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Old Reston Home Gets a New Look - By Eden Schneider, Observer Staff Writer
When Vernon and Kathy Joyner bought their single-family house in old Reston a year and a half ago, they knew they would need to do some exterior renovation to bring a fresh look to their 21-year old Glade Drive home.
But the Joyners said they never expected the dramatic change they saw after they had the old wood siding removed and replaced it with a new fiber-cement siding product.
"It looks like a different house now," said Kathy Joyner. "We were on vacation when they were finishing and when we came back and pulled into the driveway, we couldn't believe how new it looked."
The Joyners are the first family in Reston to replace the community's original wood siding with a new product made of 90 per cent cement and 10 per cent wood fiber and sand.
The finished effect looks like Reston's originally mandated wood siding, but wears longer and is guaranteed against insect and water damage according to Steve Ginsberg, owner of Preferred Siding in Herndon. Preferred Siding is the local distributor of the James Hardie brand fiber-cement product used on the Joyner's home.
"This is a great product because it has the look of wood, but it won't burn, it isn't affected by water, and it holds paint well," said Ginsberg. "It's what we call‘dimensionally stable,' which means that it will last a lifetime essentially."
Reston's bylaws prohibit the use of vinyl or aluminum siding in certain areas of the 40-year-old community, but some homes with the original wood siding have suffered from mildew, rot, and woodpecker damage. Ginsberg said the fiber-cement siding offers a good alternative covering because it resists chips and dents from impact like thrown stones and does not warp, crack, or rot like wood siding.
Additionally, a single coat of paint over the primer is guaranteed to last for 15 years and most siding is guaranteed for 50 years.
The Joyners discovered the fiber-cement siding option when Ginsberg made a presentation to Reston's Maintenance and Revitalization Committee earlier this year and after several meetings, they decided to make their home the first in Reston with the product.
"We knew, when we bought the house, that we would need to repaint the outside at some point," said Kathy Joyner, "but when we heard about this option, it made more sense. "It was more expensive than if we had just painted, but now we feel like we know the bones of the house."
Ginsberg says his company does not overlay the new fiber-cement siding over the existing siding, but instead removes all the old wood, checks for and replaces damaged or rotted wood, and applies a moisture and air barrier before nailing the new siding to the house.
"They could have just hammered up the new siding and we would have never known," said Kathy Joyner, "but what made the expense worthwhile was that every bit of the work was true craftsmanship."
The Joyner's home, which was originally sided in vertical wood board and batten, was refinished in fiber-cement horizontal lap siding. The re-siding process took about eight weeks from discussion stage to the final coat of paint, but the Joyners feel it was worth the time and money.
"For us, I think the most positive thing about this choice is that the outside now reflects the inside. That everything has been brought up to date but it still fits, into the overall community," said Kathy Joyner.
James Hardie fiber-cement siding is available in a variety of styles and colors. For more information, call Preferred Siding at (703) 318.1865 or go online at www.preferredsiding.com.
Copyright © 2002 The Herndon Publishing Company
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