Replacing siding

>>1159252
Do you want to keep the heat in correctly the cool out?
If you want to keep the heat in I'd recommend against having the insulation stuck on the vapor barrier as it will lead to condensation eventually. Presuming you will stay with something like aluminium which doesn't let moisture out.

>>1159351
Autocorrect blaablaablaa.

Do you want to keep the heat in OR the cool out?

>>1159252
For the miniscule extra cost of new J moulding it would be foolish to try and reuse what you have,and probably look like shit as well.
You said you replaced the windows, new replacements should already have J channel molded in.
Don't be a tight ass and just buy new corners as well. It won't look so half asked when it's done.
Now is also the time to think about soffits, facia boards, and guttering.
Don't forget to use a quality wrap, and flash around all doors and windows with ice shield.
Good luck

OP here

>>1159395
my (lazy, not cheap) plan was to replace just the siding pieces and not even touch the trim pieces (MAYBE paint them)
like start with the smallest part of the house, take out the siding, check if everything is ok underneath and either put some flat pieces of insulation and then siding over it (plastic, I don't want to deal with metal) or directly put the siding with the insulation stuck to them
Gutters/soffits are fine, fascia boards look ok, I'll probably try to replace them though

>>1159351
both
I live in MD
hot, humid summers, cold, dry winters

what's a vapor barrier?
the house was built in 84 and from what I've seen, from outside going in, I have:
aluminum siding
some sort of particle board
wool insulation
drywall

>>1159481
Vapor barrier would be another name for house wrap or Tyvek a shearing that goes on the exterior of your walls to keep water off your osb wall.

>>1159503
yeah ... I don't have that
one more reason to redo my siding

now that I thing about it ... how bad/easy/convenient/complicated would it be to take out the siding, put the moisture barrier and some insulation over the particle board and put the siding back?

this way everything looks the way it used to but the house is better insulated and I don't have to deal with measuring, cutting, making sure I bought enough etc etc

>>1159503

No...house wrap like Tyvek goes on the cold side of the wall, vapor barrier (completely different material) goes on the warm side...

>>1159528
ok ...

>>1159528
Agreed.

OP read this before changing anything

https://buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-106-understanding-vapor-barriers

>>1159481
The thing with vapor is that when it reaches the dew point it will condensate. The insulation will obviously be cool on the outside and warm on the inside and a gradient in between.
If you have insulation and then any non-breathing material on the outside of the insulation the condensating vapor will wet the insulation. Therefore with thick insulation you need to keep the warm and humid air in the house and can't let it into the insulation as it will condensate inside the insulation.
In your old setup there is no vapor barrier as the insulation is probably thin enough to have any possible condensation dry out because there will be moving air inside it and especially on the surface thanks to convection. It keeps the wall dry and all is good! But if you add an extra layer of insulation that touches an extremely well conducting material like aluminium there is a big risk that the vapor will travel by diffusion all the way to the outer shell and condensate on the aluminium. As there is no convection without an air gap it can become wet and problems might arise. It all depends on your climate.

An extra feature is that with a vapor barrier on the inside you light run into trouble in the summer if you use AC as the situation is the same as with the insulated aluminium, the moist warm air will travel from the outside and condensate on the outside of the vapor barrier. Again problems might appear. This is what happens here where I live as we have a short summer so everything is built for winter. But nowadays people have heat pumps and this can cool in the summer. Which means potential mold problems in the insulation...
It's tradeoffs and need consideration. It's easy if your insulation is thin as the (expensive) heat will keep the walls dry in the winter and vice versa in the summer.

>>1159481
>>1159770
Oh, and as a side note, MD doesn't really tell me anything.

>>1159771
north of Baltimore
like I said, hot/humid in the summer, cold/dry in winter - basically, the worst of both worlds
so, what if I don't use any moisture barrier, just solid foam insulation?
that will be just as porous (or more) compared to all the other layers on my house ...

>>1159784
foam insulation is a vapor barrier, you'll get condensation on it during the winter.

Don't replace it, do stucco instead

>>1159784
I know the theory behind this shit as I'm building here close to the polar circle. But for recommendations I'd ask a professional. To find a good one can sometimes be tricky as there are lots of badly built houses up north that have mold.
>>1159788
It depends on where the moisture is. If the vapor can't find its way to the dew point shit is good. The dew point is the essential point, vapor is a gas and it won't support micro-organisms but liquid (condensated) water is another story.

>>1159789
don't tempt me!

>>1159528
>posts on DIY
>doesnt offer help
>tells lies on the internet
>is a shitposter

Then get out?

>>1159816
dealing with these kind of people is probably the price you have to pay for free advice

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>>1159481
Baltimore fag commenting, what community are you in, your best bet is to redo the whole thing in vinyl, and scrap all the aluminum. That little flat styrofoam insulation is worthless in my opinion. Oh and watch this movie, its why you have aluminum siding.

>>1160609
Now that I'm thinking about it, you probably only have one ladder, no scaffolding or pump jacks. Go to the roofing supply center like ABC Supply or The Roofing Center in Golden Ring and look for a truck that has people in uniform and call the number on the truck or get a card.

>>1160609
The Styrofoam backing provides 5 or 10r, right? And some additional waterproofing?

>>1160637
more like 1 to 2

>>1160609

Vinyl sucks too. Degrades with UV and expands a ton in heat. Which is the main reason for all those god awful pastel colours, reflecting as much sunlight as possible.

>>1160821
I don't think we're gonna talk him into hardie plank or cedar hon

>>1161063
>hardie plank

http://structuretech1.com/james-hardie-vs-lp-smartside/

>>1159526

Which side is the warm side?

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>>1161063

I don't think the plaster idea is all that bad.

It's relatively common here. Although obviously it's not normal plaster, I think it starts with concrete and is finished with crepi or special silicone based plasters.

>>1159481
The best thing for you to do is to redo it all at once, its better. That way you can actually look at the corners of your house and see if you have proper housewrap or if you have any problems. Get down to bare, inspect and foam/insulate into any protrusions and around windows and doors, patch anything that needs patching, howsewrap/tape and put up siding. Its maryland so you will probably have mold under everything anyways.