whats your prefrence? I like weathered. but it would depend upon type of wood. lots of non painted or stained board & batten cypress houses in my area 100 years old. but cypress is getting rare, folks tear down for just salvaged lumber. my house was originally board & batten. battens removed in 70's & asbestos tiles installed. this house had 8,700 cfm of air infiltration when I first tested it with my blower door. numerous cases of caulk & years of diagnostic experience later, I'm to the point of needing to add fresh air intake to my whole house dehumidifier if I do more air sealing. my point is that if I were to do board & batten today.. it wold be with foam sheating under the board next to studs. board caulked together..battens caulked to board. air leakage is an expensive thing. cheap to address when putting together..pita to retrofit. the things you learn! hows it going Snidley? whats happning at your place these days? I'm hoping OP comes back with pics. there is a lot a competent carpenter can do on fixing up houses. with the right guidence this could be a success. have a good weekend everyone.

We are just finishing a remodeling job on a "blower upper" house we bought in 1992. The original cost was $110,000. With this remodel and all the other work we have put into it, we have put an addition $200,000 into it. That includes roofing, concrete floor in garage, rewiring, carpet, deck on back, garage door, replace all plumbing, central air conditioning, built in custom book shelves, kitchen redo, and now adding 400 square feet, new windows, siding, and redoing both bathrooms. The point is you can make as much out of remodeling as you want. If you are going to live there for awhile, you just bite the bullet and do it. If you wanted to buy this and flip it, I think you need to keep looking. There is way too much to do to get your money back.

After I moved in here, I noticed the bad moldy smell coming from the AC. I had it off, while visiting with the kiddos in New Mexico, and it stank, when I turned the AC on, upon return. After a check under the house, I realized, how nasty wet it was under there. It had rained, the night before I left. Prior to me buying this house, we were in a drought, it hadn't rained in AGES! The return ducts are under the house. They are still there. I bought a new heating system with all new duct work in the attic (had it installed). The old ducts are just there. Will never be used again, but are a pain in the butt, when you have to go under the house for anything, as the ducts have to be crawled around to get anywhere. Of course, when I found the problems, I taped the return air duct opening shut to keep the smell out. They don't look to pretty... LOL, actually they look nasty from the outside too. I am removing them, and sealing up the openings forever. There are 4 total. One down, three to go. Moni PS, I only bought a new heater and air ducts at this time. The air-conditioner is still there, and hooked to the new unit. I will replace it, when it needs it, or at least after I recover from the expense of the house and all so far.

My husband and I are fixing up a house and are focused more on the interior right now but I am starting to think about the exterior. We replaced the roof over the main part of the house but not the carport yet. I would love to know what siding/shutter/front door color combination you think would be best. We plan on replacing the siding. Thanks for any suggestions :)