Anacortes Old Town Anacortes Homes and What This Climate Does to Siding
Old Town Anacortes is one of the city's older residential pockets, and the houses there tend to show it in ways newer subdivisions don't — original wood trim details, additions from different decades, and siding that's often been replaced or patched at least once since the home was built. Like the rest of Anacortes, this part of town sits close enough to the water that salt-laden air is a daily condition rather than an occasional event, and it gets its share of wind-driven rain coming off the Salish Sea in the wetter months. Add in mature tree cover on many of these older lots, and you get long stretches where siding stays damp and shaded — the exact conditions that let moss and algae take hold and keep coming back year after year.
None of that is unusual for this part of Skagit County, but it adds up differently on an older home than on new construction. A house that's been standing for decades has usually seen multiple exterior updates, some done to a high standard and some done as quick fixes, and that history matters when we're deciding how to approach a new installation. This page is about siding installation specifically — full re-siding or new siding on an addition — for homes in Old Town Anacortes, and what separates a job that actually holds up in this climate from one that just looks finished on the day the crew packs up.
Why an Older Neighborhood Changes the Installation Job
Siding installation on a newer home is fairly predictable — you're working with known sheathing, a modern water-resistive barrier, and construction details that match current code. Old Town Anacortes homes are a different job before a single new panel goes up. Many were originally sided in wood, then re-sided at some point with whatever material was standard at the time, and it's common to find more than one layer of old material once tear-off starts. Framing and sheathing on a house this age can also have settled or shifted slightly over the decades, which changes how trim and corners need to be detailed to keep everything square and properly flashed.
None of that is a reason to avoid re-siding an older home — it's a reason to do the tear-off and inspection carefully instead of rushing to the new material. We'd rather find a soft spot in the sheathing or a gap in the old flashing during demo, when it's a straightforward fix, than have it surface as a moisture problem a few years after new siding covers it up.
What This Climate Demands From a Siding Installation
Salt Air and Hardware Choices
Being close to the water means fasteners, flashing, and trim hardware are under constant low-grade corrosive pressure, even on days that feel dry. Standard-grade hardware can start showing rust streaking and loosened connections well before it would twenty or thirty miles inland. On an Old Town Anacortes installation, we specify corrosion-resistant fasteners and flashing as the baseline, not an upgrade.
Driving Rain and the Water-Resistive Barrier
Wind-driven rain doesn't run down a wall the way a gentle shower does — it gets forced sideways into panel joints, trim seams, and anywhere flashing isn't lapped correctly. The water-resistive barrier underneath the siding does most of the real work of keeping that water out, and how carefully it's overlapped and taped at every seam and penetration matters more here than which siding product ends up on the outside.
A Moss Season That Rewards Airflow
Shaded, older lots with established trees hold moisture longer after a storm than an open, sun-exposed yard, and that moss season can run for most of the year in this part of Skagit County. Installation detail affects how a wall handles that — proper clearance at the base, correct drainage-plane detailing, and siding that isn't crowded tight against trim all give a wall the chance to actually dry out between wet spells instead of staying damp continuously.
What a Correct James Hardie Installation Actually Involves
Fastening and Spacing
James Hardie publishes specific fastener type, spacing, and placement requirements that vary by product line and exposure category. Following that spec, rather than a generalized approach, is what keeps panels secure through coastal wind and rain and what keeps the manufacturer's warranty intact if something ever needs to be addressed down the road.
Clearances Above Grade and Roofline
Hardie specifies minimum clearance between the bottom of the siding and grade, decks, and roofing. On an older Old Town Anacortes lot, those clearances sometimes have to be corrected during re-siding — landscaping can build up over decades, and a deck or porch added years after the original construction can leave the siding sitting closer to grade or a horizontal surface than it should be.
Flashing and Sealant at Every Penetration
Windows, doors, vents, and anything else that interrupts the siding plane is a place water can get behind the wall if it's flashed or sealed incorrectly. This is the slowest, least visible part of the job, and on an older home it's also where we most often find the previous installation cut corners — flashing that was taped over instead of properly lapped, or sealant used in place of real flashing.
Field-Cut Edges
Every panel cut on site — around a window, at a corner, at the end of a run — needs its cut edge sealed or primed to Hardie's specification before it goes up. Left raw, a cut edge is one of the more common places fiber cement actually takes on water, and it's an easy detail to miss if a crew is moving fast.
