wall
When we scope a re-side in Fraser we look at what the siding connects to, because those are the joints that leak:
- Gutters in Fraser — where the roof water actually goes once it leaves the shingle.
- Roofing in Fraser — the board decking and narrow soffits on this housing stock.
- Window replacement — if windows are going to be changed, changing them with the siding off is far cheaper than doing it twice.
- Drainage — for the splash line at the base of the wall, which siding alone will not fix.
Siding questions from Fraser homeowners
Can you side over the old aluminium instead of removing it?
We do not. Siding over the top hides whatever is happening to the sheathing behind it, and it gives you no chance to add a weather barrier. On a Fraser house of this age, what is behind the aluminium is the whole reason to do the job.
My house is on a narrow lot with the neighbour close. Is that a problem?
No. Most of Fraser is built like that and it is the normal working condition here. It changes how we stage and where the brake sits, not whether the work can be done properly.
How long does a re-side take on a Fraser ranch?
A straightforward single-storey ranch is usually two to three working days. Carpentry adds to that: if sheathing or trim has to be replaced, the repair happens before any panel goes up.
Should I do the gutters at the same time?
If they are original or overflowing, yes. The gutter comes off to side the fascia anyway, and putting an old gutter back on new trim is the one part of the job you would end up redoing.
Serving Fraser and nearby Roseville, Warren and Clinton Township.
