Services Provided
Replace siding on one side of house and corner poles, and minor fix like window frames and etc.
Experience and Good Comments
For your reference, my house is standard 2 stories in Redmondridge, 2500 square feet inside, built in 2001. Wanted to repaint my house after 15 years. But after walk through, the paint companies suggested me checking with siding company first because one side has 10+ place with half-inch wide gap between siding boards (see pictures). One myth is those gaps only are seen in Summer and Fall, but not in Winter or Spring.
Had a few siding companies to check and quote. Almost all agree that this problematic side is facing south, and takes more sunshine and rain than the other sides. The myth of gap only appearing in summer is that in raining season, the siding (made of kind of vinyl) absorbs more water and expands in size to cover the gap, and in the dry season, the siding board has less water inside and shrinks to expose the gap.
The side is about 940+ square feet coverage. Got some quotes like below to #1 replace siding on one side, #2 replace 2 corner poles, and #3 fix some rotten window frame:
1. Private worker with no insurance and bond, $4000 for labor only, also I need to purchase all material. If let they provide materials, it is $5500.
2. A company with insurance and bond, $4000 for material and labor + extra labor of $50 per hour for my request #2 and #3
3. This Gbsiding company, $6400 plus tax.
I have time pressure to complete this project and the following full house paint before the raining season starts in Oct. I got the quote from the private worker and GBSiding before my planning cut-off day, so I chose GBSiding. The quote of A company came about 2, 3 days later after I made the decision. I probably will give them a try next time. One more thing about A company is they refused to give me the measurement of my siding after walk-through and the rough estimation of how much material is needed. That makes me feel a little weird.
Gbsiding replaced 2 sides of my cross-street neighbour's house in 2014. It was $9000. The job quality is good. Now they asked me for $6400 for 1 side, it is 40% increase in 2 years. WOW, a good surprise to me. I should have been getting more quotes in June, instead of in Sep. That will give me more bargain power.
Anyway, the job has been done smoothly. Gene, the owner of GB siding, came with his brother John and niece Shawn, carrying all materials and completed the works in 4 days. Every day, before they left, they wrapped all unused material and cleaned up and took away all junks. Very professional!
Gene is one of the sub-contractors who worked under the builder to build the RedmondRidge community in 2000-2001, so he knows exactly what he is doing. I walked through everyday about the progress and what to do next, and I learned many things from him about building, maintenance, especially about the houses in RedmondRidge.
The process is as below:
1. Tear down the existing siding, and remove the black paper protection wrapper. (about 1.5 day). Need to be care about the nails!!
2. Apply the new black paper protection wrapper, and mark the lines for stubs under walls. The hardie board is very heavy and MUST be nailed to the solid stubs; otherwise, the weight will damage the walls! (less than 0.5 day)
3. Install the new hardie board (about 1.5 day), and replace the new poles and etc.
4. Caulk
I took some pictures and added my inline comments. However, I couldn’t find the photo of the final look before the full house repaint started. What a pity!
Not-So-Good Comments
My only point is the price could be lower!
Besides, as a suggestion to any reader of this review who wants to do siding, please double check:
1) The new siding board is a Jamie Hardie or equivalent top brands. There are similar cheep hardie looks-like material , so just be careful.
2) The stainless nail must be not magnetic; or it will corrode and lost hanging power on the heavy siding board.
