Service Area · Downtown & The Ward
Siding in Downtown & The Ward
Gable ends, dormers, porch ceilings and rear additions on the limestone-era housing in Guelph's core, where the siding has to sit correctly against original masonry.
Downtown and The Ward hold Guelph's oldest housing, and most of it is limestone, brick or a mix of the two. The honest starting point for these houses is that the masonry should stay visible. Covering it is expensive, it is usually a mistake, and it is not what we are looking for when we come and look at one of these properties. What these houses do need is siding in the places they already have it, and those places are specific: the gable ends above the brick, dormer faces and dormer cheeks, porch ceilings and porch skirting, bay returns, and the rear frame additions that were built onto these houses decades after the original stone went up. Every one of those areas is small, and every one of them is disproportionately fiddly, because each ends at a masonry line. That junction is the whole job. Siding that dies into brick or stone needs flashing lapped in the correct order and needs to be held off the masonry so the assembly can drain and dry, rather than being caulked tight against it and sealed in. Get it wrong and nothing appears on the siding at all — it turns up later as soft sheathing behind the gable or a stain on an upstairs wall. The porches are the other constant here. Century porch ceilings take weather from below as well as above, the original material is painted wood with many coats on it, and the column bases, beam ends and rafter tails usually want attention at the same time. That is carpentry with siding attached and it should be quoted that way rather than as square feet of panel. One more thing worth raising early: parts of the core are heritage designated or sit inside a conservation district, and changing the exterior appearance of a house there can involve approvals from the City of Guelph. We check that before the work is booked rather than after.
Siding services in Downtown & The Ward
- Vinyl & Insulated Siding
- Fibre Cement & Engineered Wood
- Board & Batten and Vertical Siding
- Soffit, Fascia & Trim
- Siding Repair & Storm Damage
Frequently asked questions
Do you charge more to work outside the city?
Not inside Guelph. For Rockwood, Fergus, Elora, Puslinch, Aberfoyle, Ariss and the rest of the county, travel is built into the quote up front rather than added afterwards, so the number you agree to is the number. Rural jobs are often quoted with the outbuildings included because the mobilisation is already paid for.
Can you do one wall instead of the whole house?
Yes, and plenty of jobs here are exactly that — a wind-damaged elevation, a sun-beaten west wall, a gable end, or the rear addition on an older house. The honest caution is matching: an existing colour that has been on the wall for fifteen years will not match a new panel of the same name, so a single wall is straightforward where it stands alone and harder where it meets an untouched wall at a corner in full view.
Serving Guelph and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.