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Vinyl vs. Cedar siding

GuvamintCheeseGuvamintCheese Member Posts: 38,932
edited June 2005 in General Discussion
I just want to thank everyone that responded to my question on vinyl vs. cedar siding...I also want to follow up to let everyone know I didnt use either! I went with the new cement fiber that some had recomended. I will let you know in 20 yrs how its holding up.
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    GuvamintCheeseGuvamintCheese Member Posts: 38,932
    edited November -1
    I have to reside my house and cant decide. I hate plastic (but do own a glock)but it is supposedly indestructable, cedar needs maintenence I think, and it looks alot better. Help
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    Rifleman30Rifleman30 Member Posts: 68 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Vinyl is final[8D]

    Just when I thought I had gotten away it pulled me back in.
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    select-fireselect-fire Member Posts: 69,453 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Termites don't eat vinyl.[:)]
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    bsallybsally Member Posts: 3,165
    edited November -1
    quote:supposedly indestructable
    Nope! Hail, big ones, will crack and put holes in it. Cedar will cost a bunch more and has to be painted/stained. But, resale will be higher if that is a consideration.

    SALLY
    Committee member-Ducks Unlimited
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    greeker375greeker375 Member Posts: 3,644
    edited November -1
    Don't look at vinyl as substandard. They make it in lots of different looks (cedar shake) as opposed to the straight 4" - 6" slats. Can really make a house look rustic until you get right up to it.





    "the difference between the almost right word and the right word is like the difference between a lightning bug and a lightning bolt" - Mark Twain.
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    Cedar is more expensive and looks better (IMO), but there are the maintenance issues. I'd go with vinyl. They have some pretty nice vinyl siding out now that almost looks like the real thing...actually, if you stand back about 30 yards you would not be able to tell the difference at a glance. Some of it even has multiple colors in the grain to make it look more like wood. Vinly will go on quicker too.

    Eric

    All American Arms Company

    www.galleryofguns.com
    VIP Code: AAAC

    Veteran Owned and Operated
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    WranglerWrangler Member Posts: 5,788 ✭
    edited November -1
    Spend the extra money and go for fiber/cement siding. Hardiplank is some good stuff. 50yr transferrable warrant and holds paint well.

    "If guns kill people, then I can blame my pencil for my spelling mistakes!" -- Larry the Cable Guy
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    Queen of SwordsQueen of Swords Member Posts: 14,355
    edited November -1
    Depends on how well shaded your house is. Our house has cedar shingles, must have been beautiful when the house was built and the trres were planted however, we are now heavilly shaded by 3 or 4 pine trees. Living in zone that gets a lot of rain, you can imagine the damage.

    Everyone is somebody's "weirdo".
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    dolfandolfan Member Posts: 4,159
    edited November -1
    Cedar. If not, check out this link for Hardi-Plank. I've seen this product used in a lot of new homes. It looks like wood siding, complete with grain. Comes pre-stained with a primer. 50 year warranty, non-combustible and energy efficeint. Cuts like wood, too.

    http://www.ecoproducts.com

    Clink on siding. Click James Hardi box for more info.
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    bobskibobski Member Posts: 17,868 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    our home was built in 52. it was painted once with oil base. ever since, dad never painted the house. in 2002 i stripped and spot sanded the cedar where it had no protection for 50 years. no rot at all. house is as new as the day it was built.
    vinyl is not final. try repairing a hole someday. you say just go to lowes and get a replacement strip? ha! it fades folks!
    rule of thumb, vinyl was created for a generation too lazy or too stupid to paint.
    instead of painting you wash it. vinyl attracts MOLD.
    vinyl is STUPID.
    be american....go with cedar, instead of adding to the unending expansion of a mega vinyl ant colony in this country.
    Retired Naval Aviation
    Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
    Former NSSA All American
    Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
    MO, CT, VA.
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    cntrmasscntrmass Member Posts: 395 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Cedar-lap siding is good stuff.Vinyl is good but leaves alot of weak spots in my point of view and it definately does not last forever because I have seen it crack and start to break up.I have used hardi plank and I had 2 pieces break on the way to the job from stress.It is pretty heavy stuff and long and thin.Cedar is a highly rot resistant wood naturally.I have some pieces of cedar that has never been treated and always been exposed to the elements and it has no rot at all.
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    Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    Our house was built in 1967 out of 2x6 T&G and 1x12" cedar. It was last painted about 20 years ago. It's ready to be painted again, but we're ready to change the color anyway. I wouldn't even consider any other siding. Painting once every 20 years could hardly be seen as upkeep intensive.
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    JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have built and lived in a few cedar sided homes and some even had interior rooms finished in cedar as well. It is a very attractive finish and is hard to do without once having it. That said, we found that the best way to care for it was 2 very heavy coats of 50% UV water sealer and 50% stain mix every few years. Ours was in direct sunlight on a waterfront area, so some extended life can be expected in other areas with less direct light.

