Re-siding hereWhat the wall behind it looks like around the valley
Siding fails from the bottom and from behind, and in Cincinnati both are driven by the same thing: water that freezes, thaws, and does it again.
The base course takes the winter
Splash-back off a path or a driveway soaks the bottom course through the winter, and every freeze cycle works that moisture further into whatever is behind it. On the older frame stock that is sheathing and sill plate, and it is the first thing we look at when the siding comes off.
It is also why we take the old course off rather than going over it. Covering a wet base course hides the one part of the wall most likely to be rotten.
Hillside houses get more splash than they should
A house cut into a slope frequently has ground much closer to the siding on the uphill side than anyone intended, and grade that has crept up over the years. Siding held too close to soil wicks moisture continuously and never dries.
Sometimes the fix is regrading rather than siding. We would rather say that at the inspection than fit new material to the same problem.
Mixed walls on the pre-war stock
A lot of the older housing here is brick at the front and frame at the sides and rear, or brick to the first floor and frame above. The transition between the two is a detail rather than an edge, and it is where water gets behind a wall.
Flashing that transition properly is most of what decides whether the new siding lasts. It is also the detail most often skipped, because it is not visible from the street.
Trim, soffit and fascia in a wet market
Under heavy tree cover the fascia and soffit stay damp for long stretches of the year, and they fail well ahead of the siding below them. Replacing the siding and leaving them is a false economy on this stock.
We quote them together because the crew is already set up, and because water entering at a soffit does not care how new the siding underneath is.