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Are you ready for a free estimate for your next siding, windows or painting project?

P.S. We also made a new video for our Portland roofing company, Roof Life of Oregon. Have a look at our Roof Life of Oregon video when you’re done here.

At 1st Oregon Exteriors, we don’t install vinyl siding…and I’ll tell you why.

When the re-siding frenzy started and the class-action lawsuits were in full stride, it was interesting to see what all the homeowners began to choose. At first it was a mix of 40% choosing cedar siding, 50% going with fiber cement siding (like Hardie Plank) and 10% opting for vinyl siding. During the heyday of the siding market, at 1st Oregon Exteriors, we had 8 siding crews and only one that did vinyl. We chose as a company to only use the best, highest-grade siding products in each category. For vinyl that meant Wolverine’s thickest, toughest siding available. In Portland, everyone else was using some of the thinnest, cheapest stuff that I have ever seen. I am aware that the rest of the nation was in love with vinyl and expected the craze to arrive here but it never did. There were a handful of builders that used it but soon stopped after 5 years and Wolverine doesn’t even make the good stuff anymore.

So far, the problem with most vinyl siding is that it looks cheap forever. The seam…I personally cannot get over the seams, they just stare at you. For years, vinyl was used to hide problems; like old growth cedar siding painted with lead-based paint. Told that it was too costly to remove, folks in Portland were convinced to just cover it up. You can’t do that with the OSB products, because the siding products themselves were rotting and had to be removed.

Most of the vinyl siding in Portland was installed to make a profit for the siding company. It was not installed to look good, work right, and be a homeowner’s lasting solution to their siding needs. The end result is that in a very short period of time it looks seriously shabby. The color will fade on the southwest sides and the mold and mildew will grow on the northeast sides. And that’s for the siding that stayed on! Just try and match one or two siding pieces in a wall after the manufacturer decides that your style and color is to be discontinued. You cannot paint it, so you’re stuck.

The wind is also a factor in Portland. Just ask anyone whose 3-year-old vinyl panel ends up down the road. Most likely on inspection, it is determined that your vinyl siding was not nailed to the studs. If your home’s siding was nailed incorrectly, it will continue to blow off. Finally, when you can’t find the wind- blown piece, your contractor tells you that your color has been discontinued.

How about in your ourdoor entertainment areas? Loads of people put their barbecue too close and melt a piece of vinyl! Have you ever seen a new piece of siding in a field of old vinyl? No offense, but redneck comes to mind!

The area behind your gutter and under your roof is called a soffit and fascia. At the ends of your roof- line are gables. What do you do with those areas? These areas are big profit centers for the vinyl industry.  Here’s how it works: They show up with their crew to do your siding and tell you that you will need to have a painter pre-paint everything not covered in vinyl. (As if you have a painter on standby!) The fact is you’re asking the painter to do the gutters, soffits, facia, and barge rafters. All of these are high cost and low profit centers to the painter, because everything you’re requesting is tedious work with little chance for profit because it holds little value to the homeowner in the big picture of things. You can make the request and get a lot of response but once the painter finds out what you want done he will not likely submit a bid. If he does give you a quote, it will be high because he doesn’t want to do it.

Now you’re ready for the close: You decide to have the vinyl company close in the soffits, and wrap the fascia and barge rafters in vinyl-coated lead. This is a huge profit center. Personally, I find the entire charade a bit too slick for laid-back Portland.

How about those box elder bugs and the bees? They love vinyl siding; they get under and behind it with little effort and then find their way into the interior of your home. I have replaced many a home’s siding for this very reason. The vinyl siding industry claims “hey it’s not the siding product; it’s the installer that caused that.” I think it’s all a package. Remember, along with those east coast siding experts comes the “Tin Man” sales guy into your home with the slick sales pitch. No thanks!

The actual vinyl product is very inexpensive and the installation process in the fastest in the arena of all siding products. All of the profit in vinyl siding is made in the sales. You are paying a guy a lot of money to give you an inexpensive product with low costs of installation that will actually cause you grief for a very long time.

These are the facts for vinyl siding in the great Northwest. You are now an informed consumer!

Sincerely, Patrick D. Morin, President and Founder of 1st Oregon Exteriors, since 1996.

PS…We’d love to side your home. Just don’t ask us to use vinyl. Call us or get a free estimate.

When your home was built, just after the framing went up, they installed your roof. In new production type homes this roofing service is given to the lowest bid roofing contractor in town. (Over at Roof Life of Oregon, we never bid on new construction because we can’t bring ourselves to cut those kind of corners.) Unfortunately for home owners who need to replace their roof, a lot of replacement roofing contractors follow the same line of thought. Sell the re-roof for a cheap price and then cut every corner in the book. Fast is the standard rule for these guys, and most times, important details are overlooked for the sake of the almighty dollar.

