Tribune Top 10 Pella Platinum Certified Contractors
A Pella Platinum Certified Contractor is a contractor who has a long standing history as a partner with Pella, and who displays exemplary business acumen.
Home Siding with Character
Choosing a color isn’t the only way to boost your home’s curb appeal. You can add style to your home in a three-dimensional way with texture. Turns out the roughness or smoothness of your home siding can draw focus tactilely.
When you clad your home with James Hardie® siding and trim, you have texture options in a variety of products. Each offer the same high-performance durability and protection but with a wide range of looks and textures. From smooth to Select Cedarmill® to stucco, you can get the effortless look with all the performance benefits of James Hardie siding and trim.
Whether your Midwest home is a Tudor, bungalow, Victorian or ranch, there are plenty of design options to choose from for your next exterior siding project. Here are a few options that may shift your siding perspective:
HardiePlank® lap siding: There’s a reason this siding style is the most popular James Hardie product—it’s design-savvy and timeless. This horizontal siding exhibits the classic look most of us think of when envisioning a home’s exterior siding. If you choose to go this route, you can decide between the smooth, Select Cedarmill, or beaded varieties. You can see the texture of this siding—it resembles actual wood, with the benefits of fiber cement siding.
Cedar Mill
Plank
Evening Blue
HardiePanel® vertical siding: If you’re seeking a more contemporary look for your home, incorporating HardiePanel vertical siding is an option. When selecting your vertical siding, you may decide to clad the entire body of the home in a vertical option, or just a portion of the house. Depending on your taste, you can opt for smooth, Select Cedarmill or stucco texture. These homeowners clad their modern home in smooth HardiePanel vertical siding in Cobble Stone for a clean and interesting look.
Residence in East Canada
HardiePanel smooth, Cobble Stone
HardieShingle® siding: For instant character to any home, add shingles to your siding idea list. You can use shingles sparingly to accentuate a section of the house, or on the entire home’s exterior. With staggered edge HardieShingle siding, the home will exude textured character.
David Weekley, Houston, ColorPlus, Model homes, shingle eave with sail cloth
James Hardie siding, Polaris window and Air Krete Foamsulation in Wheaton
Talk about the comfy-cottage.
This winter of 2016, James Hardie siding, Polaris window and Air Krete Foamsulation full home make-over was completed just in time for the first snow in Wheaton.
The owner is awestruck with the comfort created by the Air Krete Foamsulation and thrilled with the James Hardie look.
Notice the extensive use of LP Smart Trim to make the Evening Blue James Hardie siding absolutely Pop!
Look at the comfy-cottage dormers. Superb detail. This design actually came from the homeowner and we were energized with his creativity.
Nice job Steve.
Schmidt Exteriors is proud to be recognized as a Pella Platinum Certified Contractor
Schmidt Exteriors have been selected to join a very special group of Pella Certified contractors called Platinum Pella Certified Contractors. We we
There are only 8 of Pella Platinum Certified Contractors in the state of Illinois and Schmidt Exteriors is proud to be recognized as one them.
Pella Platinum Certified Contractors are selected and certified by Pella for their window and door expertise.
Contact us today for Free Estimate for your next Pella Windows or/and Doors project.
Re-caulk around the windows
You ask, we answer:
Hi Mike,
We had new windows installed 15 years ago. While the windows are fine, we noticed a draft coming into the house the last two winters. Should we re-caulk around the windows again? What do you is the best way to do the caulking?
Sean,
My favorite exterior caulk is OSI Quad. Big Box stores, at the insistence of professionals, started handling this several years ago. Note: this is an exterior caulk.
On the inside use a high quality Latex Painters’ Caulk. Sometimes interior painters caulk around the edges of the interior trim. This will seal the outside edge seam between the wall and trim. Then caulk the inside edge where the trim meets the window or door frame edge.
Latex caulk is an easy clean with a wet rag. Wipe off the excess. The idea is to fill the crack.
Interior latex caulk comes in many colors, so you can do this to stained wood without harming the appearance
James Hardie Cedarmill Plank Siding in Winfield
This Winfield, split foyer home, with James Hardie Cedarmill Plank siding just rocks.
Before
After
The Timberbark siding color contrasted with the White trim detail is awesome.
Note the new colonial door surround from Fypon. (this could have been easily overdone. The less is more approach really paid
off.)
The black shutters coordinate with the black Owens Corning, Architectural shingle, re-roof zooms the presentation. The smiles of the homeowners really speak a thousand words.
