A 1908 house getting its siding, trim and cottage look back

The 1908 yellow house at 910 W Anderson is getting a proper wood-siding restoration and a cottage makeover; a shared irrigation well will serve it and 922 W Anderson.

The goal is sound and sealed, not smooth: keep the laps open, seal every hole in the board faces, and keep wood well clear of the soil.

Rules

• Never caulk the horizontal laps. They are the only drainage and drying path. Cut out the continuous caulk bead already run under the boards.
• Caulk the vertical butt joints, the trim, the casings and the corner boards.
• Scrape loose paint back to tight edges. Remove grey weathered wood. Wash, dry, and spot-prime bare wood within about two weeks.
• Lead paint is assumed: wet-scrape, keep plastic under the work, and sand only with HEPA dust extraction.

Fillers by size

Water table (rebuild at the base)

• Remove the hacked remnant entirely. Probe the sill and borate-treat it (Bora-Care or Timbor) while it's open.
• Put peel-and-stick or felt on the sill face, tucked up behind the lowest clapboard course.
• 5/4 cedar face board with a PVC cap sloped 15° or more. Drip kerf ⅜" in from the front edge, ¼" deep. Back-prime all six faces.
• Z-flashing from behind the siding, lapping over the cap.
• Lap the board down about 1" past the joint where the sill meets the concrete. Leave the bottom edge uncaulked.
• Nail into the studs and sill with stainless or hot-dip galvanized nails.

Grade and termites

• Keep at least 6" between soil and wood. Slope the soil away about 6" over the first 10 ft. Keep the brick edging, pavers and mulch from building back up against the wall.
• Check the exposed foundation for mud tubes. To test whether termites are still active, break a tube and look again in a week.
• Consider a termite inspection or preventive bait system; any old treatment has likely worn off.

Other work on this wall

• Porch deck boards: leave a gap of about ½" from the siding.
• Gas meter: notch the water table around the riser and keep paint off the regulator vent.
• Old window opening: flash behind the lined-up butt joints; add a felt or housewrap panel behind the patch if the boards come off easily.

Keep the original double-hung sash-cord windows and rebuild the trim to one consistent pattern: head casing plus a separate cap.

Casings

• Original casings were removed for repair. Reuse them where sound: flip the protected back face out, or plane lightly after stripping paint and pulling every nail.
• Replace badly weathered pieces with clear cedar planed to the original thickness (often a true ⅞").
• Don't remove casings from windows that aren't being worked on. They're part of the frame and hold the blind stop.
• Leave the weight pockets open, with no insulation. Tape the outer joints only.

Head cap (every window)

• 5/4 clear cedar, top bevelled about 10°, about 1" overhang on the front and ends.
• Drip kerf on the underside; add a bed moulding if the originals had one.
• Metal flashing over the cap, tucked up behind the siding course above.
• Whole head (casing plus cap) about 1¼–1½× the side casing width.
• Double window under the porch: remove the newer filler board above the head casing, then add a proper cap.

Sash and sills

• Re-cord with waxed cotton sash cord (#7 or #8), reglaze, and add spring-bronze weatherstripping.
• Consolidate and epoxy sound sills; make new ones from white oak, sapele or cedar where rotted.

Joinery and wood

• Festool Domino with Sipo tenons, glued with Titebond III or epoxy.
• Build casing and head assemblies on the bench and prime all six faces before installing.
• Clear cedar is roughly $6–12 per board foot, versus $1–2 for #2 pine. That's about $30–60 more per window, and worth it.

Porch

• Beam: 1×10 or 1×12 face board plus a soffit board underneath, returned ends, and drip or flashing on top. Check the header underneath first.
• Columns: wrap the thin post to 7¼–8" square with a base and cap trim, held ½" off the floor. Make the right column match.
• Brick pier: remove it (shore the beam first). Set the new column on a footing with a standoff base.

