Wood Siding or Vinyl Siding (window, molding, natural gas, leaks)
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I could of sworn that when I looked a new home, the builder said the "hardiboard"does need painted every so often? (Spelling? I have seen it spelled 6 ways here)
How long as this stuff been around? I am curious how many homes are around that have had this hardiboard hold up well for 20+ years. I have never heard of it until recently. Will be looking for a new home in the next year, and am always hesitant about how any material that is fairly new on the market will hold up long-term; especially when it is used for something that takes an epic beating from severe weather and full sun.
We've had it in our area, on the coast, for over 20 years. Has held up perfectly. Yes, it requires painting and around here, probably as often as a wood sided houses in non-maritime areas. The difference is that a wood-sided house won't hold up well to the elements here unless it's cypress or cedar (prohibitively expensive in our area) and even then requires much more maintenance than hardiplank. We've not just got the ocean issue but mildew/mold from tropical environment and termites - hardiplank is resistant to all of those.
I'm a home inspector so see lots of siding. Good vinyl is hard to tell from wood or metal; in fact I often tap it with my fingers to make sure I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing. The blowhards are just that, or they've looked at good vinyl siding and thought it was wood.
But there's a major difference in the quality of different vinyl siding, just as there is in different wood siding, and I think a lot has to do with how well it's installed too. Cheap vinyl does break easily in a hail storm, and I've seen a lot of it blow off too. Paint also chips from hail requiring new paint. Good vinyl, however, will stand up to some huge and hard hail stones.
I had my home resided with vinyl 8-10 years ago. It wasn't cheap. It's a relatively small 2-story w/double garage, and the siding came to something like $15-18K. I also had new windows installed all around plus a new garage door and new gutters and downspouts. In total it was around $33K. Everything has held up very well. I called the installer back a few years ago to replace a window that had cracked and to reattach some siding under a large window. (It's all guaranteed for life.) Other than that, no problems at all. My paint was lasting for around 7 years, so I'm a happy camper at this point. Painting would have cost nearly half as much, and by now I'd have had it painted twice, so I'm near the break-even point already.
Oh, I just thought of one little problem we've had with our vinyl siding: it's windy here in Wyoming, and when the wind is blowing hard from a certain direction, and we're upstairs (bedrooms), the siding seems to vibrate now and then. It's kind of annoying. I mentioned it to the installer, but he said unless he could be here when it was vibrating, there was nothing he could do about it. Makes sense. And it doesn't happen that often.
Everything considered, I like wood better. Up close it is classier. And there's so much cheap vinyl installed that it's all gotten a bad name. But I have another home that needs a spruce up, and I'm going with a heavy vinyl on it too. It's nice to do it once and be done with it.
Paint the house! I just painted my house myself. I enjoyed doing it and still have the shed to do. It only took me two weeks with lots of breaks. I won't get to the shed for another week or so.
If you decide to paint the house yourself get good brushes. It is worth it. I wrapped my brush in plastic wrap in between painting. It is in the freezer now waiting until I paint the shed.
Silibran, I like most of your posts, but again, I've seen vinyl-sided houses that look beautiful AND have tons of "curb appeal." Why can't I prioritize BOTH?
This is my point. I CAN'T spot vinyl a mile away. I can't tell just by looking at a house down the street whether it has vinyl or wood (I assume most if not all houses in my neighborhood are wood).
Well, you ask a valid question. I think I CAN spot vinyl. But I admit I don't go around looking at people's siding. I did consider buying a house last summer that had vinyl siding and vinyl soffitts, and vinyl fencing stuff on the back plastic deck. Ick. It was totally low maintenance and DH was mad for it. (It had some probs though, and eventually we both accepted we did not want it.) It was a nice house but I could tell it had vinyl siding from the driveway.
Vinyl siding often has a certain unsubstantial look. Perhaps there is better stuff, and it is not so obvious. If you go in that direction, then for goodness sake buy the best you can afford.
This is my point. I CAN'T spot vinyl a mile away. I can't tell just by looking at a house down the street whether it has vinyl or wood (I assume most if not all houses in my neighborhood are wood).
Sounds like your mind is made up then. At the cost of buying a high grade vinyl you could probably have the house proffesionally painted 2 times to get you through the next 20 years. So is it really worth it? thats your call.
I absolutely Hate vinyl siding. To me it looks extremely cheap. I don't like the way it fits so loose on a building. It's vulnerable to wind damage, bugs get in behind it. I just never want to live in a PLASTIC house.
I just bought a house a few months ago that had been badly neglected on the outside. It`s brick on the bottom and wood on the top half. Even the soffits are wood, five eights plywood. I`m almost finished painting the whole thing. I painted the gutters, faceboards and overhangs white, stained the wood black and it looks great. The garage and separate apartment attached to it is vertical aluminum siding and I painted it dark grey.
Depending on a few factors like climate, quality of paint and how well the paint is applied, exterior paint jobs can last up to 20 years. I painted one house we owned 15 years ago and the paint job still looks the same as the day I applied it. If you use poor quality paint or do a poor prep job you will have BAD results for sure.
These are the kinds of remarks that make me just shake my head, they are so silly. Do you think that being sarcastic makes you look smart or high class or something?
Not only does the siding and aluminum trim cover the original detail, but that original detail is often hacked up to make the vinyl and aluminum fit.
Some houses in my old neighborhood don't even have the aluminum trim! The installers just ran the vinyl up to the edge of the window opening.
in my mind the fundamental problem with vinyl is that it is destroying the character of old neighborhoods and making gorgeous houses look like total garbage. that picture is exactly what i'm talking about.
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