Would you remove old cladding from a weatherboard?

[JayOh]

We are still working on the purchase of our first IP - contracts have been signed but sweating on finance approval.

In the meantime we're planning the renovations and I'm undecided what to do with the outside. The house is a 2 bed weatherboard. Down one side is board, the front and the other side is permalum cladding from probably the 70s. The rear looks like fibro.

The outside needs a new paint job. The cladding has oxidised and looks rubbish and leaves white stuff all over you when you touch it.

Instead of prepping and painting the cladding I'm tempted to remove the cladding first and then fix and paint the weatherboards underneath.

Hopefully the weatherboards underneath are in good shape.

Has anybody ever done this before? Am I opening a can of worms?

 

[Ocean Architect]

I'm a little bit confused - are you saying that you want to remove the cladding entirely and leave the underlying layer exposed as your new external surface, or are you asking about completely replacing the cladding with new cladding after you paint the weatherboard?

 

[JayOh]

I'm assuming the cladding has been put on over the weatherboard, so if the cladding is removed then there should be weatherboard underneath.

When I was having the building inspection done I asked the inspector to see what he could see. Without pulling anything off its impossible to say what the condition is but he said that when he was under the house he could see that there was weatherboard underneath the cladding.

Once the cladding is removed I'm guessing that there would need to be some work to repair whatever damage was caused by fixing the cladding to the weatherboard. I'd like to fix and paint the weatherboard - no intention of cladding it again.

I'm just hoping the house was clad to avoid the need for regular painting of the woodwork, rather than cladding because the woodwork was in bad condition. The weatherboard on the side that hasn't been clad still looks in reasonable shape, just in need of a good cleanup and paint, so I'm hoping it will be ok under the cladding.

 

[Ocean Architect]

Ah okay. Well, since I'm in the NT and weatherboard alone isn't really ever left exposed, I can't say that I have attempted to do that. I have however done a lot of work replacing cladding with new colorbond sheet metal type products, which look really good, isn't super expensive especially if you do it yourself at less than $20 per square meter and can add a fair bit of value to a tired looking house.

 

[JayOh]

that would certainly make sense in NT

the house is about 90 years old and I was thinking that getting rid of the cladding and painting the timber to restore and preserve the old features would add more value to the house than cladding it in a modern material.

 

[Ocean Architect]

That's a fair call. Have you considered calling a builder to get a "quote" just to see if he thinks it's possible and/or a good idea?

 

[akiwinut]

It really depends on the condition of the paint underneath.
If the paint is in good condition then you can probably get away with cleaning, sanding and then painting.
However if the paint is in poor condition then its a lot more work if you want a good finish. If the paint has lifted, flaky etc then its a lot of work to either strip it back to bare timber or feathering the edges of the existing paint so that it doesn't show after you put the new paint on.

 

[geoffw]

It's not just the condition of the paint. It may have been that some of the weatherboard has been planed down or worse to accommodate the cladding. When I was young my parents had our house classed in brick lookalike stuff, and it would have been a very big job to have made it back into a weatherboard just for the amount of stuff that had been done.

You'd need to strip back some o the cladding to see what it was like underneath.

The option of new cladding could be a fallback.

 

[matto_]

we are in similar position with one of our props. Cladding over weatherboard.

Have done front, sides and rear remaining.

Couple of issues (none you can't overcome):
State of boards underneath, how much work to getback to good condition
Missing boards, need to match with rest,
Windows, etc, presume now aluminum, do you replace with wooden,

When doing front if or prop, had to deal with each of above issues.

Have seem recent u tube clip of putting blue board over top if cladding, then render, another option?

Matto

 

[Sunfish]

'70s cladding would be crap and detracts from the price. [What's the weatherboard like under it?]

With a proper sanding and preparation modern paints last a long time and with another coat along the way will outlast el cheepo cladding anyway.

Test for lead paint, of course.

 

[Jacque]

I believe that weatherboards hold more appeal but you also need to consider the windows, trims and other bits and pieces that will protrude once the cladding is removed. Happy sanding!

 

[JayOh]

the windows and trims and so on look original so hopefully when the panels come off they will all still look ok.

we may have problems at the front though - i've just had another look at the photo and it looks like the roof over the front verandah is attached to the house through the cladding, so this may need to come off.

I'll get a builder to have a look and advise

 

[DaveM]

As others have alluded to, often cladding was put over weatherboards for a reason - usually due to poor condition, rot, lack of maintenance etc.

You may want to consider the cost implications of taking it off, finding a wreck, then having the expense of repair or re-clad.

 

[Honest John]

I agree with most here, cater for worst case scenario then you won't be disappointed or over budget.

70s cladding - asbestos? Had it tested? Very popular back then as it was regarded as the wonder product that we now know to cause cancer. Asbestos wasn't just a fire retardant but also an insulator; factored that in? Also if you are removing the cladding on your neighbours side are you intending to replace with a firewall? Checked your legal position?

Yes, a simple question can lead to a major headache.

Good luck.

 

[Pa1nter]

I have taken cladding off more houses than I can remember.
It was sold by high pressure door to door salesman many years ago.

It is only a baked paint and fades and turns to powder,bit stupid really,paying 10k to never paint again and then ten years down the track it needs painting.
Spiders live behind it with immunity.

The bad points of it are numerous and if it has weatherboards behind I would be pulling it off,

The main problem you will encounter when you take it off is the nails damage some of the weatherboards,these can be fixed with builders bog.
There is likely to be peeling lead based paint as well,but that's a different story.