I'd love to see a photo. Sometimes the pros do know what they're talking about. Sometimes the pros have an interest in talking a client into something to save THEMSELVES money.

Here are several views of if. Unfortunately the guys' trucks were in front so I couldn't get a decent picture of it but I think you'll get the idea. To me, it feels very bottom heavy at this point, almost as though they ran out of siding and just stuck something else on there. (By the way, if money were no object we'd have changed to a gray siding with white trim, but that's not the case so we were working with the exiting white siding).

If it's worth anything the architect had no real reason for thinking the beltline looked good there, he just didn't like it at the halfway point of the window.

It's not horrible, I know, but we don't care for it at all and I'm not sure it's one of those things we'll just forget about a month from now.

Gable over the door will also have the shake-style siding:

The dormer on the side of the house will also be shakes.

I see what you mean but I could live with it.

I see what you mean. I personally think it is far too high. I probably could not live with it LOL but then again, it all depends on the $$$ for remediating the issue.

Have you looked at any pictures of similar type of houses to gain an idea of where you would want it to stop at? Most of the time, the shingls stop where the end of the roof is, below where the window is, but not always.

Hi wi-sailorgirl,

First of all, your remodel looks great. I remember you sharing the plans a few months ago. I bet the new windows on the second story are fantastic. I can imagine all the light.

I have a 1950's cape cod with a similar style. The original wood siding is still intact. Here is a picture of my house. You can see on the front dormers that the shingles stop at the end of the roof but the side of the house is fulling sided. Hope this helps...

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone, and svs128, thanks for posting the picture. I'm so visual that photos help me understand things so much better.

The contractor was pretty irritated about it this morning. I pretty much have washed my hands of it for now and I'm letting my husband deal with it (he's much better at conflict resolution) for now. The contractor threw out a price of $2,500 this morning but that was his "I really don't want to do this price" and not a price based on anything else.

He's working on getting us real numbers and we're going to meet out there tomorrow morning.

I did some crude photoshop work on one of the photos and I really do like it better moved down about three planks.

You know, I agree with you that it is too high.

I also think it would look better only moved down one plank. To my eye, in the photo, I imagine it would line up with the middle of the window that way, and I gravitate to symmetric things like that. (But that's just me, I know!)

Thanks so much for posting--I really needed to hear that part about "don't let yourself be talked into something" today.

You know, la koala, I think that we want to reinforce our decisions that we picked the right architect, builder, etc., so much that we WANT to trust their expertise and their opinion. And in many cases that's a good idea. But the problem arises when your gut is telling you something else and I have a real problem gauging when to listen to the experts and when to listen to my gut. As I grow older I'm getting better at sticking to my guns regardless of what anyone else thinks, but that can be a really difficult thing to do.

Later on today I'll try to post some better Photoshopped versions of it moved down, but we have a meeting with the builder and architect right away this morning so it will probably be decided one way or another by the time I get back here.

Here's a photo with similar siding design, so maybe a little validation of your architect's work? :

{{!gwi}}

Ok, I don't think it looks bad. Frankly I don't really know what my preference would be anyway. If you do it significantly lower I think it would look weird.

The builder may have thrown out the $2500 price to make you go away. However, I don't see this as all that hard to correct if it is really just that 1 gable.

1) the clapboard siding would not have to come off the house unless it has some sort of weird install method, its normally done from the bottom up.

2) the shakes might have to all come off, but generally they are tougher and most likely could be reinstalled.

I would gather it would take 1 person who knew what they were doing less than a day to fix it to whatever you want.

problem is, once you tell them this is where you want it, it is your problem, not an install issue.

I don't think I mind it, but maybe the photo needs to be taken from farther back. I think it looks out of proportion because the photo is so close. I think the halfway point of the widow would look strange, and going to the roof line would look like too much. So I think I'm with you on the three planks issue, but I don't think it would be worth $2500 to me. But again, I don't have to look at it every day, so that's a tough call to make.

Here's where we're at with it. We're having them do the back side at the lower level (makes you wish they had started with the back instead of the front, huh?) and while they do it they are going to play around with different ways to redo the front, then come up with a realistic price for us (he admitted the 2500 was a "ballpark given on a bad day") and we'll decide from there. We're suffering from so many cost overruns in this project that it's very hard to stomach extra costs. In the meantime, we're living with it to see if it grows on us (so far it hasn't). It just frustrates me that this is something I never should have let happen in the first place.

Here are two photoshopped versions of the first photo that show different heights for the shingles. My preference is the second one, but I like both more than what's existing.

I agree it's too high now. The architects in my family would have well-thought out reasoning behind their opinions, I can only say it just looks wrong! I think I'd look at ending the shingles about where the bottom of the dormer hits the roof... horizontally does that correspond to either of your photoshopped pics?

Without seeing the corner of the house and that relationship, I agree the last pic is most pleasing...

Yep, that last one is about where it lines up with the dormer on the side. My husband had the same thought. Still waiting to get a final number on what it's going to cost to fix it ...

I like what the builder did as opposed to the two photoshop photos, but I'm not familiar with the style.

Can somebody tell me why there's a transition at all? Is it a tradition or does it mark a structural boundary or something else?

Catman, are you asking why there are two different kinds of siding or why there is a beltline?

In our case there are two different kinds of siding for two reasons: 1.) We wanted to break up the large expanse of a very tall gable, and 2.) It's almost impossible to find 8-inch wide vinyl lapboard siding these days, so matching new siding to the old would have been nearly impossible, so switching siding helped solve that problem.

I also just really like the shake look a lot and feel that working some of them into the design helps the cottage feel of the house.

As for the beltline, I can't give you a reason for that except to say that I've never seen two different sidings used on a house without something to separate them, and I think it would look pretty funny without it.

I see now. When I look at the pic and the photoshopped versions I don't get pulled one way or the other. But I grew up surrounded by asbestos shingled houses and I've always liked the look. So adding that element is something I may have wanted too. I think you'll have a handsome house no matter which way it goes.

My wife and I are just starting a remodel of a small rowhouse. Already we're surprised at how little the architect asks us what we want. We've had to insist on meetings to find out what he's doing. It's not what I expected.