Replace Old Wood Siding With New Cement Fiber Ones?

[Daffy D]

The MIL house has the traditional village type house on concrete posts with the upper part covered with wood siding that have seen better days and really need replacing.

I'm looking at fiber cement replacements that would need no maintenance like these http://www.mahaphant.com/en/our-products/Fiber-Cement-Board-Siding.jsp?prdid=26 but am concerned about the overall weight, will the present structure take it?

I realize there are many variables such as original foundations and strength of the supporting posts but has anyone done it? Did the house collapse?

At the moment I'm in just the thinking stage and haven't done any research so any info on the subject to see if it's practical to pursue the thought would be welcome.

[Crossy]

The Maphant site states the density of the Shera products to be around 1300 kg/m³. By comparison Teak is 500-700 kg/m³, Mai Daeng is 950-1250 kg/m³.

So the Shera appears rather heavier. That said, the Shera siding is a lot thinner than the natural stuff so all in all it's probably going to end up only slightly heavier than the existing siding.

Why not pick up a sample of what you intend using and compare it side by side with the existing?

[Kwasaki]

You would probably find that the old wood sidings are heavier than fiber cement ones, they are a good very low maintenance product.

No problem with replacing to original structure just check for soundness of the old structure, it can easily be reinforce cheaply if required, use stainless screws.

You can sell the old wood sidings aswell after removal.

[Daffy D]

Two replies and two opinions.

I have no idea what the type of wood is but it's very thin and tinder dry and appears to be fairly lightweight.

As "Crossy" suggests best get a sample of the Shera and take a sample strip from the house, compare the weights and multiply the difference by total area and see what we get.

The problem with these old houses is the horizontal rain just seems to go straight through the slightest opening, and there are many, especially round the windows and then runs down the inside of the walls.

I guess this is why most of them have the upper floor jutting out over the ground floor, so the water running down the inside of the upstairs walls still drips outside.

I'm surprised no one seems to have done this "upgrade" as most of these style houses have this leaking problem, well round here anyway.

Or you've done it and the house collapsed and too embarrassed to talk about it.

[Kwasaki]

If like you say it is a typical Thai construction with concrete posts and there is no sign of subsidence I would find it hard to believe you couldn't just replace the old sidings with the material you want.

If you posted a picture of areas inside and outside, type of construction structure the sidings are fixed to when you take one of the sidings off.

By just looking at it, I could tell you if the structure is OK or what you need to do.

[Daffy D]

This is the kind of house I'm talking about

Update the windows and replace the wood sidings with new fibre cement Shera ones

Edited June 17, 2012 by Daffy D

[Kwasaki]

This is the kind of house I'm talking about

Update the windows and replace the wood sidings with new fibre cement Shera ones

After a close look at the first picture, as I have already said have a look at all the wooden columns to see if there is any sign of subsidence.

The uprights on the existing vertical are set at good centre from the picture.

Frankly !! Myself would have no worries about replacing them with the modern product and new windows.

It would make such a great improvement I would have to put brickwork to all the outside columns if not all and put new bargeboards at least if the roof was still OK but any replacement roofing would be a personal decision.

brick-column.bmp

Edited June 19, 2012 by Kwasaki