Siding & exterior renovation · Bellhaven, Marisport & the Cape Verity shore · Since 1994
The coast gets a vote on every wall.
Tidewater hangs fiber-cement lap, engineered wood and cedar along the Cape Verity shore — house-wrapped and tape-sealed, blind-nailed to the manufacturer's gauge, flashed at every opening, finished in a thirty-year factory color or a site-sprayed topcoat. Salt air is not a mood here; it is a specification.
412 shore re-sides since 1994 · Hardie- and LP-certified installers · a written five-year labor warranty
The shop
One trade: the envelope
Tidewater does one thing — the skin of the house. We do not roof, we do not sell windows, we do not pressure-wash driveways; we side, we wrap, we flash, we trim, and the crew that starts your wall is the crew that finishes it. On a coast the siding is not decoration — it is the last line of the weather, and we build it like one.
Five years on the labor
The manufacturer covers the board — thirty years, prorated, transferable once. The installation is ours: fastening, flashing, sealing and every caulk joint, re-done free if any of it fails inside five years. Both warranties filed for you the week of the final walk.
Services & rates
The material card
Square-foot rates off last season's finished jobs from Bellhaven to Quill Point, walls measured flat and openings counted. The measure is free and the quote is fixed — tear-off, dumpster, wrap and flashings are inside every number, not added after you sign.
James Hardie lap siding, installed$9.80–12.40 / sq ft
5/16" fiber cement, 8.25" exposure, blind-nailed, ColorPlus factory finish in any current collection color
LP SmartSide, installed$7.20–8.90 / sq ft
Engineered-wood lap or panel, resin-treated strand core, primed, painted two coats on site
Cedar shake & shingle accentsfrom $14 / sq ft
Western red cedar at gables and dormers, stainless fasteners within a mile of the water
Soffit & fascia$11–16 / lin ft
Ventilated or solid fiber-cement or vinyl soffit, aluminum-wrapped fascia, bird- and wasp-blocked
Trim & corner boards$9–14 / lin ft
4/4 and 5/4 fiber-cement casings and corners, butt joints left at 3/16" and sealed
House-wrap & rain-screen package$1.85 / sq ft
WRB lapped shingle-style, fully taped and cap-nailed, integrated flashings, 10 mm batten gap
2025 — 2026
Recent shore work
Six houses from Bellhaven to Quill Point, photographed at the final walk with nothing staged and nothing color-corrected. Fiber cement does not need the help.
How it goes
Three weeks, weather permitting
The same sequence on every job — the only variable is your project.
Days 1–2
Measure & order
Walls measured flat, openings counted, the order placed direct to the distributor against your ColorPlus or paint codes. A fixed quote to the square foot before a single stick is ordered, and lead times in writing, not guessed.
Days 3–5
Tear-off & close-in
Old siding off in sections, sheathing inspected and repaired where the coast got into it, then the wrap: house-wrap lapped shingle-style, seams taped, cap-nailed, integrated flashing at every window and door. The house is watertight before finish siding starts — and every night until the last board.
Days 6–14
Hang & trim
Starter strip set to a laser, blind-nailed on gauge, butt joints left at 3/16" for caulk. Corners, casings and soffit runs follow the walls up; the gauge sheet stays posted at the job box where anyone can read it.
Days 15–17
Caulk & coat
Butt joints and trim sealed, and where the board came primed rather than pre-finished, two site-sprayed coats of the color you chose against a real sample in your own light. ColorPlus needs nothing but a wash-down.
Day 18
The walk
Magnet sweep for stray fasteners, a caulk touch-up kit left with you, and the warranty paperwork filed with the manufacturer the same week — five years on us, thirty on the board, both in your name.
Tidewater in figures
The shore says
Kept on the fridge
Our 1904 cottage had nine layers of siding and no house-wrap at all — the sheathing behind the third layer was pulp. Tidewater tore off, rebuilt the corners, wrapped and taped the whole envelope, and the house has stopped rattling in a nor'easter. Worth every cent and then some.
The February storm took the east wall apart — siding, soffit, two window casings. They photographed everything from the ladder, wrote the scope in the adjuster's own format, and hung Hardie in the original profile the week the check cleared. One conversation, no drama.
Fourteen years on our Hardie and it still reads new — no chalking, no curling, one wash-down a year. When the neighbors ask who did it, the answer has not changed, and the warranty folder still has both signatures in it.
Before you call
Fair questions
The five we get on every first phone call. If yours is not here, the shop line at the bottom of the page runs seven to five, shore-wide.
Hardie or LP — which do I pick?
On the immediate shore, fiber cement, full stop: it does not swell, it does not feed a termite, and the factory finish carries thirty years against chalking. A mile or more inland, LP SmartSide earns its lower price honestly — it cuts and handles like wood, and painted properly it outlives a mortgage too. We quote both and hang both; the house makes the call, not the margin.
Do you take the old siding off?
Almost always. An overlay hides sheathing rot and halves the fastener rating, and the coast finds both. We tear off to bare sheathing, repair what we find, and wrap before anything new goes up. The two or three overlays a year we agree to are a signed, photographed decision by the owner.
What is a rain-screen gap?
Ten millimetres of air between the house-wrap and the siding, held by vertical battens. Water that gets past the siding drains out the bottom and the wall dries from both sides. It is standard practice in the install manual and skipped by half the crews on this coast — walk a job site and ask which half.
Can you match the original clapboard?
Often. The common exposures are still run, and we keep a small rack of reclaimed cedar for the odd profiles. When an honest match is not there, we say so and re-side the full elevation — a patch that reads like a patch is a discount you pay full price for.
How do the warranties work?
Two papers. The manufacturer covers the board and the factory finish — up to thirty years on material, prorated, transferable once. We cover the labor: fastening, flashing, sealing and caulk joints, five years, re-done free. We file the registration for you the week of the walk so neither paper gets lost in a drawer.
Spring booking opens in March · winter measures are free and unhurried · (555) 011-6633 · shop@tidewaterexteriors.example
Measure the house
Street, town, rough age of the walls, and what has been happening to them — storm, rot, or just time. The measure is free and the quote is fixed to the square foot: Hardie, LP, cedar, or "come look and tell us." shop@tidewaterexteriors.example