Siding Contractor in Oak Ridge, TN

Living in a Cemesto or Alphabet House

The planners, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, laid out neighborhoods with schools and shopping close by. Building materials were scarce, so the first homes used prefabricated panels called cemesto, made of cement and asbestos. About 3,000 cemesto-type homes went up. They were labeled by letter: a small two-bedroom “A” house, a “C” with extra bedrooms, a “D” with a dining room, and so on. Later, thousands more prefabricated houses arrived in finished sections, and workers handed over 30 or 40 homes a day.

Those letters still show up in real estate listings, and owners still have to decide what to do with walls that were never meant to last eight decades.

A Word About Asbestos

Because cemesto contains asbestos, do not cut, sand, drill or pry off original panels yourself. Before any siding project on one of these homes, have the material tested. If removal or disturbance is needed, it must be handled by properly licensed asbestos professionals and follow state and federal rules. We will talk this through with you during the estimate and plan the project around what testing finds. In some cases, the right approach leaves original material undisturbed; in others, abatement comes first. Either way, you should know before work starts.

Choosing Siding for a Wartime House

These are compact, simple houses. Heavy textures or busy profiles can overwhelm them. A clean lap or a vertical board-and-batten often suits the original lines better.

• Alside Odyssey Plus vinyl is a practical, low-maintenance option for owners who want to stop painting and keep costs in check.
• James Hardie fiber cement gives a crisper, painted look and resists rot and moisture.

Some homes sit inside the Oak Ridge Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1991 and roughly bounded by East Drive, West Outer Drive, Louisiana Avenue and Tennessee Avenue. The Woodland-Scarboro Historic District was listed the same year. If your home is in or near either one, ask the city whether any design review applies before you choose materials.

Lake Air and Valley Moisture

Oak Ridge lies in a valley carved by a sharp bend in the Clinch River. Melton Hill Lake, formed when its dam was completed in 1963, borders the city on the northeast and east, and the city stretches along roughly 42 miles of Watts Bar and Melton Hill shoreline.

Homes near the water, and those in wooded hollows, stay damp longer. On those projects we pay extra attention to the weather barrier and flashing, and we replace any soft sheathing we uncover before closing the wall.

Newer Homes, Same Care

Not every Oak Ridge house dates to the 1940s. The city spans parts of Anderson and Roane counties, and later neighborhoods have their own aging vinyl and hardboard. We handle those too, from a few damaged boards to a full re-side.

Mark and Crissy Sims founded American Home in 1997, and we have completed more than 15,000 projects since. We are licensed in Tennessee (#2685). See what East Tennessee homeowners say.

Our Knoxville siding services page covers every product we install, and the Farragut page covers the neighborhoods closest to our shop. For the full map, see our service area.