Well, it seems like it's been longer than two months since I have posted, but apparently not.  In the meantime, we took a much-needed breather from actually working on the house...and spent that time instead planning working on the house.  Now, I'm not entirely sure that qualifies as a breather, but it's the best we can do at this point! 

So what have we been planning?  Phase Two!  This phase will address some specific Big Issues, plus some aesthetics on the exterior, and hopefully help with our heating bills come next winter.  In this phase, we are planning to: 

1. Completely gut renovate two full bathrooms, one of which is a hall bath upstairs, and one of which is in the future baby's room.  We're not going historically accurate with these or anything, just bringing them up to date, repairing some issues they have, and making them clean, bright, and not eyesores.
2. Replace our roof.  Oh joy.  We already have the contractor and the quote, we're just finalizing some other details before we get on their schedule.   This should start in the next 6 weeks, we hope.  This project also includes new vent fans in the attics (we have two), as well as new gutters and leaders, flashing, etc.
3. Re-side the house.  This is the project I least want to discuss here on the blog, mainly because I don't want to hear from everyone and their brother about what a travesty we are committing.  First off, let me say the following:  we currently have horrid aluminum siding.  It sucks.  We would vastly prefer to replace it with cedar.  Bottom line, though, is that cedar siding costs a little over *double* the cost of replacing the aluminum with vinyl siding.  YOUCH!  On a house this size, the difference is roughly the cost of a really, really nice European luxury sedan.    There is an argument to be made that we should wait until we have the money to just do it "right", but we have decided to go ahead with the vinyl siding, regardless of the screams this is sure to elicit from the houseblogging community.  The main reasons for this decision are money (obviously), expediency--we really need to deal with the siding and the underlying lack of insulation ASAP, and yes, even resale value.  The logic there is that if we strictly adhere to historical correctness, ie: insist on waiting until we can do the cedar, we drastically limit the number of potential homebuyers we could attract some day.  Whereas, with "maintenance free" vinyl siding, we could potentially attract both old house lovers *and* "normal" people who just want the house to look nice and not have to think about painting or maintaining it.  I beg of you, fellow housebloggers, be kind to us if you choose to comment on our decision!   We are sticking with the red color, by the way, even though we're still slightly unsure of what impact that choice might have on potential future buyers.  The fact is, we plan to stay in this house for many, many years to come, so this decision really about what the best balance between what WE want and can accomplish, with only secondary thought to resale someday.  We are also upgrading a lot of the trim options to get an end result that looks less like new construction and more like an old house.  That will help ease our consciences, hopefully.
4. If we still have any money left, some other stuff outdoors.  Ideally, this would include replacing all of our exterior lighting, installing a front path & new (dare I say, safe?) steps to the level of the front path, installing a nice new light pole near those steps, and some other minor things like plantings, etc.
5. Possible additional (huge) project:  replacing windows and exterior doors.  Basically this is expensive, we don't want to mess up our interiors, and did I mention it's expensive?  Nevertheless, we have serious energy loss issues with our windows, as well as cosmetic and operational difficulties with them, so we are still contemplating taking the huge plunge and committing to replacing some or all of our windows.  Arrgh. 

So, that's the story with Phase Two.  As of right now, we are officially on the schedule for the siding/roofing project.  We just have a few final details to decide on (sizes of window trim, corner trim, etc.) and then we're ready to get started.  The contractor was just here and their schedule puts us at about six weeks from the start date.   Wish us luck!  This looks to be a very busy summer.

I can totally understand you not wanting to hear what others might think about y'all's siding decision. But I'm gonna give you my two cents anyway... ;)

1) It's nobody's business but yours. It's your home and your reality. We all do what we have to do and no decision can ever be made in a vacuum. As you pointed out, you have a long list of things to accomplish. There's always give and take involved.

2) IMO, this is a "no damage done" decision. You're not ripping off original siding to install vinyl. You're merely replacing one top skin with another. No damage done. And you're preserving what's underneath. At any point in the future you or a future owner can easily take another course.

So, hold your head high and confident!

BTW, is there wood siding under the aluminum? If so, what kind of condition is it in?

And is there a baby on the way? Did I miss something? If so, congratulations!!!!

Bill

My $.02 - Have you looked into fiber cement? I saw another houseblogger was considering what to reside their house with and fiber cement was more than vinyl, but less than wood (which surprised me). Also, watch the movie Blue Vinyl.

Disclaimer: I put fiber cement on my house and I think it's gor-gee-ous. I like that I may have to paint it again in 10 - 15 years ....it'll be a chance to change the color.