Re-siding in Pitt County's seat
Greenville is the county seat and the largest city of Pitt County, a county of 656 square miles whose history goes back to 1760. Somewhere in it is your house, with four walls of cladding you want to repair, repaint or replace. This page stays with those walls: how to size up the job on your own, what to ask the companies who come out to price it, and how to tell whether their numbers describe the same work.
Your own walk-around comes first
Before the first estimator pulls into the driveway, spend twenty minutes outside with a notepad and a phone. You will follow their pitch more easily, and you will notice whether they looked at the same spots you did.
- Corners and ends. Check where panels or boards meet the corner trim. Open gaps, curled ends and missing caulk are common early failures.
- Below the windows. Streaks running down from the lower corners of a window often mean water is reaching behind the trim.
- The lowest course. Press the bottom boards with a thumb. Softness there usually comes from splashback, soil touching the wall or a gutter that spills over.
- Next to each downspout. The strip of wall beside a downspout takes more water than almost any other part of the house.
- Indoors. Bubbled paint, a damp patch of drywall or a musty closet on an outside wall is worth telling every bidder about.
Photograph each problem and write down which side of the house it is on. That list is the first draft of your scope.
Repair, one wall, or the whole house
Not every siding problem calls for a full re-side. A few cracked panels after a storm, a band of rotted boards near the ground, or one elevation that has faded far more than the rest can sometimes be handled as a repair. Put three questions to each company: can the damaged area be fixed on its own, can they match the existing product and color, and at what point would they advise replacing a whole wall instead? A company that recommends tearing off everything should be able to show you what led it there.
Four claddings, four kinds of upkeep
Each material asks something different of you over the years:
- Vinyl is usually the lowest price up front and needs no paint. It has to hang loosely on its nails so it can slide as it warms and cools, and it can crack if struck hard on a cold day.
- Fiber cement resists rot and insects and holds paint for a long stretch. It is heavy, cutting it raises silica dust the crew must control, and every cut end needs sealing.
- Engineered wood is lighter and easy to work, and it relies on painted, sealed edges and good clearance above soil, decks and roofs.
- Wood lap or shingle can be mended a piece at a time, and it wants paint or stain on a schedule you can keep up with.
Ask for the maker's installation instructions for whichever product you lean toward, and ask the crew to follow them as written. Many product warranties depend on it.
Behind the cladding, from the studs out
Siding sheds most rain, not all of it. Some water always slips past, and the layers underneath decide whether it drains away or soaks in. Ask every bidder to explain, in plain words:
1. Sheathing. What happens to soft or damaged boards once the old siding comes off, and the unit price per sheet. 2. Water-resistive barrier. Which product, how the upper courses lap over the lower ones, and which seams get taped. 3. Flashing. At the head of every window and door, at the base of the wall, and a kick-out wherever a roof edge stops against a sidewall. 4. Drainage space. Whether a rainscreen gap or drainable wrap is included, and what adding one would cost. 5. Penetrations. Mounting blocks for lights, hose bibs, vents and meters, rather than a bead of caulk alone.
Weather, described plainly
NOAA's engineering weather set has no station near Greenville, so no local weather figures appear on this page. In general, any wall has to hold up to wind-driven rain in storms, to sun that heats and fades the side facing it, and to moisture that lingers on shaded walls. Ask each bidder how their fastening plan deals with wind, how they treat your sunniest wall, and what helps the shady side dry out between rains.
The $40,000 line and city permits
The North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors says that by law a general contractor must hold a state license when the total cost of a project is $40,000 or more, and the board's website has a public license search. Ask every bidder: what state license, if any, covers this job, and what is the number? Look that number up on the board's search and check that the name on the record matches the name on the contract.
Ask, too, which City of Greenville permits the job needs, who applies for them, and whether an inspection follows. Ask for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation, and call your own insurer if you are unsure what to request.
One local fact, about drinking water
This one concerns the tap, not the walls. Greenville Utilities Commission pumps Tar River water into a 63-million-gallon impoundment basin, where it sits for five days while solids settle out before coagulation and the rest of treatment. Three deep wells with a combined 2.0 million gallons a day supplement the river.
Lining up two or three bids
Bids only compare when they price the same scope. Hand each company your photo list and ask each to write out:
- tear-off and disposal of the old siding, or an overlay, and the reason for the choice;
- the product, profile, thickness or grade, and color;
- barrier, flashing and any drainage layer;
- corner boards, window and door casings, soffit and fascia;
- the unit price for sheathing repair;
- permits, cleanup, dumpster placement and a start and finish window;
- the product warranty and the installer's workmanship warranty, both in writing.
Set the bids next to each other. When one total sits far below the rest, look for the line it left out.