House Molt, Part II (a continuation of June 17th)

The exterior of our house is sided with wide redwood planks. This siding sheds its paint every few years - a reptilian-like molt - probably because the house was built without a moisture barrier applied to the inside. Whenever the peeling starts, we help it along by scraping and re-painting in manageable doses, one side of the house at a time. 

We just finished the third side.  One more to go.

If my dreamiest remodel dream were to come true (fat chance), this scarred old siding would be torn off by hired help (another fat chance) and replaced with fiber cement board in a natural woodsy color, or at least something other than sterile white that screams, “Suburbia!  Suburbia! SUBURBIA!”  I can picture this in my mind’s eye: classy cultured stone applied to the bump-out porch area, and a cedar-look siding everywhere else.

As it is, we remain grateful for what we have and keep scraping and painting, scraping and painting.

Our neighbor was here when this house was built in 1961.  She says during that era it was unfashionable to leave redwood natural (a travesty, to be sure), so it was painted boring white and has stayed that way ever since. Painting a darker color at this stage of the game would only invite exposure of white underneath come molting season…so I guess it will remain white at our own hands.