Metal or vinyle siding

Vinyl can be deformed by heat, or if it's cheap, can break if it gets too cold and struck. On the other hand, in normal temperatures, it will deflect and not "kink" if hit lightly, and it doesn't make a lot of expansion and contraction noise compared to metals. It is pretty much the same "colour" right through too, so it doesn't show scratches so bad.

I had a home with aluminum siding on it, made by Alcoa called Super

40........In less than 5 years time you could run your hand on the siding and get oxidation off it, and it got awfully dull looking. It was easily damaged (dented) with hail, kids etc.

I am not keen on the steel siding on a house except for perhaps a roof....Commercial steel type vertical siding does good on commercial or home shops though.

I put vynil siding on the house we now have back in the early 80';s and all it takes is an ocasional washing, it has yet to dent., break or split or discolor. I have damaged it on occasion and its easily repaired. Been though hurricanes and numerous hail storms and it comes through unphased........and its in full sun most of the year in a hot humid climate. Srtay with a top line brand of vynil and you will be ok, but the cheaper junk some places sell is trouble in a few years.

For some reason or other, I think vertical type siding (typical steel siding) looks better on a garage, shop or commercial building than horrizontal does, unless the garage is designed to compliment or go with the design of the house.

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

We've had Alcoa siding on our house for several years. There has been no noticeable deterioration from weather, etc. Supposedly, it is a combination of aluminum and vinyl. The outer side is a heavy layer of vinyl. It beats painting, that's for sure. Also, it covers the wood and brickwork so you can't see the cracks and damage from foundation shifting. Now, the foundation doesn't shift as badly as the house we had before. There, I came home drunk one night and broke the key off in the front door lock because it had moved over about 10 inches!

Neither...it all looks crappy compared to a good wood siding finish. This is especially true of most vinyl as the joints tend to be very apparent due to the height being the equivalent of 2 boards.

I currently have vinyl that is about 20 years old and it's starting to degrade due to oxidation. There is also some brittleness and small cracks where a light bump has broken the material. In terms of washing, variations from underneath (studs and such) leave stripes due to different rates of temperature related oxidation and it tends to grow mildew and such in the fake wood embossed pattern on the north facing side of the house. It's also moved over time due to high expansion and contraction to the point where I have to slide panels back in place to cover gaps from the walking (sometimes hard to do on long panels)

I'd go for quality wood and a good paint job any day, even at 4 times the cost.

Koz

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote:

You must enjoy painting one hell of a lot more than I do. I'd go miles out of my way to avoid having wood that needed painting, especially if one lives where it's moist. From what I've seen, you can't keep a good enough paint job on wood to keep it from cracking, and once it does that, you're faced with endless painting because water gets behind the wood and releases the paint. We chose vinyl over aluminum for the soffit and fascia on our shop, and will do the same on the house we're building. It requires almost no maintenance, only the occasional pressure washing. Mind you, I'm not nuts about vinyl, but it's much better than painting each year.

Harold

Check the price of Red Cedar clapboards or shingles.They ain't cheap but much cheaper than wood+paint. There is very little waste since you can buy in the appropriate lengths.

Looked in the drawer and spent 1650 bucks for material, western red cedar clear, clapboards .70 cents a linear foot 4 years ago. 2340 linear feet did a 1600 sq ft addition[lotsa windows] IIRC it took 2 guys about

2 days to do it, manually nailing ss nails.

Well, yea. I guess I should have added the caveat that I don't really mind painting so that does bias things a little :)

Koz

I agree, but it is a matter of personal taste. I think the best product now is cement-fiber, e.g., Hardie board. It is *indistinguishable* in appearance from wood siding. Also comes in shingle form. Guaranteed for 50 years (siding). Can get it factory painted, paint guaranteed for

15 years.

My neighbor, a carpenter, said the only thing you need to break into a vinyl sided house is a knife.

Wayne.

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:34:00 -0500, the opaque Wayne spake:

He can cut through the vinyl siding + 7/16" OSB + insulation + drywall with a knife? He's GOOD!

All you need to break into almost any house is a set of picks, OR a rock, OR a heavy foot, OR an 18v cordless chainsaw, OR the spare key so many idiots leave outside their house in case they lose their main key. ;)

----- = Dain Bramaged...but having lots of fun! =

Comprehensive Website Development

============================================== Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked! "The original frugal ponder" ~~~~ } ~~~~~~ } ~~~~~~~ }

Tell your neighbor, the carpenter, that he'd have no success with his knife breaking into our house. Under what ever finish we choose to apply (including vinyl siding, although we aren't going to use it) he'd run into

6" diameter concrete columns @ 15" centers, both vertically and horizontally, reinforced with #5 rebar in both directions. That means the opening he intends to crawl through is only 9" square, and is solid polystyrene and cement (not concrete). Wish him luck!

Harold

Yep! Almost all security devices are for honest people, to help them resist unusual temptation. If someone is hell bent on breaking in, they will. We *enjoyed* that game a little over a year ago. The precision tool the burglar used was a rock.

Harold

| > I'd go for quality wood and a good paint job any day, even at 4 times | > the cost. | >

| > Koz | | You must enjoy painting one hell of a lot more than I do. I'd go miles out | of my way to avoid having wood that needed painting, especially if one lives | where it's moist.

When I was a kid my old man bought a truckload of 1x12 cedar boards. Sided the whole house with 'em, vertically. Gapped the boards about 1/4" apart and ripped a bunch of 1x2" or so to cover the gaps. Thirty years later they are still there and looking fine. Zero maintenance, except for that woodpecker who had a thing for one particular spot. Under the eaves was still red, but the rest has been gray forever. Don't have to do a thing to it. My dad's long gone, but recently my mother had it pressure washed and stained back to a pretty color. Don't think the stain will last as long as the wood did the first time around, but it's still very nice. Very wise decision my old man made, that's for sure. This house is in north east Texas, where the fierce sun and driving rain makes a brittle mess of any vinyl, burns up the paint of aluminum siding, and peels up the best latex paint in a year or so. The only maintenance we ever had to do to the house after that was to paint the window frames and whatnot that didn't get covered.

Unfortunately, I don't think a thousand bucks will get you a six ton truck full of cedar anymore!

Can't speak for cost, but there's still plenty of (Western Red) cedar out there if you want it. We grow it on our property, along with incense cedar..

Harold

Similar story: 43 or so years ago our house was shingled with red cedar. Never painted nor stained. Today the west side has some shingles curling and lifting. That's the side with the worst weather. The shingles on the north and east sides are fine.

Bob

Depending on your area, there may be places that have no sheathing under the vinyl siding. An example is part of my garage walls where the building codes didn't require it. Want my tools, cut through the 5 feet of wall that extends beyond the main house.

Koz

The building code is a _minimum_ standard. You are welcome (and well advised) to exceed it.

Ted