Siding

[FJRay]

The vinyl on my house is 13 years old and looks like the day it was installed. The previous owner left me with 4 boxes of spare siding and the new stuff looks just like what is on the house.

 

[raclow]

Gonna have the house redone, and can't dig through all the bullshit without getting a headache. Any contractors here, or experienced installers? Siding, soffits, trim are all gonna be done, and keep in mind this is an area of extreme temperature range, -35 to +100 f. Appreciate any help, everybodies product is the best out there you know, and all the others suck.... :glare:

Vinyl or Aluminum....got it.

I'm no contractor but we just finished building a house - hope to move in soon. They used siding on the back of the house, made of wood. Now, we live in deep south TX where we also have temp swings such as you. We can freezing temps in the middle of winter, although rarely, and well over 100 in the summer. The builder said vinyl siding would eventually warp and aluminum, well, they just don't use it..don't know why though. I had aluminum on my house in WI before I moved to TX and had no problems with it.

Hail is your problem with aluminum in Texas.

I had vinyl siding on a house once and I swore I would never go that route again. Reasons#1) If you ever cut your grass and sling a rock or something into it, it leaves a huge hole that, in order to fix it, you have to order one whole piece of siding and hope it matches since all the other siding you have has faded over a very short period of time,OR......you patch it up with something that sticks out like a sore thumb. (#2) It bulks real bad on the sides that are directly in the sun. (#3) Honey Bees and Wasps love to get into the crevices where it is ajoined. OR..........You could have your daughter break up with her boyfriend and He takes a paint-ball gun a hold of whole front side. Our home-owners insurance would not pay for the repair. I say.....DONT go with the vinyl siding! It's more trouble than it's worth.

You could have filed charges against the boyfriend if you could prove he did it....that's the problem.

There are positives and negatives for both products....vinyl and aluminum.

Vinyl is going to be somewhat cheaper but most companies use the high cost of fuel as their excuse to charge higher prices on every product.

Aluminum will dent and it doesn't pop back out like vinyl. Won't expand and contract like vinyl but is harder to install. So, install labor may be more because of this.

Both products will fade in the sun. Including the most expensive product....hardi board or plank. UV will fade anything, including your car if you don't use wax on a regular basis. But who is going to wax their house??

Vinyl cracks when it is cold? Don't touch it or lean a ladder against it if it so cold that it will crack if you touch it. Anyway, why are you outside when it is that cold??? Get a piece of vinyl siding and freeze it in your freezer and see if you like what it does when it is cold. You won't like what aluminum will do if you hit it....looks like a beer can dropped on the ground.

What is being installed the most in your area?? There is a reason for the majority installed product.

Sounds like Hardi is not in the budget. If it were, you have to paint it eventually. It doesn't come the color you want, they have to paint it. The advantage is the 50 year warranty that the product will still be there. The paint doesn't come with a 50 year warranty.

Yes, I'm a contractor. Our geographical area dictates that we use vinyl or hardi ( because some of the neighborhoods require it ).

Maybe this will help with your decision. Might look into Liquid Siding.....check the phone book for that one.

 

[Scab]

Why she puts up with your sorry ass, is beyond me. Must be the sympathy thing.

Yeah, but it works for me.

 

[scubatech]

Hey Rad,

I have the Georgia Pacific brand vinyl on my house and it seems fine to me, as Denver has some weird ass weather swings as well. you can get the standard version that i have or the foam backed which has better insulation values. Home Depot will do install & sales for a fair price. I'm with you on NO-MAINT! Good Luck.

Ken.

 

[RonBB]

Built a new house about 20 years ago. We used stained cedar siding. The cedar needed to be power sprayed down to raw boards every 3-4 years or so. About 5 years ago we had steel siding (sold by Alcoa Aluminium-go figure) installed over the cedar. The steel had a non-prorated warrently for 50 years. So far I am very happy with it. I figure it will pay for itself in about 3-4 restainings of the orginal cedar. Location near Kansas City, MO. Temperature ranges -20 to 106 degrees or so. A plus is the steel doesn't ding with the hail as easily as the aluminium. No affiliation with manufacturers or installing contractors. Good luck.

 

[twowheelnut]

Well, mr. third radperson... Just color stucco the fucker and hire day help for cheap beer and pickled eggs once every 5 years to power wash the bastige.

Yet another reason the 'Nut prefers condo living. No exterior responsibilities = less headaches, backaches and more time to wreck motorcycles and shit.

