A homes appeal depends a great deal on its exterior paint or stain, brick and stonework, siding, trim, and other details -- and its not just the type of finish thats important. Its also how well the job was done. This first-ever collection of Fine Homebuilding magazines most popular articles on the subject provides you with ideas for choosing the correct finishes for exteriors, plus solid how-to information covering everything from building shutters to the much debated use of PVC.

Written by the pros who actually do the work, these articles help you to:

• Create exterior-trim details that last
• Use modern materials that protect historic trim
• Choose the best caulks that are flexible and paintable
• Create an EIFS retrofit for leaky windows
• Match the mortar to the brick
• Learn why housewraps and building papers fail
• Choose the best wood for clapboards

To get the best results when building or remodeling, you need advice from the best professionals in the business. For Pros By Pros books bring together expert designers, builders, and remodeling pros who have written for Fine Homebuilding magazine.

Introduction

1. Exterior Trim
Running Exterior Trim
Building an Ornate Cornice
Exterior-Trim Details That Last

2. Masonry
Synthetic Stucco
Flashing Brick-Veneer Walls
Installing Manufactured-Stone Veneer
Laying up Stone Veneer

3. Sheathing and Siding
Vinyl Siding Done Right
Installing Wood Clapboards
Working with Fiber-Cement Siding
Installing Horizontal Wood Siding
Rain-Screen Walls: A Better Way to Install Siding
Siding with Cedar Shingles

4. Wood Repair and Paint
Restoring Wood with Epoxy
Removing Exterior Paint

Credits

Index

I successfully avoided vinyl siding for the first eight years of my career as a carpenter. By that point, I was pretty good at my job. Not a master by any means, but I could frame roofs, lay out stairs and build custom cabinets. So when the boss asked me to side a new house with vinyl, I did what good carpenters do: I cut the pieces exactly and nailed them up tight. A job well done...or so I thought until a few months later when the summer sun hit the house.

The siding pooched and dimpled like the surface of golf ball. Turns out that vinyl has what's called a high coefficent of expansion, which means it expands and contracts a lot with changes in the weather. You're supposed to cut the pieces a little short and not sink the nails completely. All the vinyl on that house had to be torn off and reinstalled.

Interior trim and finishes have to look good, but that's about it. Outside, it's another story. Exterior work has to look good and withstand the rigors of wind-blown rain, blistering sun and freezing temperatures. It isn't work to be taken lightly -- a lesson I learned the hard way. You'll want good information about how to do things, and that's where this book can help.

Collected here are 15 articles from past issues of Fine Homebuilding magazine. Written by builders from all over the country, these articles represent the hard-won knowledge of professionals who have learned from their mistakes. There's even an article on installing vinyl siding. Wish I'd read that 20 years ago.

Kevin Ireton
editor in chief, Fine Homebuilding

Customer Reviews from Amazon

I have a labor of love that I may never finish but this book set me off on the right path. For novice this book really gives good insight in plain language.

Good review of general principles for installation of many different exterior siding materials, with associated trim moldings to add the professional touch to your project. Very fine examples of specialty work by excellent craftman provides good examples of specific regional methods and styles. Although the publishers promote the theme of "By Pros For Pros" as an amateur who came to the book looking for some specific guidance and clues on better ways to build a mousetrap (so-to-speak) I was not disapointed. Some projects are a bit esoteric and are fine examples of very specific exterior craftsmanship better left as a magaizine article with a reference in a periodic index instead of a chapter in a survey book on exterior finish work.

Still, for my money and time, this publisher and series gets my attention first time everytime.

As i get older i need help to remember how i did things 35 years ago,this book helped a lot!

I gave this book three stars because it is basically a rehash of articles that have appeared in Fine Homebuilding in the past. No wait, it's not a rehash, it's exact copies of articles that have appeared in Fine Homebuilding in the past. Maybe they said that in the description and I just missed it, but as a religious reader of FHB, I felt a little cheated. If you don't read FHB on a regular basis, bump the review up to 4 1/2 stars.
The articles are well written, but if you're looking for a step by step primer on how to start with a bare exterior wall and put up siding, this is not the book for you. What it does do is give you several different contractors thoughts and ideas on how to put up siding.
Some of the information is transferable from one siding type to another, some is not and only applies to the siding being discussed in the article.
In the future, I will only buy Taunton books, specifically the By Pros for Pros series, that are written by a specific author, not one that lists editors.

I picked this up when I was starting to do a cedar lap siding job and I wanted to get some tips. The book is very well written as are all the (For Pros By Pros) series of books seem to be.

It gives you a lot of details on exterior siding but doesn't spend much time talking about the most effecient way to do it. Not many tips for saving time or calculating waste or total material.

I don't regret getting this book, it gave me a starting point. Having moved from hardi-plank I wasn't totally prepared for wood siding with this book.

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