This one concept is very important for you to realize, as it is a mistake made over and over by the vast majority of homeowners. It ends up costing them more than they could ever imagine. It reminds me of a saying by a great man named John Ruskin who said “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.“

On a roof, some of these overlooked items seem like such small things. These small details from the ground are huge deals when you’re on the roof. If neglected and/or overlooked in the original installation it will cause a homeowner thousands in repairs. Especially if the oversight is in the transition areas of the roof. Other common examples, neglecting to use neoprene screws on exterior flashings, kick out flashings left out, allowing water down or into the sidewalls of your home. Most of these oversights and few others go unnoticed until a storm with wind and rain is hitting your home at just the right angle.

It has always paid dividends to pay more “up front” for the correct installation of a roof; a roof that is installed following a set procedure by a company whose policy is to check on that procedure daily. Accountability is available at Roof Life of Oregon where we deliver Portland’s best and safest choice in roofing.

If your siding won’t hold paint any longer and you find yourself forever painting with no longevity there are only a few possible reasons. The first issue might be that the siding went up unprimed, dooming it to never hold paint. On older homes it may be that the walls are not insulated and the warmth of the home is escaping through the walls, lifting the paint as it transfer through to the exterior. A third possibility is that multiples layers of lead based paint are not giving the new latex based paint good adhesion. The only solution to an improperly prepared wall is to burn off the paint or reside. If you have an older home with little or no insulation we can remove the siding and underlayment and insulate the walls, then reside. When you insulate you’ll experience a huge difference in energy loss.

A lot of homes in the Portland area were sided with a defective siding. (LP, Weyerhaeuser, or Masonite) These types of siding will rot right on your wall, acting as a sponge, and when they fail it can cause a lot of inter- wall damage. This type of siding also warps and expands! When this happens, the caulking systems fail on the corners, windows, and transition areas. Wind driven rain enters the home in these areas. If you have this type of siding the only solution is to replace it a.s.a.p.

In Weather Woes: Part 1, we talked about cedar lap siding. It’s good siding, but not when the siding contractor (in an effort to save time and money) stretches the reveal of every row. This saves him 7-12 rows all the way around the house. It goes undetected at first because there is so much other stuff to be concerned with as you move into your new home. On the southwest sides of his home it starts to crack, warp, wear out faster, and leak in high wind situations. (Winds of just 30 mph will blow rain up a wall.) If the siding does not have the proper overlap it will not protect the underlayment from continual soakage. You’ll see water coming in the windows and other transition areas.

For solutions to any of your weather wall concerns call 1st Oregon Exteriors at 503-925-0124 or request a free estimate.

Mold, mildew, and dry rot are not to be taken lightly and should be a major concern in Portland. Some of our largest repair jobs are the result of improperly flashed deck attachments and improper window installation. It costs soooo much less to do it right the first time than it does to come back and fix a disaster. The handyman from down the street, or the contractor who operates out of his mobile office (pickup truck with a ladder) may have a lower bid, but are you qualified to check his work and make sure his weatherization efforts are up to par?

Rich and Cindy Sutherland’s home had been sided with cedar lap siding. The original siding contractor decided to stretch the reveal so he could cover more area with less material. This is a very common cause of cedar siding failure in Portland. Every time a storm with driving rain came to Portland the Sutherlands would get a leak in their window and into the garage ceiling below. Needless to say, Rich and Cindy were concerned. They called a roofing contractor who told them their roof was shot and his solution was to have them spend $12,000 on a new roof. A new roof was installed and the following year, the exact same leak came back! The roofer did not know what to do about it so he referred them to 1st Oregon Exteriors.

1st Oregon’s AAMA Certified Window Expert, Peter Morin and I went out to the Sutherland’s home. Upon inspection, we determined that the reveal of the siding was stretched, meaning the boards didn’t overlap enough. Those siding boards overlap for several reasons. First, gravity won’t let water flow uphill, but if the overlap is too small, wind will blow it uphill and over the top of a siding board into your wall. Second, the proper overlap gives the siding the strength it needs to act as a system. The top edge is narrow and it needs the rigidity and strength of the next layer on top of it to keep it from warping and coming loose.

Simply put, if the siding were put on correctly, his long-term leak issue would stop. The product we recommended was a rustic cedar style Hardiplank siding. A fiber cement product that will do really well handling the southwest exposed front on the Sutherland’s home.