 

[mdisher]

My house is an Al sided house. Don't do that! With experience comes enlightenment and Al is NOT the way to go. Ping me via PM for details should you want the +/-.

Aluminum is baaaaaad, unless you're gonna sell it real soon.

The stuff dents, trees, bushes that rub up again it scratch it, etc, etc.

Run away!

 

[jestal]

Rad, I'm doing exactly the same thing you are this summer with the house. After much research and reviewing about 25 properties done in several different materials here is what I am using:

CraneBoard vinyl siding. https://www.vinyl-siding.com/solidcore_overview.asp I'm using the craneboard double 7 version. This ain't your father's vinyl siding. Much thicker, backed with styrofoam for stiffness and added insulation. I put a sample in the freezer and pounded on it with a hammer and it did not break so the stuff is pretty tuff. Looks excellent on the walls I've seen it on. It comes in only two panel strips (instead of the more typical 3 panel strips) to cut down on the "joint effect" that makes some siding look so cheap.

Nailite shakes. https://www.nailite.com/ We're using the handsplit version but the rough sawn is nice, too. Very thick, excellent backing and mounting system.

Both of these products are very firmly attached to the wall with interlocking sections at top and bottom. I put up several panels and tried to rip them off without tools and got no-where. Pretty tough stuff and definitely wind proof.

Trust me, I am absolutely no fan whatsoever of vinyl siding. Hated the stuff and the way it looks....or....I hated the old, cheap, thin, poor quality stuff. This stuff is not cheap, excellent quality and will easily pass the "10 foot test" for whether it's real wood or plastic. The Nailite shakes are uncanny in their real look. The only thing that gives them away is that they are just "too perfect" with no blemishes or splits.....LOL.

The installer makes or breaks the job. Period. Best stuff in the world looks can look like crap..just more expensive crap. The surface has to be sound, flat and with solid mounting provisions to avoid bulges, bows, loose pieces, etc. The installer I refuses to go over old siding, instead ripping down to the base material so as to start with a flat, sound surface. Don't cheap out on the prep and underlayment for the material. String a mason line down the walls to be sided to see if they are flat and not wavy. Correct any waveness with thicker/thinner/more layers of foam board before siding as the siding will just accent the waviness. Stretch some strings down the walls before the installer comes to bid the job so he KNOWS you are serious about having non-wavy siding.

We're going with the CraneBoard over T1-11 siding. That siding is in good shape and will be covered with a 1 inch layer of foam board before the siding is installed. The other side of the house is cedar siding that will be totally removed down to the OSB underlayment, 1 inch foam board and then the Nailite.

Trim is all in aluminum as it can be custom bent and fitted. Some really talented installers/fabricators of aluminum trim out there also. The guy I picked already did one window frame and it looks like the window factory did it.

Soffits will be a combination of vinyl and formed aluminum.

Make sure the installer will take the time to have custom color silicon caulk mixed up to match the job. Costs more and takes more time but critical to making it "invisible."

Only wood I'm keeping is the large faux vertical rough-sawn beams on the house exterior that just wouldn't look right covered in smooth aluminum.

One trick I have seen and learned from talking with several installers is to lap the siding joints strategically to reduce the shadow of the end of the joint. If you see the wall from one direction promarily then lap the joint so the lap is away from your normal sight line, or the sight line from the street, so it is less obvious.

 

[Grumpy]

I agree with Jestal in that the contractor is the key, regardless of the material. I know you said the Hadiplank wasn't in the budget, but in my book it's clearly the best stuff!!

Jim

 

[radman]

Hired a contractor last night. Alside Vinyl, lifetime warranty against fading and hail damage, transferable, cat 5 wind tested, TyVeck wrap, aluminum trim, rain gutters, soffits, whole schlemiel 15G. In business 30 years, tons of references, 0 BBB claims, Angies list, checked a few places they had done, beautiful work, happy customers. Thats about all I can do, I guess. Thanks guys, and Jestal, I agree about hating vinyl, but the new stuff looks nice. Sometime you're gonna have to write a scrambled egg recipe...

 

[Bounce]

we're doing the same thing. with the recent major hail damage in the area, we're already going with a roof repair, so while there we're also getting the gutters and siding done. heavy mil Alcoa vinyl w/lifetime warranty. the trick is that we have an all brick house with hip roofs so it's mostly the soffits with 2 bay windows in the dinning room. That'll keep the cost of the siding minimized.

 

[jestal]

Sometime you're gonna have to write a scrambled egg recipe...

I'm working on that. I've visited several egg farms already doing the research......