Vinyl Siding

[mlwear]

Any opinions about vinyl siding for a home (not sure if it could be used for anything else, but want to be specific)?

We currently have masonite and there are some places that are rotting. We really need to put new siding on the house.

Everyone seems to be getting vinyl siding and we had decided that is what we would do.

Before I called anyone for estimates, I did some research. It is hard to find unbiased sources of information. The vinyl siding companies flood the Internet with information about thier product. I did find a few though... (one was Bob Villa, another was about.com, plus some others I can't remember off the top of my head)

They were all very negative about vinyl siding. They said it would not add any value to your home (I know it would ours as our current siding is rotting and we have a neighbor who could not sell his house until he put on vinyl siding ). They claimed it would not make your home more energy efficient. Said wood is actually a better sound barrior, vinyl is extremely bad for the environment, vinyl despite the quality scratches easily, it will fade in a few years and will be nearly impossible to match if a repair is needed, it isn't attractive, isn't waterproof and often water gets trapped under, if your house catches fire vinyl is much worse...I think I covered all the cons.

We don't have a historic house. Our neighborhood regs. require a painted/colored or brick house (no natural wood look). The vast majority have vinyl siding.

I have heard on TV that masonite isn't a good product (lawyers filing a class action lawsuit), so I don't think fixing our problem areas and painting would be a good fix. Anyone disagree?

We cannot afford brick, I am sure. I don't know how much it would cost to replace masonite with another type of wood and paint it. It would have to be somewhat comparable to good vinyl siding. I'm guessing it is more expensive.

Anyone with opinions or ideas? Your experiences and advice with siding whether vinyl or wood is greatly appreciated? TIA.

 

[just.me]

i like the LOW Maintenance of vinyl
and am putting up www.certainteed.com siding
yuou can play on their site and 'see' what it looks like
If you can spend more $ they have a need vinyle that looks like shingles too!

I am not a salesperson Just a consumer

 

[Kay7979]

Check into Hardi-plank which I think is a cement fiber combination and can be made to look like regular board siding or shingle. Many of the new homes in our area that are high end homes are using this. I have a feeling it is not cheap. We have cedar on our home. Any type siding such as Hardi-plank or real wood also costs much more to install as pieces must be cut and fit exactly, whereas vinyl is easy to install and has a lot more tollerance in fitting it. Builders and handimen love vinyl because it's easy to install and cheap. Personally we don't like vinyl. We refer to vinyl sided homes as Plastic Houses. (sorry, don't mean to offend owners with vinyl siding). Another thing we hate about vinyl is that it expands and contracts with temperature changes and creaks when the weather is hot. If someone installs it a bit too tightly it also gets wavy. ARGH. If you can afford an alternative, it's nice, but vinyl is maintenance free and most people are just happy to have something that they don't have to paint.

 

[Disney Ontario]

Hi, from Paris, Ontario. Vinyl Siding is the BEST . Ok, my DH works here in Paris making the siding.(Mitten Vinyl) They have just signed a contract with Home Depot too.

 

[HM]

My last neighborhood had almost all homes build with Masonite. UGH UGH.
We were replacing boards every couple of years due to rot and painting every three years.

Originally the restrictive covenants did not allow for vinyl or hardiplank, but recently both have been used to reside people's homes. Both look really good.

My new house had hardiplank (that's that standard for the new neighborhood) and we are SO happy.

 

[DisneyTarheel]

Get some quotes on cement board (hardi-plank) replacement. We have hardboard (masonsite) on 3 sides of our house and it is about as long lasting as cardboard if not properly installed, and then must be caulked and painted every 3 or 4 years to maintain. As some of the boards in moisture attracting areas (e.g., around bottoms of bay-windows, or near deck flashing) have deteriorated, we have had those planks replaced with hardi-plank.

To re-do all three sides of the house in hardi-plank would have probably run around $15k to 20k. Much of that is labor, since they can be a pain to cut and will eat up saw blades very quickly.

 

[corie161]

My husband is a contractor and around here vinyl siding is used a lot. We have it on our home, as does a good majority of the homes in our town. We have never had a problem with scratches, or anything. I personally don't think it cheapens the look of the home, especially considering the alternative to peeling paint and the like.

I'm not familiar enough with Masonite to even know exactly what your speaking of.

Maybe it's the general area of your home, regarding how you feel it 'looks'.

 

[mlwear]

Do you think hardi-plank increases the value of your home significantly?
Looks like a great product, but as others have said the cost for installation is pricey. This won't be our forever home.
I wouldn't expect a huge return on the investment. But, it seems that hardi-plank is gaining popularity quickly and buyers will soon commonly know what it is. I think the true return on vinyl siding for US would be very little if anything because current siding needs replaced. (Yes, it is like cardboard. )
We have enough $ set aside to pay for quality vinyl. We used friends' prices and put in a nice buffer. Big decision is whether or not to dip into other money or finance (maybe the company will have 0% will certain number of months???)

 

[mlwear]

My husband is a contractor and around here vinyl siding is used a lot. We have it on our home, as does a good majority of the homes in our town. We have never had a problem with scratches, or anything. I personally don't think it cheapens the look of the home, especially considering the alternative to peeling paint and the like.

I'm not familiar enough with Masonite to even know exactly what your speaking of.

Maybe it's the general area of your home, regarding how you feel it 'looks'.

Most houses around here have vinyl siding, too. I think they look fine, but after reading all the negatives about vinyl siding, it makes me second guess.

Masonite can surely be explained better by someone else, but it is basically a special pressed together wood fiber.


