@Melissa Robbins
I asked my husband to chime in because he has a particular amount of experience in this area.
We live in downtown Orlando, in a historic neighborhood, and have personally rehabbed/renovated several historic homes with wood siding ourselves. Of course you will have to keep in mind climate differences, however, the theories behind different alternatives should apply regardless of the climate. Hope the below helps!
In our area, which is a wet humid climate, runoff from the roof causes damage if you don’t have gutters so I completely understand that point you made. From my experience, I have removed the bottom 3 feet of siding several times, and redone both the sheathing, which Gets updated to plywood, and novelty siding on top of it. Many wood framed Historic homes with wood siding may not have sheathing which actually allows For a couple of alternatives. If it’s not overlapping siding, and it is flat shiplap style novelty siding, use the siding as sheeting and potentially go over it with a couple of layers of building science That apply to your climate
In our area, the vapor barrier goes on the warm side, which is our exterior, so as I remove the bottom few feet of siding all the way around the building, I replace with plywood, then I cover the entire house with vapor barrier, do flashing around the windows correctly by removing the trim, and then I come back over top of it with hardy board.
If your siding is overlapping, it will make this difficult, but you wouldn’t necessarily add a vapor barrier to the outside of your house with your climate. Most lumberyards have the type of siding you’re looking for, and I highly encourage you figure out how high up the wood rot goes. Some other alternatives that may exist in your climate would be furring the exterior shell out, Adding a continuous Rockwool insulation shell, and then creating another layer of exterior siding. Having wood siding allows for vapor transfer so theoretically you can do what I’m saying, but it’s not the most cost effective.You would also have to consider what insulation and vapor barrier’s already exist.
My last thought would be to try to figure out how soft some of the framing got behind the wood rot. Last thing you want us to create a hard shell around soft framing so if you have to replace framing, better to do this all at once. Hopefully you don’t have a problem around the entire house, which I have had before, and my only regret was not peeling it away all at once to manage.
I’m happy to help talk through this stuff with you if you need to speak with somebody on the phone that can at least help you think through your choices. Follow the building signs whatever you do
