Siding & Exterior Painting in Wells Branch, Austin, TX (March 2024)

Why did this Wells Branch home need new siding?

The old cladding had reached the end of its run. Central Texas is brutal on exterior wood: 100-degree summers, sudden hail, and months of cedar pollen working into every seam.

What pushed this job forward was what sat underneath. This home carried two separate layers of siding, one added over the other by a past owner. That kind of stacked setup traps moisture and hides rot, and it never lets a new coat of paint sit flat.

• Double layer of existing siding across the exterior
• Age-related wear typical of 1990s-era Wells Branch homes
• Seams and joints breaking down under repeated heat and hail cycles

What did the crew find during tear-off?

Pulling the siding is where the real story of a house shows up. Once both layers came down, we could inspect the sheathing and framing directly instead of guessing from the outside.

A double-layer tear-off is slower and messier than a single strip, but it is the only honest way to do the work. Skipping it and siding over the top would have locked in whatever was failing beneath. We hauled everything off, cleaned the walls down to a solid substrate, and set the home up for a proper install. That prep is exactly what most homeowners never see and what makes the difference years down the road.

What materials did we use, and why?

We went with James Hardie Select Cedar Mill in an 8.25-inch profile. Fiber cement handles Austin's swings between blistering heat and hard storms far better than wood or older composites.

The Cedar Mill texture gives you a real wood-grain face without the rot, warping, or pest problems that come with actual cedar. The boards arrived primed, which set up cleanly for paint.

• James Hardie Select Cedar Mill boards in 8.25-inch lap width
• Primed Select Cedar Mill delivered through ABC Supply
• Fiber cement chosen for resistance to hail impact and limestone-driven ground movement
• Wood-grain finish that suits the neighborhood's established look

How did the painting come together?

Painting followed once the siding was installed and settled. Our crew coated the home in Sherwin Williams SuperPaint for a durable, UV-ready finish.

We carried the color across every exterior surface so nothing looked patched together. The garage doors and entry doors were painted to match the fields.

• Full siding fields coated with Sherwin Williams SuperPaint
• Garage doors painted for a unified front elevation
• Entry doors finished to match the body color
• Paint seals the primed Hardie boards against cedar pollen and driving rain

What were the results?

The home now has a fresh, cohesive exterior that reads as one clean color from the roofline to the foundation. The new fiber cement is built to hold up through Austin's harshest seasons.

• Two old layers removed and replaced with a single durable system
• Consistent finish across siding, garage, and doors
• Two full punch and yard-clean passes before we called it done
• Permits pulled and closed out with the job wrapped Apr 12, 2024