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Sealing siding/sheating to foundation

user-7764336 | Posted in Construction Techniques on May 4, 2021 08:15pm

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!

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  1. florida | May 05, 2021 07:55am | #1

    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.

    1. user-7764336 | May 05, 2021 01:12pm | #2

      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?

  2. florida | May 05, 2021 03:40pm | #3

    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

    1. user-7764336 | May 06, 2021 03:51pm | #4

      Thank you for posting some pictures!

  3. ccwenk | May 07, 2021 11:01am | #5

    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

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