Bungalow Exterior Makeover

Highland Park Bungalow Exterior

A customer contacted me from my ad in the Twin Cities Bungalow Club newsletter about doing an exterior rehab on a bungalow in Highland Park. This was a very exciting project because the owners wanted to do a complete exterior makeover to bring the house back to it's original glory. Like many early 20th century homes, this one had much of it's architectural details obscured by cheap low maintenance exterior cladding. There was aluminum siding on the upper half story, and the stucco below had been painted. The wood soffit, fascia, and trim under the aluminum cladding was in poor condition as well.

First we brought in a stucco contractor to sandblast off the old paint. He then re stuccoed the exterior with a historically accurate finish and tint. We tore off all the aluminum siding and window trim. We were then able to asses the condition of the original siding, soffit and fascia. Much of the original wood tongue and groove soffit had to be rebuilt, we replaced some of the cedar siding and much of the fascia/barge boards as well. We were able to replicate some of the original moulding details that had been torn off when the aluminum siding was installed. Since this house had lead paint on the exterior, an EPA certified painting contractor prepped, primed and painted the exterior in some nice period colors. We also installed new wood storm doors and some nice period hardware such as doorbell buttons, mail slot and light fixtures. The end result is a complete exterior make over, returning this house to the style and class of the early 20th Century.