Considering having our house done in vinyl siding. We currently have cedar siding that is in poor condition on the south side of the house (orange peel, rain gets under the paint, seams have gaps). On my garage, water works its way past the nail heads and wets the sub-boarding.

I got a quote this weekend that was actually lower than I had anticipated, but still hefty.

Although I haven't decided whether I'm going to bite the bullet and pay or break out the caulk gun and paint brushes, I'm not sure that I want to go the vinyl siding route. Does anyone have any experiences with VS they would like to share?

I had a home that I got into a couple of years ago. It had the T 1-11 sheet siding on it. The siding looked bad, some termite damage, and all of it needed paint.

I got quotes to put stucco on, but the price was real high considering that I plan to sell in a couple of years. I also got a quote from Sear's for vinyl siding. Although I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a "plastic house," I felt the low maintenance, durability, and cost made it a good choice for my circumstances. Wrong!

The siding has been on just over a year. Although it cleans easily by being washed much like a car and rinsed off, it's not holding up well. I already have several pieces that have cracked. In one case a small stone was thrown by the weed-eater and it put a hole in the siding. I have a couple of other pieces that have cracked for no explanation that I can give. Neither Sear's not the actual manufacturer cover this type of damage.

As far as the manufacturer is concerned, they only cover color fading and damage from hail. Sear's will only cover the siding if it is blown off of the house in winds less than what it's rated for.

I'm sure stucco is not real big in Chicago, but I've used it on other homes to go over wood siding. I was much happier with that. I won't do vinyl on any future homes in the future.

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Look into hardi board instead. It doesn't shrink or expand so it holds paint very well.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
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How about aluminum siding? Don't they make that anymore? Same look as vinyl, but won't crack.

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Yeah, like Raymr said, check out Hardiplank. That stuff is great. It's stronger, more durable, holds paint better, and insulates better than almost any other type of cladding. It's a fiberglass reinforced, cementous material. Verrry good. I'm not sure how the price compares to vinyl, but you should at least check it out first.

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1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
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Personally, I dislike vinyl siding. A friend of mine bought a new home with vinyl siding. Expensive home in a nice neighbourhood. He has a nice big stainless steel gas grill outside. Had it initially a bit too close to the siding it seems. The siding melted and disfigured from the heat.

Perhaps it is just MHO, but a house's exterior material shouldn't disfigure easily from the radiant external heat of a BBQ...

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

Like most building materials, the quality varies widely and the capability of the installers varies even more widely.

This house has 3/4" beveled cedar siding that looks fabulous when it's painted. But, I'm not able to keep up with that task and have decided on vinyl siding. However, it's not the typical crap that you purchase for $60.00 per square. The high quality material is made by Nailite and is approx. $245.00 per square. Sure, it's a lot of money, but, none of the problems that are typically experienced with the cheap stuff will maifest themselves with the better product. It has the look of cedar shakes and you'd need to get within 10' to tell that it's not actual wood.

I'll probably install it myself and get someone to do the aluminum brake work on the trim. The siding is the easy part to install........it's the aluminum work that's difficult and time consuming. There's all kinds of skill levels on that job as well. The cheapest installers face nail the aluminum. The best one's know how to hide the nails to give a professional appearance.\

I've researched and located several homes in the area with this material. All of them look extremely good. I'd doubt that anyone but a true diehard wood fanatic would be dissatisfied with this product.

I am in the building material business. Vinyl is less money and takes less labor to install. This is for the beveled clapboard look. There is also vinyl that looks like Cedar Shingles but that is about 2 1/2 times as much and goes up a bit slower than the clapboards. With vinyl it has to be tucked behind "J Channel" to compensate for expansion and contraction. The "J Channel" does not look like traditional trim, and is not architecturally correct, but many people don't care. They like the low maintenance of vinyl. We distribute Certainteed. Vinyl can crack if impacted, especially if it is cold. It will fade some over time.

Hardie is more money and takes more labor to install. You can get it prefinished with the "Colorplus system" in 20 standard colors and it has a 15 year warranty on the finish and limited lifetime on the Hardie itself. Typical install has the fasteners (roofing nails) covered by the course above it so the fasteners are concealed. You can also have traditional details with it. They also have Hardietrim which are trim boards. They also make soffit, as does Certainteed.

Do your own takeoff of squares of siding so you can keep the installer honest. I have seen it too often that the installer pads the amount of siding in the estimate. Stay away from Sears. They are dirtbags. Find a local guy with references. There are actually reputable contractors out there. We have customers who actually enjoy their experience while remodeling their house because the contractor does the right thing. But beware of dirtbags. They are out there.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

I've been talking with the national chains because they are easy to find. It seems hard to find someone local. I go to local.google.com amd type in "siding" and my zip code, but all I get is a list.

Any suggestions on finding a decent local guy?

Call a local building materials place that caters to the professional contractor. They should be able to give you some names. Then get verifiable references from the contractor. If they hem and haw about references, then they aren't the right one. A local guy should also be less money because some chain doesn't have to make their cut of the profit on the installation.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

My old house was recovered in vinyl. I want to go back to Cedar some day. The previous owner had a wood burning stove that was installed incorrectly and it actually melted the vinyl siding from the inside of the house. The stove and it's chimney are long gone. I put them in the dumpster.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Just to add to the advice about references - make sure they're local and recent jobs, and not hand-picked over the past year or more.

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

Yikes!

Yeah, cedar has the maintenance factor, but it sure looks great! (IMHO of course).

My current home is a kind of tudor-style and has a mish-mash of brick and stucco on the front and one side and aluminum siding on the other side and back. I really hate the combo. It is actually really nice siding, but my plan is to replace the siding with brick if we end up staying at this house. Problem with aluminum siding (mine anyway) is if you ever drop a ladder against it or something else hits it - the dents show from a mile away.

Then I'll pass an old stone home in the country and dream...

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

There is a product called Novibric. It is popular in the Great White North. It looks like brick but anyone can install it. There is no mortar. It is more than any siding product but less than traditional brick. Our rep. is from Montreal. He has the great French Canadian accent.

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Doug

1987 300TD x 3
2005 E320CDI

Esti sacrement! Dis here is like da brik, but you doan need to be Hi-talian to put it up like super-slik, eh? You just put dem side by each and dey stey dere like cheese in poutine.

(No offense to any Italians here nor to any French Canadians, I was born in Québec so I reserve the right to tease my birth province's accent).

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon