Gina’s farmhouse, new siding from the studs out
A 1920s Sugar Land farmhouse stripped to the studs, sheathed, insulated and re-sided in Hardie siding and trim, with its sagging porch rebuilt straight. Gina rents the house to families in town for cancer treatment. Its inside was already done; the outside was peeling lap siding, a rotted porch beam and a shed rotting at the base. We repaired the shed framing and re-sided it to match, and Gina’s own painter and window company came in behind us.
Gina’s farmhouse in Sugar Land has a story before it has a scope. It was built in the 1920s, and as the family tells it, the whole house was picked up and moved here about fifty years ago, then set down turned around, so the original back of the house now faces the street. Today it is a short term rental with a purpose: it hosts families who come to Houston for cancer treatment. The inside had already been refinished. The outside had not. When we started in May 2025 the original wood lap siding was weathered and peeling on every wall, the long front porch was sagging badly, and the detached shed was rotting along its base. Gina wanted a full exterior refinish, with new sheathing and insulation throughout while the walls were open.
We stripped the old siding down to the original studs and shiplap on every elevation. Underneath we found a badly deteriorated sill and stud bottoms sitting on the stem wall, and we shored them with pressure treated blocking before anything closed back up. We sheathed every wall in new OSB over the original framing, wrapped the house, and set new batt insulation through the open walls. Some of the openings were already boarded when we arrived. Gina had her own window company lined up to come in after us, so we trimmed the openings and left them ready for the new units.
The porch got a rebuild of its own. Whoever built it had carried the beam across more than sixty feet on just four posts, sixteen foot spans that a beam that size was never going to hold, and it showed. We pulled the old round columns, sistered a new beam alongside the rotted porch beam, set new square posts, and hung a new plywood ceiling with recessed lights. When we were done the porch line ran perfectly straight across the whole sixty-plus feet. Out back we stripped the shed to its studs, replaced every rotted base plate and stud that needed it with treated lumber, sheathed the inside in OSB, put the pegboard and shelves back, and wrapped and re-sided it to match the house.
James Hardie lap siding and Hardie trim went up primed across the house and shed, with new corner boards, window trim, vented soffit, fascia and round gable vents, plus gutters, downspouts and lattice skirting around the pier and beam base. We handled the small electrical for the new exterior lighting, and CenterPoint disconnected and reconnected the meter so the new siding could go on behind it. Two black barn sconces now flank the front door and a lantern lights the side door. Gina’s own painter and window company came in behind us, so our last photos show the house freshly painted white by her painter, with a few openings still boarded. The finished front elevation is coming.
Scope of work
- Old lap siding stripped to the studs, every elevation
- Rotted sill and stud bottoms shored with treated blocking
- New OSB sheathing, house wrap and insulation throughout
- Porch: sagging 60+ foot beam line straightened on new posts, sistered beam, plywood ceiling, recessed lights
- Shed: rotted base plates and studs replaced, fully re-sided
- James Hardie lap siding and Hardie trim, soffit, fascia, gable vents
- Gutters, downspouts, lattice skirting
- Exterior lighting; CenterPoint disconnect and reconnect for the meter
Service: Hardie Siding Repair
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