Exterior Painting & Siding Replacement in McKinnney – Stonebridge Ranch

A Stonebridge Ranch home in McKinney came to Phillips Home Improvements with a back elevation that had been quietly losing ground for years. A misplaced sprinkler head had been directing water against the siding rather than away from it, and what started as a localized moisture problem had worked its way through the paint, into the caulk system, and eventually into the siding and trim boards themselves. The back of the house needed more than a fresh coat — it needed the compromised material removed, a proper weather barrier installed, and new siding and trim put on over a correctly prepared substrate. Sherwin-Williams® Duration® Exterior in a custom color match went on the full exterior once the structural work was done, with Sher-Max® Ultra White applied to the repaired sections as a high-build elastomeric base before the finish coat.

Project at a Glance

• Location: McKinney, TX
• Neighborhood: Stonebridge Ranch
• Property Type: Single-Family Residence
• Project Scope: Back elevation siding and trim replacement with Masonite® composite siding and James Hardie® fiber-cement trim; Tyvek® housewrap installation; complete exterior resealing; and full exterior painting with Sherwin-Williams® Duration® Exterior and Sher-Max® Ultra White

The Challenge: A Sprinkler Head Gone Awry

Damaged siding at the bottom of the wall in the backyard.

Landscape irrigation systems and exterior siding don’t mix well when the sprinkler heads aren’t pointed where they’re supposed to be. On this Stonebridge Ranch home, a misplaced sprinkler head had been directing water against the back elevation rather than toward the lawn — a slow, sustained moisture source that the original siding and caulk system wasn’t designed to handle. Water that contacts siding repeatedly, from the same direction, at the same points, finds every gap in the caulk and every imperfection in the paint film. Once it gets behind the surface, it doesn’t leave quickly.

The back elevation showed the cumulative result: widespread paint failure, caulk that had dried out and lost its seal, and siding and trim boards that had absorbed enough moisture to compromise their structural integrity. The sprinkler head problem was the cause. The damaged back elevation was the outcome. Addressing one without the other would have meant putting new materials in the path of the same moisture source that destroyed the originals.

The Discovery: Paint Failure Was the Signal, Not the Problem

Siding removed showing mold and water damage.

The full extent of what the moisture had done became clear during the inspection and preparation phases. Widespread paint failure across the back elevation — peeling, lifting, and chalking across a significant surface area — indicated that the paint wasn’t just old. Paint fails that completely when the substrate beneath it is no longer stable. The caulk at every seam, joint, and window perimeter on the back elevation had lost its bond, leaving open paths for water to continue working behind the surface even after the sprinkler situation was corrected.

The siding and trim boards on the back elevation had deteriorated past the point where surface preparation and repainting would produce a durable result. The material itself had absorbed too much moisture over too many cycles to hold a new paint film reliably. Everything that had failed needed to come off — not to be prepped over, but to be replaced with material that could start fresh over a properly installed weather barrier.

The Solution: New Material, New Weather Barrier, Then the Finish

Replaced siding with caulked seams waiting to be painted.

The compromised siding came off the back elevation and was replaced with ten pieces of Masonite® composite lap siding in a 12-inch triple-4 profile — a three-tier lap configuration that matches the architectural detail of the original siding while providing a fresh surface with no accumulated moisture history. Eleven James Hardie® Hardie® Trim 1″x4″x8′ boards replaced the deteriorated trim, and six pieces of James Hardie® Custom Cut Hardie® Trim 1″x2″x12′ Rustic Grain addressed the detail trim work. Before any of the new siding went on, a roll of Tyvek® housewrap went in behind it — a dedicated weather barrier that allows moisture vapor to escape outward while blocking wind-driven water from reaching the wall assembly behind the new panels.

With the back elevation rebuilt and the rest of the exterior prepared — all window perimeters resealed, every caulk joint addressed — Sher-Max® Ultra White went on the repaired sections as a high-build elastomeric base coat, bridging any surface variations and creating a uniform foundation for the finish coat. Sherwin-Williams® Duration® Exterior Satin in a custom color match went on at full strength across the complete exterior, tying the repaired back elevation into the same finish system as the rest of the home.

The Results: Restored Siding & Fresh Coat of Paint

The siding and trim that had failed are gone — replaced with new material installed over a housewrap that manages moisture at the wall assembly level rather than relying entirely on the paint and caulk system at the surface. The sprinkler situation that caused the original damage was addressed as part of the project scope, so the new materials aren’t going back into the same conditions that destroyed the originals. Every seam and window perimeter is sealed. The Sher-Max® base coat gives the repaired sections the same surface stability as the original areas of the home. The Duration® finish coat ties the full exterior together in one coordinated color system that holds up through North Texas heat cycles without the premature chalking and peeling that ended the previous paint job.

Stonebridge Ranch’s HOA maintains high standards for exterior appearance — a properly executed restoration that addresses both the cosmetic and structural dimensions of the original failure is exactly what’s needed to keep a home in good standing in a community where the bar is set consistently high.

Materials Specification

Why Proper Preparation Matters

On a project where the back elevation had been exposed to sustained moisture from a misplaced sprinkler, preparation wasn’t just surface cleaning — it was structural removal. The compromised siding and trim had to come off entirely before the Tyvek® housewrap could go in and before new material could go on over a properly prepared substrate. The caulk reseal across every window perimeter and joint on the full exterior addressed the secondary vulnerability — the gaps that let additional moisture work behind the surface even after the primary sprinkler source was corrected. The Sher-Max® elastomeric base coat on the repaired sections then created a uniform, flexible surface for the Duration® finish coat to bond to. Each phase created the conditions the next one needed.

Materials Selected for Long-Term Performance

Composite lap siding was selected for the back elevation replacement because the triple-4 profile matches the architectural detail of the original siding while providing a fresh material baseline with no accumulated moisture history. James Hardie® fiber-cement trim was used for the trim boards because it doesn’t absorb moisture the way the original wood trim did — the same vulnerability that made the trim boards susceptible to the sprinkler damage won’t repeat in the replacement material. Tyvek® housewrap behind the new siding adds a dedicated moisture management layer at the wall assembly level. Sherwin-Williams® Sher-Max® Ultra White on the repaired sections provides a high-build elastomeric film that bridges surface variations and maintains flexibility through North Texas temperature swings — and Duration® Exterior on top of it is a finish coat formulated to hold color and resist UV degradation through sustained summer heat.

The Phillips Approach

The sprinkler head that caused this damage wasn’t Phillips’ problem to fix — but it was Phillips’ responsibility to identify it before any new material went on. Replacing siding over a moisture source that hasn’t been corrected produces new siding that fails for the same reason the original did. The full scope of this project — siding removal, housewrap installation, new siding and trim, complete caulk reseal, Sher-Max base coat, Duration finish coat — was sequenced specifically to address the actual cause of the original failure rather than just its visible symptoms. The homeowners had a hard deadline before mid-July and a history of contractor experiences that hadn’t gone well. The work was done right, on schedule, and without surprises. That’s the standard.

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