Just a brief followup...
I worked on my in-laws place again yesterday, and after stripping away some of the trim boards, I discovered the carport wasn't as racked as I initially thought. Maybe 1" out of plumb instead of the 3-4" I originally measured. That's straighter than the house itself, good news there.
So, I started connecting the carport with the house structure, and by the time I got the sheathing built out for an even plane up the entire wall, I was happy to discover the flashing fit tightly against the sheathing as-is. It's a bit angled near the bottom, but not enough to be an issue.
New problem (more accurately, an old problem), the carport is built on a simple concrete slab. This put the siding/sheathing way too close to the ground, 2" at most, almost touching in other areas. As you would expect, the siding near the ground has serious rot issues.
So, I'm thinking of ripping off the bottom 6-8" of the rotted siding, and attaching a strip of something a bit more waterproof. I initially thought of using something like cement based Hardie siding, but I don't know if it would hold up in a near ground contact situation like that?
Another option might be composite decking like Trex, but again, I don't know if it would hold up in ground contact? Also, it's a lot thicker than I need (1-1/2 vs. 1/2") so I would have to rip it into thinner strips. But for that to look nice I would need to run them through my planer afterwards, and I have no idea if composite decking material can be planed successfully? I've only seen Trex in 2x6 sizes, so it's a little shorter (5-1/2") than I had hoped, but it's better than nothing if the thickness and rot resistance worked out.
The other option I thought of is that PVC trim board material. Unfortunately, I can't say I've ever seen it available locally, and I believe it's only available in white?
I haven't used any of these products myself, so I have no experience with them. Are there any other options I may have overlooked?
Thanks,
Anthony