| To get the best results when building or remodeling, you need advice from the best professionals in the business. For Pros by Pros books bring together expert designers, builders, and remodeling pros who have written for Fine Homebuilding magazine.
Written by the pros who actually do the work, these articles help you to:
- Create exterior-trim details that last.
- Use modern materials that protect historic trim.
- Choose the best caulks that are flexible and paintable.
- Create an EIFS retrofit for leaky windows.
- Match the mortar to the brick.
- Learn why housewraps and building papers fail.
- Choose the best wood for clapboards.
From the Introduction
I successfully avoided vinyl siding for the first eight years of my career as a carpenter. By that point, I was pretty good at my job. Not a master by any means, but I could frame roofs, lay out stairs and build custom cabinets. So when the boss asked me to side a new house with vinyl, I did what good carpenters do: I cut the pieces exactly and nailed them up tight. A job well done . . . or so I thought until a few months later when the summer sun hit the house.
The siding pooched and dimpled like the surface of golf ball. Turns out that vinyl has what's called a high coefficient of expansion, which means it expands and contracts a lot with changes in the weather. You're supposed to cut the pieces a little short and not sink the nails completely. All the vinyl on that house had to be torn off and reinstalled.
Interior trim and finishes have to look good, but that's about it. Outside, it's another story. Exterior work has to look good and withstand the rigors of wind-blown rain, blistering sun and freezing temperatures. It isn't work to be taken lightly - a lesson I learned the hard way. You'll want good information about how to do things, and that's where this book can help.
Collected here are 15 articles from past issues of Fine Homebuilding magazine. Written by builders from all over the country, these articles represent the hard-won knowledge of professionals who have learned from their mistakes. There's even an article on installing vinyl siding. Wish I'd read that 20 years ago.
- Kevin Ireton
Editor in Chief, Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Table of Contents
Introduction—Chapter 1: Exterior Trim Running Exterior Trim; Building an Ornate Cornice; Exterior-Trim Details that Last. Chapter 2: Masonry Synthetic Stucco; Flashing Brick-Veneer Walls; Installing Manufactured-Stone Veneer; Laying up Stone Veneer. Chapter 3. Sheathing and Siding Vinyl Siding Done Right; Installing Wood Clapboards; Working with Fiber-Cement Siding; Installing Horizontal Wood Siding; Rain-Screen Walls: A Better Way to Install Siding; Siding with Cedar Shingles. Chapter 4: Wood Repair and Paint Restoring Wood with Epoxy; Removing Exterior Paint. Credits. Index. |