    I have vinyl now, and can simply power-wash the house and be done with it. Far less work and easy to fix,...but nowhere near as pretty as Cedar.

    why chase the game when the bullet can get em from here?....
    Got Balistics?
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    mateomasfeomateomasfeo Member Posts: 27,143
    edited November -1
    Vinyl siding is an ecological nightmare.



    oswald.jpg

    Mateomasfeo

    "I am what I am!" - Popeye
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    gagirlgagirl Member Posts: 5,408
    edited November -1
    Vinyl is the cheap answer in the short run. I personally HATE the stuff. It becomes very brittle and within a few years cracks and breaks very easily. I know there is another appraiser on this board that can verify what I am saying. There is NO WAY to keep this stuff from drying out. I agree with whomever said the concrete fiber board is an option. The stuff is great. It is non combustible, looks almost just like wood, can be painted or stained, holds paint and stain better than wood so you dont have to maintain it as often. It is however brittle and you need a good knowledgeable person to install it. I put it on a house that I built and we sealed every run it was great. If you goto my profile and click on the link to my pic... somewhere in the albums is a pic of the house I built. I love the look of wood but the maintenance is too much for my taste. I personally would NEVER put vinyl on a house.


    Oh and you can get it in the cedar shake style too...its more expensive but better in the long run than the other 2 choices. That is if you intend on keeping the house long enough.

    its all about pucks and bucks
    smilie_schuetze.gif
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    tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    My wife loves vinyl siding. We have stucco on our present house but if we ever reside she wants vinyl.

    To me, at least in the KC area, vinyl siding is ugly. It makes a house look like it belongs in a trailer park. Humans need variety of colors, tones, textures, etc. on an object as large as a house. In the KC area the vinyl sided houses just look to me like some huge plastic box.

    JMHO

    4lizad
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    dakotashooter2dakotashooter2 Member Posts: 6,186
    edited November -1
    "but it is supposedly indestructable"

    [:0][:0][:0][:0][:0][:0][:0]

    As an inspector I am seeing a lot of vinyl going on up here. While it is easy to install and doesn't require painting that is about where the advantages end. It can get heat stressed, cracks /chips easily in cold temps (-20 in my area), crack chips when hit by hail. rocks & etc., exhibits considerable expansion/shrinkage to the point that the manufacturers recommended overlap of panels is not enough in subzero temps and warpage occures in high temps(you should see what happens when it goes from 20 degrees to 80 or vice versa in one day), is more succeptable to wind damage and when the wind does catch it the whole side of a wall may go in just minutes and I have also seen mold/fungus problems develop. Oh and don't use your BBQ grill too close to the house. I have seen more than one melted wall. It also ties you to one color for the life of the siding. I personally would not use it unless you think of it in the same light as shingles which should be replaced about every 15-20 years.
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    gagirlgagirl Member Posts: 5,408
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by dakotashooter2
    Oh and don't use your BBQ grill too close to the house. I have seen more than one melted wall. It also ties you to one color for the life of the siding. I personally would not use it unless you think of it in the same light as shingles which should be replaced about every 15-20 years.




    I forgot about the BBQ grills... oh and what a weed eater does to that stuff too....

    Dakota... have you ever actually seen any last 15-20 years? If so that is the best out there. The stuff around here starts looking bad after about 5-6 yrs.

    its all about pucks and bucks
    smilie_schuetze.gif
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    easygo6easygo6 Member Posts: 1,465 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dang!!!![:I]

    I would have thought vinyl would be the way to go upon reading this thread's title. I vinyl sided the detached shop and the large garden shed I built for my place. I can vouch for the brittleness of the stuff when a few years old and it is cold outside (used old vinyl stored for three years in a neigbor's back yard on the garden shed, tried to install it on a cool {50 f } day.

    If I was in a home for the long haul...so hard to say for many people these days, I would consider the concrete fiber board... Better looking, less mold risk, more durable, easy to change color.



    SEMPER FI
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    cowboy77845cowboy77845 Member Posts: 316 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The rental property mags around Ft. Hood (TEXAS) recommend handiplank. I just went thru this decision process on a house there. Vinly was not nearly as good according to the manager I talked to.
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    NighthawkNighthawk Member Posts: 12,022 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I really like the Vinyl Sideing because it has a lifetime warranty if it ever cracks from a rock thrown from the lawn tractor they will come replace it free.Plus they put 1/2 inch foam insulation under the sideing completely around our entire house,all the way to the attic.Our Heat pumps dont run nearly as much as they used to for the AC,and it takes much less to heat our home in the winter.

