Connecticut Homeowner Wins a “Build Bold” Exterior Home Makeover
Karen O’Leary lives in a quiet, little Connecticut town called Guilford, located on the Long Island Sound. While the town boasts beautiful, old houses, historic landmarks and a thriving downtown district, O’Leary’s 50-year-old home was lacking in character. The house’s exterior was a bland mix of aluminum and vinyl siding that resulted from additions and updates over the years.
So, with the hope of winning an exterior makeover for her home, O’Leary entered the Royal Building Products’ “Build Bold” contest on the Today’s Homeowner website. Her submission essay, which described how she would give her home the “Build Bold” treatment, won O’Leary her choice of Royal Building Products siding, trim, shutters and accessories, valued at $25,000.
The makeover was featured in a recent episode of Today’s Homeowner with Danny Lipford, an Emmy-nominated, nationally syndicated home improvement show. During the week of filming, professionals from Royal Building Products gave the home a brand-new exterior, while Today’s Homeowner host, Danny Lipford, and co-host Allen Lyle helped O’Leary with some DIY projects around the house.
Removing the Old Siding
Before the new siding could be installed, the crew from Royal, led by Neil Velasquez, removed the existing siding and trim. During the removal process, the crew discovered water damage in a couple of places on the second story, so they cut out all of the rotten wood and made the necessary repairs. Then, the old aluminum siding was hauled off to be recycled.
As each section was uncovered, the Royal team tacked up house wrap over the bare wood to protect it and prepare for the siding to come. They used Tyvek HomeWrap to help keep air and water out while letting water vapor escape, which prevents rot and mold inside walls and improves the home’s energy efficiency.
Installing the New Siding
O’Leary used Royal’s HomePlay to explore different siding options and colors on her home. To make her home’s exterior stand out, she decided on deep-blue Wedgewood siding with white shutters and trim.
Installation began with some extra-wide corner boards, the soffit and fascia pieces, as well as J-channel flashing around the house to hide the vinyl’s cut edges. Then, the Royal crew made quick work of installing the panels of siding. When nailing the panels to the walls, they made sure not to drive the fasteners all the way down, as that would cause the siding to bow out as it expanded, giving the wall a wavy appearance.
The crew wrapped all of the windows with metal before installing a crown molding detail above each one to add some character. Finally, the addition of white shutters against the deep-blue siding created the bold contrast that O’Leary envisioned.
