HammerZone.com - Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement Articles - Electrical, Plumbing, Kitchen, Bath, Workshop, Roofing, Siding, Windows, Doors And More.

Spring 2013

Backyard Projects:

Build a small gate for a backyard fence.

Building A Small Gate For A Backyard Fence

A 3-foot wide gate with a diagonal cross-brace is easy to build and hang.

Building An 8-Foot Wide Gate

I needed a gate big enough to drive a car through, so I built this long gate and used heavy-duty hinges to support the weight.

Building A Basic Fence From Pre-Made Sections

We built a fence to make a dog kennel, leaving gaps between the pickets so the critters could see their surroundings (and bark at everything).

Fence with extension made from lattice panels.

Extending A Privacy Fence With
Wood Lattice Panels

When a solid 6-foot fence isn't high enough, extend the fence with tight-pattern lattice set into custom-made frames.

Also See: Index of Yard/Outdoor Articles

Basic Roof Replacement: A Small Garage

Working by myself, it only took a few hours to peel off the shingles from each side of this detached garage and apply tar paper. In this article I share some tips for shingle disposal and keeping the debris under control.

Installing 3-Tab Asphalt Roof Shingles:

Nailing down 3-tab roof shingles is easy, but there are some tricks to guarantee that the rows look straight and uniform.

Peak Details & Ridge Cap Shingles

To ensure a professional-looking roofing job, some special attention was given to the last few rows of shingles, before the ridge cap shingles were nailed down.

Ridge cap shingles and zinc anti-mildew strips on a new roof.

Also See: Index of Roofing Articles

Fiber Cement Siding Project:

Replacing Wood Siding With HardiPlank®
Fiber Cement Siding:
- An Overview -

Replacing the old wood siding wasn't the question... the issue was what type of new siding to use.

New wood siding is authentic but expensive and requires frequent maintenance. Vinyl siding was out of the question. Fiber cement siding gave us the clean lines of real wood without the hassle and expense of repainting every 5 to 8 years.

New fiber cement siding on an old house.

Part 1 -
Removing Old Wood Siding

To provide a clean, smooth base for foam insulation and new siding, we removed all the old wood clapboards.

Part 2 -
Wall Prep For New Fiber Cement Siding

When changing exterior siding, there is an opportunity to add more insulation. We added 1/2 inch thick rigid foam, which barely changed the thickness of the wall.

Old house with sheets of new foam insulation on outside wall.

Traditional water table trim at bottom of outside wall.

Part 3 -
Building Traditional Water Table Trim With Cellular PVC Lumber

While replacing the siding, we decided to rebuild the "water table" trim with low-maintenance PVC trimboards.

Part 4 -
Installing Fiber Cement Siding

HardiPlank® fiber cement siding goes up quickly when fastened with a coil roofing nail gun. We cut the siding with a special dust-collecting saw, but other tools also work well.

We even cut boards with a special wavy pattern to match the century-old original siding design.