I have purchased a post and beam home in southern New Hampshire. It was built in the late 1980's a post and beam company from Maine. Soneone told me it was Maine Post and Beam however I can find no information on this company I have two questions to start and I'm sure there will be many to come.

1. My home has cedar siding, when painted the paint does not absorb well so within 2-3 years it is peeling again. Can I Vinyl side this type of house? If not can you recommend a painting method?

2. I seem to have a problem with bees and flies living somewhere (perhaps between the 1st and 2ndf floor) they appear even in the winter. Has anyone encountered such problems. If so how was the problem resolved?

2. Hire an exterminator to find the bee's nest. If he finds one and kills them plug the hole to prevent their return.
1. Possibly the paint wasn't applied properly the first time.
You could go to the woodweb.com and on the finishing forum page ask the question about how to properly repair or prepare your siding for repainting. Most of the questions in their section are about finishing furniture, but I got help there on finishing red aromatic cedar. The experts there might have some more help for you.

Thank you for the input. Any advice on the Vinyl siding?


Regards

I just read an article in an old Joiner Quarterly and he said that buildings need to "breathe". To prevent moisture build up that causes rot. So I don't know, if vinyl will trap moisture or not. I'd be careful about that and hopefully you'll get more advice from others. Good luck. Jim

I recently stayed in a log cabin that had a real problem with flies. No matter how fast we eliminated them the returned in a short while. In the cabin we stayed the "cabin Log" had several entries where different people had commented on the fly problem. I have heard of others having similar problems with flies in log homes and have wondered if the flies are laying eggs in the checks of the logs?