I’ve been blown away lately by the lack of knowledge some of Seattle Siding’s potential customers have shown in the way they treat their exterior building projects.  All projects have a natural progression that allows them to flow efficiently.  When that progression is reversed or jumbled things can go backwards.  For instance I’ve run into some home owners that have hired a window replacement company, had their windows replaced and then when their new windows in start looking at new Seattle siding.  Maybe its not obvious to the average home owner but if you plan to install replacement windows and seattle siding they should be done together.  This will insure the windows and their flashings are correctly integrated for durable waterproof system.  It’s also an advantage to have one contractor install both the replacement windows and the seattle siding for one main reason.  If you have a problem down the road with the building exterior you won’t have to try and figure out which contractor screwed up;  the Seattle Replacement Window contractor or the Seattle siding contractor since it will be one in the same.  That’s why we offer window installation as part of our Seattle siding services.  We know that penetrations in the building envelope are the most critical areas and require the most care when it comes to the weather tightness of a building.  

It may not be possible to always perform both activities at the same time due to budget constraints.  However, there are methods that can be implemented to plan ahead while installing replacement windows to allow for a future seattle siding replacement that will properly tie into the penetration flashings around the windows or visa versa.  Before you hire a contractor that just wants to sell you a product give us a call.  We will work within the constraints of your budget and align the right products and methods to fit your project and pocket book.  Let us keep your project in drive and out of reverse.

Synapse Construction recently completed the Seattle siding for the newly remodeled Lakeside school shell house.  The Ceraclad rain screen system was used for this Seattle siding project.  The rain- screen design coupled with the durability of the Ceraclad siding material will keep this building’s exterior looking great for decades to come with little to no maintenance.  Please click here to view more pictures of this project.

Synapse Construction-Seattle Siding strives to be an asset to its customers. We approach each Seattle Siding and window project with enthusiasm and the willingness to earn your business. Our professionalism goes beyond our impeccable Seattle siding and window installation. We are ready to help our clients move their projects to the next level weather its printed on architectural plans or an ethereal idea they haven’t quite pinned down.

Seattle siding and windows starts with design

Synapse Construction was recently contacted by a building owner that wanted to reinvent his buildings 50 year old facade to be relevant and appealing for the next 50 years. After meeting with the building owner it was clear that this project would be design build. After a short interview and collecting some key building details we set out to come up with a siding and window design that would bring the building owners Seattle siding and window ideas to life.

Seattle Siding and Windows – A picture is worth 1000 words

Because of our ability to come up with preliminary designs as part of our Seattle siding and window replacement proposal the owner was able to more clearly articulate his vision refining the scope of work. This translated into lower design cost for the owner when it came time to solicit design and permit services from an architectural firm. This is just another example of Synapse Construction – Seattle siding, going the extra mile to provide superior affordable service to earn our clients business.

This is a video of how windows get tested.  In this video they do not isolate the window so they are testing the installation. Sometimes it is necessary to isolate the window to establish it meets its advertised thresholds. Synapse Construction – Seattle siding and windows offers third party verification and testing to all of our clients. In Seattle, siding and windows need to be installed with the correct details to ensure building envelope performance.

Seattle siding, rain-screen is not 1 size fits all.

Hopefully you’ve read my earlier post – “Siding Seattle – rain-screen 101” and have a basic understanding of Seattle siding rain-screen systems.  For this post I will get a little more in depth regarding the different types of rain-screen Seattle siding.  For the purpose of this post we’ll assume the drain plane to be vertical battens that the Seattle siding will be fastened to.  There are basically 2 different Seattle siding rain screen systems that can be employed.  They are: closed rain screen siding,  open joint rain screen siding.

Once a closed rain-screen Seattle siding job is done it doesn’t look any different than a traditional siding job.  The difference of course is there is a drain plane behind the Seattle siding and plenty of venting to allow the wall to dry out if and when water gets behind the siding.

An open joint rain screen is a Seattle siding system comprised of  planks or panels where there are open joints between courses.  You can actually see behind the Seattle siding to the weather resistant barrier (wrb).  As you have probably guessed the wrb in an open joint rain-screen needs to be very robust as there will be water present whenever there is precipitation.  The wrb is also exposed to the sun and needs to be stable under ultra violet light exposure.  Right now there’s only a few wrb products on the market that claim they are UV stable and appropriate for open joint Seattle siding rain screens.  The product we use for this application is Vaproshield. It comes in black and needs to be doubled up where the open joints occur to protect from the UV light.  In practice this requires a double layer of the wrb when using narrow planks for your open joint Seattle siding rain-screen and secondary strips at joint locations when using wide panels for your open joint rain-screen.  The battens also need to be appropriate for water contact and stable under UV exposure.

Open or closed Seattle siding, rain-screens make sense.

Both of the rain-screen Seattle siding systems written about here are the same in that they both employ a drain plane to keep the wall dry.  The closed joint rain-screen looks no different from a traditional Seattle siding project but open joint rain-screens are strikingly different.  The open joints add shadow lines and depth that add real aesthetic interest.  In my next post on this subject I will discuss how the various systems on the building need to be integrated into an effective rain-screen Seattle siding system.