Protecting damaged wall of house...and scaffolding

[Deborah Burian]

It has been a very wet summer here, unusually so. We're at something like 3X our average annual rainfall. After three years of drought we'll take it but it's been tough to get exterior repairs done.

I have one house with an area of rotted/damaged siding that needs replaced. While we wait to get to it, it keeps raining. Can anyone recommend a product that is a little slicker and more durable than ye olde blue tarp plus duct tape? My roofer uses ice shield on the roofs, don't know if there is an equivalent product for the siding.

If it ever quits raining, we plan to do exterior painting of 10 or more properties, about half of them two storied. This got me thinking about scaffolding... should I buy it? rent it? hire an exterior painter? (pardon me while I pick myself up off the floor from laughing after trying to do that for a month)