Cottages, Stilt Homes, and Everything Between
The old ground-level cottages near Bridge Street and Cortez Road often carry decades of layered siding — wood under vinyl under someone's optimism. We strip to sheathing, repair what the layers were hiding, and rebuild the wall with a proper weather barrier before the new cladding goes on. Elevated homes bring different work: skirting panels that must vent surge pressure rather than fight it, stair and landing trim that takes splash from below, and under-deck soffits where trapped moisture rots hidden framing. We detail each of those junctions for its actual exposure, a habit built across 25 years of coastal exterior work.
Color is not an afterthought on this island either. The Bradenton Beach palette — whites, corals, sea glass greens — reads charming precisely because the finishes stay crisp, and factory-cured fiber cement finishes keep them that way for years longer than site-painted wood ever could.
What separates island-grade siding work
- Stainless fasteners only — ordinary galvanized hardware bleeds rust here within a few seasons
- Sealed cut edges on every board, because wicking edges are how coastal siding fails early
- Rain-screen ventilation so salt-laden humidity dries out instead of dwelling in the wall
- Flood-zone-aware detailing at skirting and lower walls on elevated homes
Scoping the Job Honestly
We begin with a free on-site estimate — a walk around all four exposures, moisture checks at the usual suspects, and straight talk about what needs replacing now versus what can wait a season. Island owners, especially those managing vacation rentals from off-island, get photo documentation of everything we find and everything we do. More than 2,000 completed projects have taught us that trust is built in that paperwork as much as on the wall. And when the job is done, our 25-year workmanship warranty stays behind: a long commitment, made deliberately, in a place that gives siding no easy years.
