Stoughton siding contractors are working on houses built before house wrap, before plywood sheathing, and in some cases before anyone thought about a drainage plane at all. Take the siding off a Stoughton home and you frequently find original clapboard nailed straight to the studs. What goes back on matters less than what goes behind it.
Four things that turn up on the older stock and change the scope of the job.
Siding on studs
On the oldest Stoughton houses the original clapboard was nailed directly to the studs with no sheathing behind it. There is no structural panel and no drainage plane — the siding was the whole wall. Re-siding one of these means adding sheathing and wrap, which is real work and a real line item.
Pre-1978 rule
Federal rules require contractors disturbing painted surfaces on pre-1978 homes to follow lead-safe work practices and hold the relevant certification. Most of Stoughton’s housing stock predates 1978 by decades. Ask any contractor you are considering to show you their certification — it is a fair question and the answer tells you a lot.
What makes the house
Corner boards, window casings, frieze and water table on a Stoughton home are part of why it looks right. Replacing them with stock profiles is the fastest way to make a century home look wrong, and it is the most common complaint we hear about a previous contractor.
What has been added since
Original wood, then asbestos-cement or insulbrick in the fifties, then aluminum or vinyl in the eighties. Some of those middle layers need specific handling. We identify what is there before quoting rather than after opening the wall.
Full re-sides, partial replacement, and the repair work that’s usually hiding behind the old siding.
The widest range of trim profiles for matching original detail, and the most durable option in this climate.
Real wood texture, good profile options, and lighter than fiber cement on an old wall.
Where the house calls for it and the budget allows, matching original reveal and exposure.
On houses built without either. This is the part that actually protects the wall.
Corner boards, casings, frieze and water table matched rather than substituted.
Required on pre-1978 homes. Ask any contractor for their certification, including us.
Ranges run above a newer subdivision because these houses need work a 2005 build does not — sheathing, a drainage plane, lead-safe practice and trim replication. A materially cheaper quote is usually a quote that skipped one of them.
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On the oldest Stoughton houses, yes. Original clapboard was often nailed directly to the studs — the siding was the wall. It is not a defect so much as how houses were built then. Re-siding is the moment to add sheathing and a drainage plane, and it is a genuine line item rather than an upsell.
If your home was built before 1978 and the work will disturb painted surfaces, federal rules require the contractor to follow lead-safe work practices and hold the relevant certification. Most of Stoughton’s housing stock is well before 1978. Ask any contractor you are considering to show you theirs — including us. A company that gets cagey about that question is telling you something.
That is most of the work on a Stoughton siding job. Corner boards, window casings, frieze and water table can be replicated in fiber cement or engineered wood rather than replaced with stock profiles. Substituting stock trim is the fastest way to make a well-built century home look wrong, and it is what we most often hear complaints about from previous work.
Frequently more than one layer. Original wood, sometimes a mid-century product over it, then the aluminum. Some intermediate materials need specific handling, which is why we identify what is there before quoting rather than discovering it after the wall is open.
Because these houses need work a 2005 build does not — adding sheathing, adding a drainage plane, lead-safe practice, and replicating trim rather than buying it off a shelf. If a quote on a century home matches a quote on a subdivision house, ask which of those four it left out.
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