House siding preferences besides vinyl?

13 years ago

We will need to re-side our house. Take off the old siding. Maybe even replace the sheeting beneath. Definitely flash the whole house better.

It was built cheaply in the '70s with masonite-like siding over fiberboard sheeting - that fuzzy siding coated with tar on one side. Enough with the horror story...

Any preferences on siding materials? My prejudice is that vinyl is not "green" and is really bad in a fire.

Cement board? Cedar? Bark? other?

Featured Answer

izzie

13 years ago

A few houses in my neighborhood had aluminum siding, it looks really nice. One thing good about it was that it came on a large roll so there are no overlapping/seams, whatever it's called, one continuous piece. Of course not a do it yourself project. My sister has major problems with some vinyl siding after a few years it starting getting brittle. You could run your fingernails across it and gouge it, also color faded. They tried to get them to honor lifetime warrenty, no luck. The state couldn't help because the Corp office was out of state. This was a big name siding company, no honor. Probably has since closed up moved and changed name.

Comments (7)

User
13 years ago
Hardie-plank, installed over 1" or 2" thick rigid foam.

But, the sheathing needs to be changed to at least 1/2" OSB.
measure_twice
Original Author
13 years ago
Handymac, I had not considered exterior foam. The nails do not sag supporting Hardie-plank through 2 inches of foam?

Replacing with OSB is essentially rebuilding the exterior. OK. Hmm - how to manage the existing doors and windows with the thicker exterior?

But it is a small house with 9 moderate windows. I will price out the materials and see what it runs. There are some zero or low interest loans for certain energy efficiency improvements.
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User
13 years ago
We used screws to install the siding, nailers were not yet in our budget(working for Habitat for Humanity). OSB sheathing, 1" rigid foam installed with the plastic washered nails, and the planking installed with 2&1/2" screws.

We used 7" wide planks with a 5" reveal.
don92
13 years ago
Being a bit of a traditionalist It took me awhile to except cement board siding but since the late 90's would not use anything else. It holds stain well and is a breese to restain and does not rot.
Hardie hangs like a shingle and in a strong wind there can be some movement. For that reason ridged insulation behind it can, as you said, cause it to move more and a screw, no matter the length, does not have a big enough head on it to adequitly hold the board. 2" roofing nails are what most people use.
chris8796
13 years ago
I replaced our vinyl with fiber cement last year. I also added novabrik to one side. Everything was over 1" foam and housewrap. It is also the perfect time to change the windows, actually last year was the perfect time when they offered a 30% tax credit. So far, I really like the fiber cement.
peteinsonj
13 years ago
Consider what's being done in your neighborhood & community. Where I used to live, vinyl was very popular and considered a plus when selling. But where I live now, most people don't want vinyl. Hardi-plank is used here a lot.

Ask your neighbors & a realtor or two.

Good luck!