You wrote pressure washed and got rid of all of that 'dead' gray wood to the point it looked yellow again and sanded after that (obviously) then went at it with the primer and paint after it was totally dry. I have found that after pressure washing wood, which is highly frowned on by most painters, what looks to be dry is no where near dry. I learned a trick that works great or invest a few bucks for a moisture gauge. After the siding, deck etc. Has set for a day and looks dry tape a piece of 8mil plastic over a small section sealed very well with a good quality duct tape. Moisture will start to bead on the inside of the poly, when there is no longer beading of water it's ready to paint. For your problem go ahead and invest a few bucks in a electronic moisture gauge. Zinnser is the best primer available however it should be the oil based version of their product line not acrylic latex. Good Luck

I think an architect will be able to give you the visual appearance that you are looking for. Experienced contractors are good to have, but an architect looks at more than how to remove a load-bearing wall--they look at how to make the rooms look as if the load-bearing wall was never there. My brother ended up hiring an architect to design an addition on his house--one that included a family room, mudroom, and an accessible bedroom and bath for a disabled family member. The architect managed to copy the style of the rest of the house, down to the post and beam construction, trim moldings, etc. Once the outside of the addition was painted, you really cannot tell that the house was added on to. The only way you can tell inside is that they couldn't exactly match the wood flooring. Otherwise, the addition looks as if it was always part of the house. The best place to put the addition was right off the dining room--but that would leave the dining room without any windows. So the architect solved that problem by putting french doors from the dining room to the new family room and adding skylights to the family room, so that there is a ton of natural light in the dining room and you really don't notice there are no windows. My brother would have just put a regular doorway with a regular solid door between the two rooms. The architect also suggested adding a second stairway in the addition, and punching through a wall on the second floor (the addition is one story, but the ceiling is vaulted) so that in case the parents needed to get down to the child's bedroom fast, they wouldn't be running to one end of the house to get downstairs and then running the length of the house to get to the child's bedroom in the addition. I think it is the details like that--noticing that a room won't get as much sun and working out a way around that--or realizing that a second stairway is necessary--that you pay the architect for. They are in the business of planning rooms and houses that work and that look good. For what it's worth, my brother and SIL had wanted to buy a house with an accessible bedroom and bath, but found that the houses that were available had made awkward choices in adapting the existing house--an accessible bathroom immediately off the dining room, you had to walk through the accessible bedroom to get from one part of the house to another, the accessible bedroom and bath could only be entered by leaving the house, things like that. If the architect will fit in your budget, I'd say use one.

My first house I owned with my ex-husband had a porch added onto the side of one of the bedrooms, and they left the window in, so it overlooked the new stairs down into the basement. Frankly, it just looked bizarre, and made setting up furniture on that wall very difficult. You don't say what the rooms are going to be where you are "losing" the windows, but if you are concerned about the loss of light, I would recommend "replacing" the window with a tubular skylight in the ceiling over where the windows are gong to be walled over--they add a shocking amount of light, and I love mine. In my kitchen, which had been very dark, now I keep thinking the lights are on when they are not, it's just the tube bringing in the sun. Carla in Sac

zzest, If you ever still peruse this site, I am curious what you decided to do. We have a similar situation where we are totally rehabbing our screened porch to a 3 season room. The current red siding matches the house, but the contractor does not think it can be saved. New red vinyl not an exact match and a premium color to boot. We have a cream garage door, fascia and soffits. I will probably paint the whole house a different color anyway somewhere down the road, but not at this point. Thanks for any input.