vinyl siding

[Terry]

Who has it and likes it? Who has it and dislikes it?

How about a brick home with vinyl trim?

[Eric in North TX]

I have some, on my rear wall off my patio. I like it for that location as it can be pressure washed. I did it myself and used all the trim pieces ( which is the difference between an average and a pro looking job). It has been up 10 years, and hasn't deteriorated at all in-spite of 2 times per year pressure washing. I put it over plywood, and that made for a very smooth even wall. The rest of the house is being done in hardy board, as time and money permit, my existing lap siding was / is so bad that it couldn't be skinned over or I might have considered continuing the vinyl. Our house is a work in progress, I may even live long enough to finish it.

[bigjim]

[ephedralover]

I saw a very good documentry on vinyl siding on HBO. Might want to check it out.

[Tater]

ok, i'll bite.

I just bought my first house, an old farmhouse on a fieldstone basement. the house was converted to 2 rentals ten years ago, and was vinyl sided.

well, the metal roof leaks, next spring it is going to be replaced, but i wonder how long it has been leaking, and how much dammage is done to the internal walls. also, no one has done any maintenance on the feildstone, and a lot of the mortar is crumbling, a winter project for me (no loose stones, no structural collapse, I think i got there in time)

a lot of the gutters are missing, and the north side has some green stuff growing on it (lichen? light moss?) that can be washed off. the sioding looks ok, but there are 1 or 2 places where something impacted and broke a hole in the vinyl. no way to repair without tearing a lot of stuff off and then replacing, but I think i'll just patch them (ugly, but I'll live with it)

Bought the house for the price that most flipped houses get for proffit, so i am not complaining, financing put's payments under rent, and it is bigger than most houses (2200+ sq ft)

would i think about vinyl over brick? no. the way the field stone looks, I'd say you'd have to re-point the brick in 15-20 years, and then you'd have to remove all the siding, and by that time you may not be able to find replacement pieces for any "oops" at that time.

Vinyl over wood? maybe, depends on roof overhang size, leakage potenital, hidden dammage potential, and other factors.

[Dan Espen]

I love it. Got ours 17 years ago. Still looks new.

Not all vinyl siding looks the same. Here's a shot of the back of our house:

That particular color and texture looks clean for years. I've pressure washed the house once in 17 years. It didn't really need it except on the north for some algae.

One weakness, some of the trim broke in a hail storm a few years ago. The repairs were easy.

[Raider Bill]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

My house had it when built in 1978. Still looks good and if it stays the same, will be good for another 25 - 30 years. Easy to maintain and no painting. I'd do it again.

As for trim, I don't see why not. I used to do aluminum capping over wood, but that was 30 years ago. Houses I did still look very good.

[Dan Espen]

That's Nailite "Cedar Shake". The color is called Weathered White. It's a thick vinyl.

Many people stand right next to it and don't know it's vinyl. It costs more than plain vinyl siding.

[Tom G]

My experience is that you don't want it if you live near water and have any lights on at night. The light coming through the window or yard lights will attract flying insects. These attract spiders which feed on the insects. The result is small black "doo,doo" spots all over the siding. I have not found anything short of sandpaper that will get the dots off. Other than that, the only problem has been that weed whackers will make a mess out of the corners if you hit the siding and the lawnmower will put rocks (and walnuts) right through it.

Tom G.

[Rich256]

I have had Alcoa vinyl for 17 years. Looks great.

A neighbor has metal on the side of his house. The paint is pealing off.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That must sound neat, like church bells.

[Rich256]

Hey, I checked that with a spelling checker:-). Really not that I didn't know better. It is just that I am a rather fast typist and words just come out without my thinking. When a word ends with "in" I automatically add a "g".

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The "g" is OK, but the "a" made the chimes ring. Meantime, just sit back peel a banana and listen to the bells peal.

[Tom G]

And just to be a little snitty about it...isn't the word "off" at the end of sentence a little superfluous? Like where would the paint go when it peels if not off? Now, what were we talking about, anyway? Did we answer the OPs question?

Tom G

[Iggy]

replying to Terry, Iggy wrote: Since, apparently, no-one else has any spine or brains and doesn't want to offend vinyl. I COMPLETELY DISLIKE IT and my "stuff" (being kind) is 4-years newer than this question. Mine made it a "whopping" (horrible) 5-years of annual hose-offs until it looked hideous, looked like the house had been neglected for

30-years.

I don't have any treetops within 50-feet of the house and the house only has low-level minor bushes out front, Sun hits all sides of the house. Vinyl DOES NOT wash itself in the rain! I just spent Painting-Efforts to clean mine back to new. FROM BRAND NEW TO DUMPY IN 5-YEARS!

So no, vinyl is only a mistake and should be banned from the market, due to so much water waste and public nuisance eyesore on houses that don't wash regularly or MAINTAIN the siding. Aluminum and Steel are THE BEST and beat vinyl hands down.

You'll get 50-years of TRULY maintenance-free with Aluminum or Steel. And you can re-paint those with a Metal Purposed spray paint (Krylon, Rustoleum, Automotive, etc.) to get another 20-years per re-paint with no threat of the siding being dried-out and ready to break away and kill someone, like the vinyl crap. SIMPLE FACT, plastic dries out and then shatters, period...metal doesn't.