Possible new window

• Restore the original opening on the long wall (the patched vertical seam).
• Head in line with the other windows. Check or rebuild the header, since it's a bearing wall.
• Check gas meter vent clearance (usually about 3 ft from windows that open) and ask the city about a permit.

The look is sage green siding with white trim and a dark door. One protective coat goes on now in the final colour, then a second coat after the repairs.

Paint

• Top-grade 100% acrylic. Satin on the body, semi-gloss on the trim.
• Choose a sage with an LRV (light reflectance value) of about 45 or higher, because of the sun on the south and west walls.
• Topcoat within the primer's recoat window (about 14–30 days). After that, wash, scuff and spot-prime first.
• The porch wall is yellow now and may need two full coats, or a tinted primer, to cover evenly.

Cottage details

• White trim throughout: wide casings, a frieze board, corner boards, and a white beam at the porch.
• Shutters sized to half the window width. Window boxes on brackets that hold them about 1" off the wall.
• Louvered gable vents. Tie the carport in with body-colour siding and square posts.
• Planting beds 18–24" from the house, a gravel strip at the foundation, drip irrigation only.

Tools

• Cut out the continuous caulk bead under the laps
• Confirm termites are inactive (tube test); get an inspection or bait quote
• Rebuild the water table with its membrane, flashing and borate treatment; finish the grading
• Fill holes and splits, spot-prime, then first coat of sage before the primer window closes
• Replace insulation plugs with flush wood plugs
• Repair and flip casings; build head caps; re-cord and reglaze the sash
• Porch: check the header, wrap the beam, build columns, remove the brick pier
• Buy a sander (Rotex RO 125 or Bosch GET75-6N) and upgrade the shop vac for dust
• Ask M&M for an updated estimate at 40–50 ft, billed by the foot, with a pitless adapter and an irrigation pump package
• Ask the city about private-well rules and where the sewer lines run on the empty lot
• Ask neighbours with wells about their water and depth
• Buy a TDS meter for drilling day; send a sample to the OSU lab afterwards
• Decide on an easement, or combining parcels, for the shared well

Sources

• OWRB Groundwater Wells map
• Beaver-Cache Watershed Planning Region Report, OWRB 2012
• Turf Irrigation Water Quality: A Concise Guide, OSU Extension

Drill one shallow sand well, about 40–50 ft, on the empty lot between 922 and 910. Use it for irrigation first and keep city water in both houses for now.

Nearby well records (OWRB)

Deeper wells farther out went into red clay and made 1.5–8 gpm. None of the records include water quality.

Water quality

• The main risk in the deeper red beds is salt and gypsum. For shallow sand wells in town, the risk is nitrate and bacteria.
• Check each water layer with a TDS meter (about $20) as it comes in. Stop above any salty layer.
• After drilling, send a sample to the OSU Soil, Water and Forage lab for the irrigation test (through the Waurika extension office). Add nitrate, bacteria and arsenic tests before anyone drinks it.

Build spec for the driller

• Stop at the shale or red clay, probably 35–50 ft. Screen the whole water sand, with a gravel pack.
• Grout seal of at least 10 ft, down to just above the water sand. Run a yield test and file the well log with OWRB.
• Pitless adapter. For irrigation, a pump-start relay from the sprinkler controller, plus a small tank at the well only if you want hose taps.

M&M Water Well Service estimate (April 17, 2026, now expired)

A dry hole is $20/ft. The $500 travel fee applies only over 50 miles.

Layout and pipe

• Well on the empty lot: in the open, clear of trees and power lines, away from sewer lines, with truck access from Anderson.
• Mains to each lot: 1¼" HDPE rated for drinking water, buried at least 18", with the pump cable in conduit.
• Zones: 1" PVC, with ¾" at branch ends. Size each zone at 8–10 gpm and run one at a time.
• About 12 gpm covers roughly 1" a week on 20,000 sq ft of lawn, at around 17 hours of pumping a week.
• Power from the nearer house. Record an easement, or combine parcels, before any lot is sold.
• Grass: Bermuda for sun, zoysia for partial shade. Both are dormant from about November to March.