Sealing siding/sheating to foundation
I have a slab on grade foundation built in 1972. It has aluminum siding with what seems to be some sort of fiberboard sheathing that doesn’t take much to crumble. I was doing some yard work and noticed the siding pulling away from the house. You can see in the 1st picture, the aluminum siding and the 2nd picture I can stick my hand under the siding and into the stud bay. Obviously, this makes my house very drafty, it also brings a huge concern for pests. We seem to have a never ending stream of ants in the spring summer which we try to treat but never win.
With all prices across the board at all-time highs – is there any temporary way to seal this? I saw a few videos where they use liquid flash to seal the sheathing to the foundation. Is is possible to remove the bottom few rows of aluminum siding, put a new OSB that is stiffer and extends to the concrete foundation, then liquid flash the new sheathing to the foundation?
I realize OSB is like 4x-5x what it normally is – we were saving to do an entire new envelope with Zip-R but that isn’t feasible until market prices drop. I figured I could buy 1/10 of the sheathing just by sealing the bottom row and re-using the aluminum siding if I can pull it off without bending it too much…
Any help is appreciated!
Replies
On my own house, I removed the bottom piece because it had been so badly damaged by weed eaters that it looked terrible. I coated the bottom 6 inches of sheathing and the top inch of the foundation then installed 1 X 12" Pvc trim with a Z flashing on the top. It looks much better than the siding and isn't damaged by weed eaters.
Thats really interesting - do you have any pictures by chance?
Also - what did you coat the bottom of the sheathing and foundation with? Liquid flash?
Yes, I don't remember the brand but that's what it was. I actually caulked the seams first.
Use the same size trim board as the siding you remove. As you can see I have vinyl siding but the band board makes it look much nicer.
Also, you can buy a siding unzipper called an MR2 from most places that sell siding
https://www.amazon.com/Removal-Installation-Non-Slip-Damaging-One-Piece/dp/B08HVYJXLT/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=MR2+siding+tool&qid=1620243749&sr=8-14
Thank you for posting some pictures!
Other trim options for close to the ground are Boral and MgO board. You can seal from sheathing to foundation with liquid apply or some tapes. Siga makes some. I think they require priming both surfaces. https://sigatapes.com/ for in the US