Construction & Contractors Blog
Siding goes on the outside of your home, so hearing that you need to prepare the inside sounds very strange at first. It's actually a real thing; when you have siding installed, you need to protect the inside of your home just as you need to protect the landscaping on the outside. Siding installation involves repeatedly ripping off old siding and then nailing in new siding — with several nails per piece of siding. All that work on the outside creates enough of a ruckus on the inside that you need to prepare everything in there to keep it in good shape. The effort is worth it, though, as the new siding will look wonderful once the work is complete.
Better Safe Than Sorry
The removal of old siding, repairs of any damage discovered, nailing-on of new siding, and potential repairs to window frames and corners mean the sides of your home will experience a lot of vibration over several days. That can transfer through walls and insulation to the interior of your home and cause things to fall off shelves. Pieces of furniture against the wall may shake and fall as well, depending on their placement and how sturdy they were to begin with.
As part of your pre-installation preparation, remove items from shelves on the wall, and if possible, remove the shelves themselves. You don't have to remove brackets installed in the wall, but if the shelves are loose boards sitting in brackets, take the shelves off and place them somewhere where they can't fall down. Move furniture away from walls if the furniture hasn't been attached to wall studs, and take down pictures and paintings.
You may even consider moving more fragile items out of your house for a couple of weeks. Artwork, knickknacks that you can't bear to lose, and small tables can easily sit in an inexpensive storage unit while your home undergoes siding installation. This may make the process sound a lot worse than it is; many people leave their belongings in their homes and have no issues. But this is a case of better safe than sorry.
Installing Siding Before Other Items Is Best
If you're renovating your home completely and also installing new windows, gutters, and so on, do the siding first. It will be a lot easier to successfully install everything else once the work of, and those vibrations from, installing the siding are over with.
Installing new siding is a major undertaking, so speak with the contractor handling the work about everything that you need to do to prepare. If you follow instructions, you'll have a much easier time getting everything back into shape after the work is done. For more information on siding installation, contact a professional near you.
Share25 July 2023
