This cloth was used to insulate around a basement window frame. I suppose it is better than then nothing that was in the rest of the walls!  

Our neighbor Jerry is salvaging some of the cedar siding for his house.  He said it's been a year and he's been unable to find cedar to match his place. Since this part of the porch was enclosed after the house was built they actually put a bit of insulation under the cedar - it's about 1/4" thick.

The new mechanical ventilation system air intake will go through this part of the basement. Which is fine since I'd planned to remove the ceiling and redo. 

As more of the paper fell or blew off you can now see the original look. Most of the cedar is in good shape with only one or two coats of paint. We wonder what colour the now missing trim piece between the two sizes of cedar was.