Don’t let this innocent face fool you. Puppy + small chihuahua teeth + insane amount of energy = chewed house. Reebs doesn’t chew the usual dog fare – shoes, bones, toys and so on.  Reebs is a true renovation dog – she likes to chew walls, wallpaper, insulation and siding. Yes, siding.

Now admittedly, the siding on the back of house by the deck wasn’t in the best of condition when we bought the house. It had already began to rot and tear away in some places.  So, in actuality, Reebs just sped the removal process along by chewing the siding off the house. And she made a good start on the underlying insulation too. Especially in the house.

When we replaced the old back door, we had to remove part of the walls, floor and subfloor to repair the rot and damage. We haven’t quite got around to covering the wall back up – so many projects, so little time yada, yada, yada. Since we moved the dog detention area from the dining room to the kitchen, Reebs has been going to town chewing on the walls.  She has completely chewed through the wall insulation from the inside, and with her siding project on the outside, she is well on her way to making her own little dog door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, this weekend, it was our priority to get the siding replaced. A couple of months ago, we bought some heavily discounted hardi-plank siding off Craigslist, in anticipation of this very project. So, we already had the materials and tools to hand.  The original siding came off with little problems. A few measurements, cuts and screws later, the replacement siding was up. 

It is not an exact match to the original siding, but it is a whole lot better looking than the half-chewed, half-rotting debacle that was there before. And hopefully, seeing as the new siding is hardi-plank, Reebs will not be able to chew through this stuff so easily! When in the yard, she’ll just have to amuse herself by chewing on some more bats, bugs and moles…

Tags: bats, bugs, Craigslist, Demo, doors, flooring, siding, Yard