    Rugster




    "Toujours Pret"
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    Warpig883Warpig883 Member Posts: 6,459
    edited November -1
    Vinyl is ok as long as you know it will crack and shatter from hail, golfballs, baseballs, kids toys, weedeater string, ect, ect.

    I am not a number I am a free man

    sig

    Volin.gif
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    tr foxtr fox Member Posts: 13,856
    edited November -1
    Hey, come to think of it, what the heck every happened to the aluminum siding craze?

    4lizad
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    firstharmonicfirstharmonic Member Posts: 1,061 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My wife and I live in a two-story house that belonged to her deceased grandparents. About 35 years ago, they had it sided with vinyl. Aside from some storm damage due to extremely high winds (sustained speds of 70+ mph) a few years ago, it's still great - no chips, no cracks,no mold, not brittle. Our temperature varies from lows of minus 20 or so in the winter to highs in the 90's in the summer. I suspect that there are very different qualities of vinyl siding available, based on what others have experienced on this thread. We must have gotten lucky.



    If Wal-Mart is lowering prices every day,

    how come nothing is free yet?
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    wizard78wizard78 Member Posts: 3,144 ✭
    edited November -1
    Hardi Plank. Cuts perfectly with power shears. Use a air roofing nailer to put up. Seal and paint. Forget about it for 20 years unless you want to change color.
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    BOBBYWINSBOBBYWINS Member Posts: 7,810
    edited November -1
    "Termites don't eat vinyl."

    That's true,but they will eat the wood behind it and you'll never know it until it's too late.

    Case in point;I've owned a rent house for 20 or so years now.It's just an old wood frame house that was probably built in the '30's or so.It was already in pretty bad shape when I got it,but I spent some money on it sprucin' it up and everything was fine as rent houses go.I'd treat it for termites every year or so the best I could and then spot treat it whenever I saw more signs.

    Well,this thing is covered w/the old asbestos siding and I could see that one wood window on the North wall of the enclosed garage was gettin in bad shape ,so,I started diggin' to see what I was gonna need to fix it and guess what?Yep,the entire wall is eat up plumb to the ceilin'[:0][:(].

    Had the siding not been there,I'd have seen it long ago and could have prevented having to now go in and replace the entire wall.No tellin' how much more damage there is that I can't see because it's covered up.[V]

    BW(no siding of any type for me thank you very much)

    IT'S WHAT PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THEMSELVES THAT MAKES THEM AFRAID.
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    MVPMVP Member Posts: 25,074 ✭
    edited November -1
    If you can afford the real thing [cedar siding] then that would be what I would use.
    If you can't afford the real thing, then the imatation will save you some money and work just fine. It won't look as nice though


    ALL AMERICAN INFIDEL
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    sharpshooter039sharpshooter039 Member Posts: 5,897 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have been in the vinyl siding and window business most all my adult life and I'm still a factory rep for a window company.I will agree several years back vinyl siding had problems but the very worst siding made today is better than the very best made 5-10 yrs ago.Vinyl siding is like everything else you buy,you get what you pay for.If you go to a lumberyard and buy the $29.99 a square stuff you are not going to happy but if you go to a good distributor like an ABC Supply or Norandex/Reynolds and buy a panel that is at least .044 mill thick with a lifetime warrenty you will have no problems if installed correctly,good siding today will hardly fade and is pretty impact resistant but just for good measure throw a couple left over pieces in the attack just incase you ever need them,they do change colors and patterns in manufacturing every few years when the embosing wheel wears outso its always good to have a spare piece if needed.Hardy plank or any of the fiber cement boards are a good option but they DO NOT cut just like wood as said above,all of these panels are more carcinogenic than asbestos and cigeratte smoke put together,if you are cutting them with a skill type saw you better be wearing a mask,the only safe way to cut it is with power shears.Now with all that said the house I am living in right now has cedar siding,I went with cedar because I sell every 5-7 years and it has a high resale value,but all 3 products are good its just your preference


    [image]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/869284/nogunnextdoor.gif[/image]
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    gagirlgagirl Member Posts: 5,408
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by sharpshooter039
    all of these panels are more carcinogenic than asbestos and cigeratte smoke put together



    Never saw anything regarding cement fiber board being carcinogenic.. that would lead me to think... isnt all cement then a carcinogenic. I would highly doubt that cement siding causes cancer. Can you post some sources and/or test that support this? If you are refering to silicosis that is from any silica dust and does not always turn to cancer. It is nothing like asbestos or smokeing.

    its all about pucks and bucks
    smilie_schuetze.gif
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    sharpshooter039sharpshooter039 Member Posts: 5,897 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Never saw anything regarding cement fiber board being carcinogenic.. that would lead me to think... isnt all cement then a carcinogenic. I would highly doubt that cement siding causes cancer. