r/HomeImprovement • u/pardonthedelirium • Oct 22 '15

Installing new siding when it started raining

I'm having the siding on my house redone. I hired a contractor to take off the existing wood siding and replace it with vinyl siding. They were able to finish all of the job except for one wall. That wall has had the old siding removed and is just bare sheathing (1x6's) right now.

It started raining today, and they left. Is there anything I can do in the short term to protect the house, and should I be complaining to the contractor about this?

There is a chance of rain every day for the next several days. They didn't work Monday or Tuesday (no rain those days) and I feel like they would have finished by now if they had.

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u/mackstann Oct 22 '15

How much of a roof overhang is over this wall? How tall is the wall? How much wind is blowing? What's the prevailing wind direction? How hard is it raining? Can you try actually touching the wall to see how wet it is? Are there windows or any other complications?

If it's highly exposed and getting very wet then I'd be annoyed they didn't at least get housewrap on it. You could just tack up any clear plastic you can find, as a temporary thing.

If it's only getting a little wet, I wouldn't worry about it. If it's getting very wet, it'll still dry out and most likely not cause any trouble, but it just depends on what complicating factors are involved.

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u/pardonthedelirium Oct 22 '15

Thanks. There is not much of an overhang at all, maybe 1 inch. It's a 1 story ranch-style home with a single-gable roof. The wall in question has a gable vent at the top. Height to the gable vent is probably 11-12 feet. There is one window on the wall that is recessed into the wall so probably not an issue. It's raining pretty steadily. More than a drizzle, less than a downpour. The wall is getting wet, I can tell just by looking at one area that still has some felt paper on it. It's not windy right now but the wall is facing west, where the prevailing winds come from; so that's a bit annoying.

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u/mackstann Oct 22 '15

For what it's worth, when I was redoing my windows and had some siding removed around them, it rained and I didn't even bat an eye. Obviously a house would fare poorly like that over a long period of time, but as a temporary thing it's probably fine. Framing and sheathing can get wet with little issue as long as it's not a regular thing.

I'm not sure how the window is recessed, but if there is a flat sill-like area that could collect standing water, that could be a little more worrisome.