The Teasel Sheathing Guild · Woldham · a workers’ cooperative, est. 2016
A house wears its walls for forty years. We take a week and get it right.
Fiber-cement lap, hung quiet
5/16" board at a true 7-1/4" exposure, blind-nailed to the maker’s gauge over a taped barrier and a 10 mm rain-screen, joints struck at 3/16" and sealed. One flat rate, discussed below, with nothing on top of it — the co-op does not employ anyone whose job is a margin.
Rain-screen & wrap, standard not extra
The barrier lapped shingle-style and taped at every seam, flashings integrated at every opening, and ten millimetres of drained air behind the board — included in the printed rate because a wall without them is a wall we would have to come back to, and the co-op cannot afford the second visit any more than you can.
How the Guild works
The cooperative terms
The rate is $9.40 a square foot, hung complete — tear-off, wrap, rain-screen, trim, seal and the twice-walked punch included. Seven members split the work and the proceeds equally; nobody earns a commission and nobody presses for a signature. Ring the hall, book the measure, and think as long as the weather allows.
guild@teaselsheathing.example · Woldham · Tue–Sat
Visit one
The unhurried measure
Walls measured flat, openings counted, exposures matched or chosen, and the printed rate applied to real numbers. We leave the sheet with you and take no deposit — the co-op is not built to pressure anyone.
Days 1–2
Open & wrap
Tear-off a wall at a time, sheathing repaired where the years got in, then barrier, tape and flashings. The house is watertight before finish siding starts, and every night until the last board.
Days 3–7
Hang & trim
Lap to gauge with the rain-screen behind it, corners and casings as the walls rise, soffit and fascia to close. Seven hangers, one standard, and the gauge card belongs to all of us.
Day 8
Seal & walk
Joints sealed, the sweep run, and the punch list walked together — you get the same magnet we do. The ten-year paper files in your name the same week.
The Guild calendar
A week, start to walk
Eight working days for a typical whole house, written on one sheet before day one. The calendar holds because the crew that starts your wall is the crew that finishes it — all seven of us, or it does not count as a Guild job.
The wall book — six Guild walls around Woldham, photographed at the walk, none of them styled. The co-op keeps the book in the hall; the hall is open Thursday evenings, and the kettle is on.
They measured on a Tuesday, left the sheet, and told us to think about it — no deposit, no follow-up call scripted to close. We thought about it for two weeks and then rang the hall. The wall is straight, the paperwork names all seven of them, and I have never enjoyed writing a cheque more.
Thursdays, over tea
Questions the hall hears
The four that come up every week. Anything else, ring the hall — the phone is answered by whoever is nearest, and all seven of us hang walls for a living.
How can the rate be flat with no sales staff?
Because nobody is paid to persuade you. The seven of us split the work and the proceeds equally, the rate is printed, and the measure costs the co-op an afternoon. Cooperatives are slow to start and cheap to run — the price is where that shows up.
Who actually hangs my wall?
All seven of us, in the combinations the calendar needs — never a subcontractor, never a crew you did not meet. The ten-year warranty is signed by every member because every member may be under it.
What if I need to wait a season?
Then you wait, and the sheet we left you holds. The measure does not expire the way a quote does — the rate changes when the board price changes, and never otherwise. Deposits exist to make waiting feel expensive; we do not take them.
Why a rain-screen on every wall?
Because water defeats lap siding eventually, and what defeats a wall is rarely the board — it is what the water did behind it. The gap costs the co-op a day and saves the wall a decade. Standard, not an option, on every job we accept.
The hall measures Thursdays and Saturdays · one printed rate, no deposits · (555) 025-8842 · guild@teaselsheathing.example
Ring the hall
Tell us the house and the street. The measure is free, the unhurried kind, and the printed rate travels with it — (555) 025-8842 or guild@teaselsheathing.example. Thursdays the kettle is on and the wall book is out.