Siding replacement opportunities for zone 5 (Massachusetts), older 1880s house – GreenBuildingAdvisor

We need to re-side our 2100sqft house 20mi outside of Boston. Original sheathing with cellulose blown into the walls. Windows were deleaded and restored and mostly work well (newer Harvey storm windows).

I’ve read a bunch of articles about siding and exterior insulation, but am not sure if the recommendations have changed much since they were written (mostly 2009-2015) for this site.

I’m leaning toward asking the contractors if they would be up for adding 1.5″ of mineral wool (Comfortboard) under the new siding, along with a rain screen:

– Strip the house, insulate missing voids (I have IR pics from before)

– Build out the window frames? (assuming most contractors would do this with white PVC.. I’m leaning toward the same. Any better alternatives?) and tape/seal

– Apply house wrap

– Add the 1.5″ mineral wool boards

– Add vertical strapping for rain screen (can it be thin like 3/8″, to limit how much the windows need to be built out?.. one of the shows mentioned it can be very little air space)

– Add the siding — either Hardiboard, or maybe white cedar shingles (in which case we need horizontal strapping, too)

Questions:

– Is this still a recommended approach? I think energy prices will go up a lot in the future so I feel good about monetary payback.

– What are the 2025 siding recommendations in terms of “greenness”? Hardi takes a lot of energy to make, and needs repainting. We like white cedar shingles; though no one on our street has raw wood shingles… mostly traditional New England painted clapboards, or painted shingles.

– Is it worth spending more on the best quality house wrap (peel and stick?). Most contractors don’t seem to know much.

– Will contractors be able to handle this project? I think it would be a first for most or all of them (that I’ve talked to). I would be worried about the siding ending up wavy, if they compress the mineral wool too much in parts.

Thanks!