Today as you view the Sutherland’s home, the windows and the deck are all weatherized into the wall. All of the roof-to-wall areas are also properly weatherized. Everything has been done to the manufacturer’s recommended pattern so that their materials warranty will transfer to the Sutherlands.

In addition, the entire weather wall is covered by Portland’s only Transferable Lifetime Workmanship Warranty. Just one of many exclusives found only at 1st Oregon Exteriors. We can help you when you call us at 503-925-0124 or request a free estimate using our online form.

When a housing sub-division is developed and built, a lot of attention goes into planning the general layout. The plot lines, general public services, school districts, transportation and of course: location, location, location. These are of the utmost importance because that is what tends to attract the buyers. As a general rule, a sub-division of homes tends to have an overall pleasant appearance but the individual homes lack the uniqueness that most of us really want. That’s where 1st Oregon Exteriors comes in. If you live in the greater Portland Area and have a desire to improve your home’s curb appeal, making it unique, we have some amazing ideas for you that can really add some curb appeal to your home. Let’s talk!

Here is a homeowner that we have had the privilege of serving:

The Shelton’s wanted to remove their leaking EIFS type siding (synthetic stucco). Fixing the dry rot that often develops behind EIFS is just standard procedure. As we talked about all the options to making their home exceptional in their neighborhood, we decided to use stone, beveled cedar siding, custom wood window trim and some really nice garage doors.

Some of the neighbors watched us as we customized the Shelton’s home. One had a beautiful home with a very normal but boring 3-car garage. We consulted and decided that the garage was a prominent and permanent feature of the home, but by adding brick pillar bases and then accenting the arches with clear cedar and Hardi Shingles and blending textures and types ended up giving a really classy upscale welcome to their guests. We balanced the garage entrance enhancements by accenting a large bay window in a similar way. The end result was accepted with smiles of appreciation and sense of uniqueness. It was tasteful and fun to come home to. Oh yes, the guests will love it too!

For twelve years straight, we have done this kind of creative, very fun stuff in Portland. And we have become quite good at it. If you’re thinking that your home could use a little 1St Oregon attention, we can help. Give us a call at 503-925-0124, or request an estimate by filling out our form.

The problem is that wet/dry rot in your walls makes for a really expensive problem to remedy and has the potential to stall a home sale. It is far better to deal with this error prior to a sale. We can help you determine if there is a problem, just call us.

Some people wonder how this could happen when the home is supposed to be inspected as its being built. Here is the answer:

In Portland, there is only one way to put the exterior of your home together to keep Oregon’s weather out, anything short of that is wrong and will fail. In Portland, we get 8 months of moisture. Sometimes it falls straight down, but on occasion it comes in sideways, and because of this the siding, windows and trim on your home need to be put on with that in mind. Every detail must be followed just as spring follows winter.

Without exception, houses with LP (Louisiana Pacific), Weyerhaeuser, or Masonite T-1-11 panels (that your home’s builder chose to put on your home) will fail due to application error.

Here are just a few of the most common application errors:

Too many nails driven past the outer skin of the panel. This allows water absorption and a place for rot to begin. In addition, as the siding begins to swell due to a manufacturing error, the nails sink into the panels even more everywhere. This usually happens on the two weather walls of your home.

Another very common error that will cost a homeowner a bundle is the fact that the framer of the house (not the siding installer) installed the panels. The Framer is paid by the foot to frame the house; not one thought is given to weatherization, moisture, and rot. These T-1-11 panels are an important part of the structure of your home. They double as a shear wall holding your framing straight and true, and also as an exterior siding. That’s how the builder saved money; by paying the framer to do a sider’s job.

You get big mistakes like installing the T-1-11 panels right on top of the window frames. The window frames hold moisture that is quickly soaked up by the panel and thus begins the rotting process. The same is true on any horizontal trim. The siding must not be touching the ledge. If a window has a trim accent, it must be flashed correctly. It is incorrect to caulk the entire top of any horizontal trim, as this doesn’t allow interior moisture to escape the wall as it travels downward. By putting dams at each end of the trim flashing, water will be prevented from going down the corners and entering into the interior window well.

That’s it, those are the biggies that will cost you a bundle, I hope we can help you sooner rather than later

My son and I really liked Bill from his handshake. Our intent was to just meet the neighbors and leave a business card for future help in any of their exterior home projects. Bill told us about his ongoing re-siding project. Time, along with Oregon’s weather had worn out his cedar shingle siding. His current focus was the southwest walls, what we call the “weather walls.” This type and kind of siding is one of the most expensive sidings that you can put on a home, about $1,600-1,800.00 for every 10×10 area. In the remodeling world, an area of that size is called a square.

