If you love the way your older home looks, an exterior remodel need not be a dramatic before and after story. Let’s take a look at how to replace and update most of a home’s exterior while retaining its original style.

The Glendale, MO home before the exterior remodel.

This Glendale, MO ranch home, built in 1960, was showing some wear and tear around the edges. There were some water leak issues on parts of the roof, water damage to the original Masonite lap siding on the gable ends, and it was time to update the original aluminum windows. Since the homeowners needed to address these maintenance issues, they asked Mosby Building Arts to also look into making some design modifications.

During the remodel, the front is half complete.

What if they were to add another dormer to the front of the home and gain another room in the attic? The Mosby architect drew up plans and 3D illustrations to show the house with a more symmetrical front facade, which they loved. But there was the practical thought of how much extra space do they need when the children have grown and moved out?

After considering all of their options, it was decided the best value was to concentrate on updating the exterior with all new roofing, siding and windows. And because they truly loved the look of their home, it would look essentially the same upon completion, save for new paint colors and materials that would last through the next few decades.

After the remodel, with all new windows, siding, roof and colors.

All of the windows were the original aluminum frames from 1960. Except for the 3 year old kitchen replacement window, all windows were removed and new Mosby V Class Series vinyl windows were installed, with tan frames on the exterior, white frames for interior.

For the front and rear dormer windows (one shown above right), Glendale codes required a form of egress, so a new configuration of window with an egress panel slightly changes the look. And the front porch gable window goes from the original half moon shape to a round version.

Before the exterior remodel, the rear of the home revealed a roof and gutters in need of replacing.

The roof and gutter system were overdue for an overhaul. Because of the abundant foliage and tree around their home, they decided on a 5″ Leafguard gutter system with 3×4 downspouts.

During construction, new windows are installed, and house wrap goes down before the new siding, new plywood roof deck and CertainTeed shingles.

Because there were water leaks issues in the valleys of the roof, Mosby peeled off the roof to the original plywood decking and corrected the flashing issues that caused leaks and water damage to some of the siding below. Because the old sheathing was too thin for the new roof to come, Mosby added another layer of plywood before installing the new roof, which is a CertainTeed Landmark 30-year asphalt architectural shingle in the color Driftwood.

The rear facade of the home after the exterior remodel.

A few new doors were part of the work scope, including the black patio door from Provia (above), and a steel insulated overhead garage door, in tan, for the attached garage in the rear of the home.

The end gables of the home really showed the original siding’s water damage.

Possibly the most noticeable change to the home is the new siding. The original Masonite siding and soffits were failing from water damage. The Mosby siding crew removed all siding, corrected any water damage, laid down housewrap and proper flashing, and installed new factory primed Smooth Lap 7 1/4″ fiber cement siding.

The home’s paint colors were changed slightly, to give it a more earthy but tailored feel. Mosby painters primed and painted the fiber cement siding  a wicker color, and the trim pieces painted a slightly darker color to match the new gutters, for a seamless look.

After the remodel, everything is pristine with new fiber cement siding, soffit, fascia and gutter system. And where did the electrical go to?

Compare the after photo, above, with its before photo and note that the electrical lines and boxes are missing. All of the homes exterior electric lines are now underground. While this makes the home look neat and clean, it also has a practical application in a tree-laden community where storms bringing down limbs can cause outage problems.

You can see the homes subtle cosmetic changes by studying the before and after photos; what can’t be captured in a photo is the peace of mind that comes from a completely updated exterior. All of the changes are covered by both the manufacturers materials warranty and Mosby’s standard 10-year workmanship warranty. Best of all, their home is healthy and low-maintenance for decades to come.

Let the Mosby Build Arts design-build team update your home. See a gallery of some of their exterior design projects. To get started, call the Mosby office at 314.909.1800 or contact them here.