Has anyone applied for the class action lawsuit regarding Masonite? I guess you have to have a certain brand. I got the kit a while back, but it seemed like so much work.

 

[corie161]

Most houses around here have vinyl siding, too. I think they look fine, but after reading all the negatives about vinyl siding, it makes me second guess.

Like I said, it's a possibility that the negative comments on the vinyl siding is from an area where it's not a popular siding option. Around here I would venture a guess that 75-80% of homes would go with vinyl siding, if not that maybe steel siding.

Maybe siding varies like the popularity of popcorn ceilings. We have them and they simply don't bother me, it's ceiling for pete's sake, but others would rather die than have them. I don't walk around with my head staring up at the ceiling to even hardly notice if someone has them. Maybe if they were loaded to the gills with glitter.

 

[mickeyfan2]

There are three grades of vinyl siding - builder's grade, premium builder's grade and what the builder puts on his house. The third on is of excellent quality and will come with a 20+ year waranty against fading. We got ours from Alcoa. A few years later one square (how siding is measure and is enough to cover a 10 foot square) changed color. They send us enough siding to redo our home and the money for labor and removal of material. They stood behind their product. The new siding has been up for years an still looks great. We have extra siding in our garage for any repairs. BTW ours looks like stained cedar siding and most people have to touch it because they don't believe us it is vinyl.

 

[kate]

If given a choice, I would not install vinyl siding. My mother had it installed on her house and had a host of problems, including water damage under the siding. Poor work-manship or poor siding, I do not know which. Also, natural products tend to grow more beautiful with age. Siding tends not to age well. If it is your only option though, I am sure that with a little research you can find suitable siding and skilled installers. Good luck in whatever you choose.

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

and love it!! It is so low maintainence. If it gets dirty, you just hose it off!! We love it and will never have anything but that on our home. Most of the homes in my area have that. Not only is it washable, but you never have to paint it!!!

 

[kfeuer]

Has anyone applied for the class action lawsuit regarding Masonite? I guess you have to have a certain brand. I got the kit a while back, but it seemed like so much work.

I can't remember our exact brand of siding, but we sent in a claim and got something like $6,000 back! Yes, it's a headache, but worth doing!

 

[corie161]

If given a choice, I would not install vinyl siding.

I worry that our world is turning into plastic...When we were house shopping we refused to look at houses with vinyl siding; as our realtor said, "What are the home-owners trying to hide?". I think of vinyl siding along the same lines as plastic fences, not pleasant to look upon and a product that tends not to gain beauty with age...

See, that again must be the difference in location, if I were house shopping, I would tend to look at a house with low maintenance siding and not one that was wood painted. IMO nothing would look worse tha chipping paint. Same thing with fences. The vinyl fencing products. Who wants to do all that tedious painting?

 

[mlwear]

I can't remember our exact brand of siding, but we sent in a claim and got something like $6,000 back! Yes, it's a headache, but worth doing!

yes, that is worth a headache--a migraine even.

Wow. That's all I can say.

 

[buzz5985]

I have cedar clapboards on my house. Most of the houses in the NorthEast still have wood. You find more vinyl in the cities, or on newer construction that is built with cheaper materials.

Another option besides painting the wood, is staining. The stain is absorbed into the wood. This is what we have on our house. It doesn't peel, it fades. Our stain lasted about 10 years, before we had to to it again.

 

[rparmfamily]

We have Hardiboard on the front of our house and around the bottom. The rest is the wood that rots (can't remember the name.) My subdivision was involved in the lawsuit (before I was here) and my owners put Hardiboard up, while both my neighbors put up vinyl. The vinyl just looks cheap and plasticy compared to the Hardiboard. I love it! (it's great for areas w/termities too!) From what I understand, it's the areas around the bottom of the home that rot, I stil see a few homes in my area that need to be repaired.

 

[simpilotswife]

I'll second the poster who made the comment about wavy siding.

Vinyl siding tends to buckle if it is not installed correctly. If you decide to go that route get a good brand but also take a look at some older installs that the contractor has done. If it's gonna buckle it doesn't take long....maybe a year or two.

The house up the street has that problem. It was gutted and remodeled but done cheaply. Now their siding is buckled and the trim is coming off in places.

 

[mlwear]

We have Hardiboard on the front of our house and around the bottom. The rest is the wood that rots (can't remember the name.) My subdivision was involved in the lawsuit (before I was here) and my owners put Hardiboard up, while both my neighbors put up vinyl. The vinyl just looks cheap and plasticy compared to the Hardiboard. I love it! (it's great for areas w/termities too!) From what I understand, it's the areas around the bottom of the home that rot, I stil see a few homes in my area that need to be repaired.

I talked to our home owners assoc. yesterday. They were pushing the hardi board. The HOA just approved it's use. I think I'll get an estimate, but I know the installation is going to be a lot.
But, I looked at the Masonite class action lawsuit info. last night. I need to be sure we have the correct brand. If so, we could recover some cost. DH said he doesn't think recovering from the lawsuit seems right. I told him, I don't think siding that rots is right either! There is an adjustment for the age of the house. I'm looking into it.
Meanwhile, DH chose the most expensive vinyl siding company in town to give us an estimate this Friday.
We must do something about our siding. It doesn't look like it's falling off, but there are many places that have rotted. (Yes, some around the bottom, but more on the side of the house that seems to get the majority of the weathering.) BUT, the current plan is to move in a couple of years. Trying to decide how much we want to invest in a house we will sell in 2 years, maybe less.