Bill put us on stand-by, just in case he couldn’t complete the task as he is getting up in age. But, before we left, he had something he wanted me to see. We went into his garage and he showed me a siding shingle that had given its life protecting Bill’s home for 42 years! As you look closely at the siding shingle Bill is proudly holding, you will notice the bottom seven inches are almost completely gone. The next seven inches is the backup row for the exposed row that would be in front of it as it sits on the wall. That bottom edge started out ¼ inch thick before Portland’s wind, rain, sleet and snow whittled it down to nothing.

Some say that a picture is worth a 1,000 words, and in this case Bill’s snapshot stands as a reminder to the rest of the Portland homeowners: Always check the two weather walls on your home, as they will wear out 2-3 times faster than expected.

Let’s face it; most people really don’t care about their exterior siding until it fails, allowing water into the walls of your home. You may discover siding failure when you go to paint your home and you find that you can push your finger right through your siding or trim! And if you have wood windows, Portland’s legendary weather always proves to be too much for the exterior sills and trim.

After you make these discoveries is when you want to figure out what went wrong, or how to make it right.

The really good news is you don’t have to know what happened, or what went wrong. Just call us, and we will look at it for you and give you a solution at absolutely no cost.

If you’re the type of person who would like to know the types and kinds of defective siding here in Portland, Oregon, here is a simple breakdown:

In an effort to replace real cedar siding, at least three companies made Oriented Strand Board or (OSB). They made it out of wood chips and fiber and steam pressed and formed it to look like wood. Between the years 1990 and 2000, thousands of Portland homes were sided with OSB type siding. The most popular siding used in Portland, Oregon was made by L.P. (Louisiana Pacific). It was the first to the market and a lot of builders switch to it from cedar. (It saved them a lot of money and it met the wood siding requirements of the neighborhoods). Right behind L.P. was Weyerhaeuser and Masonite products with very similar products.

All of these products came with a 25-year warrantee, but within 3-5 years, the boards started to swell, absorb water and develop mold and mildew within the boards. All of these types of siding need to be removed and replaced as soon as possible.

The two other types of defective siding you will find in Portland is Masonite’s imitation stucco board. It starts out with a hard outer shell and then quickly softens and begins to rot. 50% of the problem is the product and 50% in due to poor installation. A lot of Tudor style homes built in the last twenty years used this stuff and it is bad news.

Another type of siding in Portland is called EFIS. (Exterior Finish Insulated System). Some call it “Fake Stucco.”

It looks great and you can make some really amazing accents and facades on your home, but when it fails, it will cost you a ton of money to fix or replace. The biggest areas of concern are the window trim accents, transitions between floors, and doorways. They crack out and leak; we have too much water here in Portland for this type of siding.

I hope this information is helpful and I look forward to serving you.

Do you have questions about your siding? Call us, or leave a comment below…

With Oregon’s weather bearing down on the southwest sides of your home’s exterior, something is going to give. And, it doesn’t matter what type of siding you have. It’s a matter of physics. A High-low pressure situation is created by the controlled environment inside your home versus the changing barometer outside. Your home environment creates a siphon for water and air penetration. This means if the caulking, siding, or flashing fails at any of the 100’s of intersections, or a window expands and contracts one too many times, you now have a leak. If you’re lucky, you will see the leak right away and get it fixed, but most leaks will go undetected in your walls and cause a lot of problems. Like mold and mildew to grow and/or dry rot to set in costing you a lot of time, energy, and money. Your best defense is to have your home’s exterior checked every 5 years. To ignore the outside of your home in Portland, Oregon is to make owning a home more expensive than need be.

The two largest repairs that we have remedied in our 12 years of business have both been stucco. One was an EIFS type (imitation stucco) installed incorrectly, the other was traditional stucco installed incorrectly. Both types allowed water to get behind the siding and remained undetected for a period of time resulting in dry rot and fungus inside the walls. Both of these projects were over $130K to fix. Removing and replacing defective siding on most homes will cost about $20-30K, as long as there are no dry rot issues.

Small repairs in your weather walls are a lot less expensive to fix than the above-mentioned projects. Often, it’s a structure such as a dormer that’s allowing water into your home. A dormer is a structure that sticks out of your roof line, usually with a window and it really takes the brunt of the weather. We may just have to take it apart and put it together correctly using components and a skill set not found in the new construction. You may have siding that has a leak, but can’t be detected from an outside ground inspection. The worst thing to do is ignore it. Letting it go just because the rain stopped will end up costing you a lot of money. Contact us if you have concerns about your siding.