Installation Mistakes That Fail Fastest on Older Old Town Homes
| Shortcut | What it looks like on install day | How it shows up later |
|---|---|---|
| Standard fasteners instead of corrosion-resistant hardware | No visible difference at all | Rust streaking and loosened panels within a few years, faster this close to the water |
| Re-siding over unaddressed old flashing or rot | New siding looks clean and finished | Hidden moisture damage surfaces at trim, corners, or lower wall sections |
| Skipped clearance at grade or a later-added deck | Siding appears flush and tidy | Wicking, softness, and paint or finish failure at the lowest courses |
| Panels installed tight against trim with no drainage gap | Looks well-fitted | Trapped moisture, persistent moss regrowth, slower drying after every storm |
| Unsealed field-cut edges | Cuts look clean once painted | Localized swelling or delamination at the cut, especially on shaded walls |
How We Handle an Old Town Anacortes Installation, Step by Step
Site and History Assessment
Before we price anything, we look at how the house is actually exposed — which walls take the most wind and rain, which stay shaded and slow to dry, and what the existing siding and trim tell us about past repairs or shortcuts.
Tear-Off and Sheathing Check
Old siding comes off and the sheathing underneath gets inspected before anything new goes up. On a home this age, that sometimes means removing more than one layer of prior siding material, and we'd rather find and address any rot or soft sheathing at this stage than bury it under new panels.
Weather Barrier Installation
A continuous water-resistive barrier goes on with proper overlap and taped seams at every joint and penetration, before flashing and siding go up over it. This layer is completely hidden once the job is done, but it's doing most of the actual work of keeping wind-driven rain out of the wall.
Siding Installation to Manufacturer Spec
Panels go up following Hardie's fastening, spacing, and clearance requirements as the standard, not as an option to skip under schedule pressure. Field cuts get sealed as they're made.
Final Walkthrough
We walk the finished job with the homeowner, confirm the work matches what was scoped and estimated, and talk through what basic upkeep looks like for a home in this climate and this neighborhood.
Cost and Timeline Factors for an Old Town Anacortes Project
Every estimate is specific to the house, but a handful of factors consistently shape both price and schedule on projects in this neighborhood:
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Square footage and number of stories | More area and height mean more labor and, on taller older homes, more staging and access equipment |
| Trim and architectural detail | Older Old Town homes often have more window and trim detail than newer builds, which adds flashing and cutting work |
| Number of prior siding layers | Removing multiple past installations adds tear-off time before new siding can start |
| Sheathing condition underneath old siding | Rot or water damage found during tear-off adds repair scope before the new water barrier and siding go on |
| Shade and moisture exposure of the lot | Heavily shaded, tree-covered lots often warrant closer attention to drainage and clearance detailing |
| Product line and finish selection | James Hardie offers multiple panel styles, textures, and ColorPlus finishes at different price points |
Weather also affects scheduling more directly here than in more sheltered inland towns — a stretch of wind-driven rain off the water can shut down safe panel handling and staging on days that would otherwise be workable, so we build some flexibility into timelines rather than promising a fixed date a bad weather week is likely to break.
A Checklist for a Correct Installation
Whether you're evaluating our work or getting a second opinion from another contractor, these are reasonable things to confirm before a siding installation is considered finished:
- Fasteners and hardware rated for coastal or marine exposure, not standard-grade material
- Old siding and sheathing fully inspected during tear-off, with any rot or damage addressed before new material goes up
- Documented clearance between the bottom of the siding and grade, decks, and roofing
- Flashing visible and properly lapped at every window, door, and wall penetration before siding covers it
- All field-cut edges sealed or primed, not left raw
- A continuous, properly lapped water-resistive barrier underneath the siding
- Installation that follows the manufacturer's published fastening and spacing spec, not a generalized approach
- A final walkthrough where the contractor explains what was done, not just a final invoice
Why a Crew That Already Works in Old Town Anacortes Matters
Installation quality on paper and installation quality in practice aren't always the same thing, and the gap shows up fastest on an older home in a demanding coastal climate. A crew that regularly works on Old Town Anacortes houses has already seen how these homes were built, what past re-siding jobs in this neighborhood tend to get wrong, and which corners genuinely can't be cut given how much salt air, rain, and shade this part of town actually sees. That's judgment that comes from doing this work repeatedly on homes like these, not from applying a generic installation checklist the same way everywhere in Skagit County.
If you're planning new siding for an Old Town Anacortes home, or want a straightforward second opinion on whether an existing installation was done correctly, we're glad to take a look. Reach out using the form below for a free, no-pressure estimate.