Building Envelope Tighten Up!

From the beginnning it had been determined that a twofold approach would be undertaken in restoring the Blacksmith Shed.  Our aim was to focus on sealing the building's envelope while entertaining "catalyst" projects as we progressed.  This approach was developed in an effort to maximize enthusiasm while steadfastly completing important project benchmarks. 

To date we've maintained a pretty good balance of completing both fun tasks as well as necessary ones.  There remained, however, one glaring deficiency in our envelope sealing efforts; the siding.  The west side of the blacksmith shed was in a state that could only be described as that of a "particularly scandalous condition."  Clearing this hurdle posed quite a conundrum in regards to the opportunity cost of our limited work weekends; especially in light of crowded social and family schedules.  The best approach seemed to be outsourcing this portion of the project.  Enter Greg.

Greg is a barn restorationist who has worked on other barns and outbuildings throughout the Virginia Piedmont as well as in the Northern Neck.  We showed him the project and he and his crew felt that they were up for the task.  The plan was to remove what was left of the siding on the most-troubled, west side and reside this entire elevation with new rough sawn material.  The removed siding would then be reused on the remaining three sides as allowable; supplementing with the new rough sawn stock as needed.  Greg did an excellent job and it appears that the Blacksmith Shed has really turned a corner in the overall project scope.  What follows are exterior "before and after" photos showing the siding repairs on the west side of the Blacksmith Shed:   

Before...

Siding partially removed - check out the downbracing in the framing!

Yellah Gold... New rough sawn yellow pine siding to match exisitng.  We'll let the seasons run their course and once the new wood greys we'll apply a sealer to all the siding to encourage longevity.

Another "before" of the same elevation....

After!