Front gable uncovered & newly restored window

A week or so ago, I uncovered the front gable.

Nothing makes one appreciate the after photo, like a before photo, also note the unrestored gable window and unattractive plastic shutters which are gone forever now. Black was the original color and I think it makes a nice contrast with the white window frame. More on the window restoration in an upcoming post!

Some closeups and details:

The screen attachment hardware

Found the screen up in the attic, I reattached it for a photo, unfortunate it has a big hole in the lower section, which can be repaired.

The latch that attaches the screen to the bottom of the window sill.

That storm window off to the left goes to another window.

The condition and appearance of the fishscales just after being uncovered. I know I need to glue back that flap that was split by the flashing.

A little background history/info. From paint chips, I have determined that the gables were originally dark green, then grey, then finally white. For some reason, the gray layer from pre-1920 still exists untouched here and wasn't painted white in 1923, which makes me think they added some extra ornamentation to the crown molding to make it appear even bigger, which was in place pre 1920 until 1983 when it was hacked off. Sadly, I never found any historical photos of my house, yet.

The number "18" rudely defacing the top of the window moulding. Any guesses if it has a significance?

Various scribbles and writing, similar writings were found on the west gable.

What is MAX BMU? Correction: Thanks Matt Swabb for pointing out to me it actually says Max B. Mullins (a scrapyard owner nearby, and self titled business) and not MAX BMU 11 ins (inches)

And the date, 2/13/83 which puts this North gable siding job 5 days after the west gable.

Gable without the window sashes.

Beadboard eaves detail, the rest of the aluminum will be removed from the fascia board which has beautiful bead and cove moulding on it.

Fishscale gables!

I started the siding removal by taking off the aluminum siding from the gable and the eaves since it had the easiest reach, the other gables would require a tall ladder! Once the aluminum was removed, the original fishscales, beadboard eaves and bold bead and cove molding were allowed to see the light of day again!.

I found the paint to be nearly perfect on it - considering it was last painted in 1923. (from the history of the house that I had uncovered)

I also discovered upon removing the siding that the woodwork is sadly not original, (the paint shadow shows much more ornate posts) which I had suspected due to the wide grain lumber that it was made out of. That it seems to have gone missing or been replaced at some point.

Along with uncovering the true beauty of the original gables, I also discovered the date the siding was put on February 8, 1983 - this is something that nobody has seen in over 31 years!

The residue is from wasps and other insects finding a home under the siding! When I removed the siding and the "trailerboard" from the eaves, hundreds of dead bugs rained down! Along with cobwebs, maple "twizzlers" and just about every kind of icky debris imagineable!!

Thank goodness I decided to tackle this in February, as I found a few live wasps still living there!! Surviving the winters by living under the siding (ah the joys of siding...) They were too stunned from the sudden exposure to cold to attack me and then slowly died. 

From the paint shadow one can determine that the gables were 3 different colors - dark green, gray and then finally white.


We have 5 different fishscale patterns, rectangular, diamond, teardrop, "puzzlepiece" and square.

Thankfully, the front face of our house (just within the porch) has escaped the nightmare of siding so we know exactly what our crown molding pattern looks like!

So this is what we can hope to expect our home to look like again after we remove the old paint, replace missing architectural elements and repaint!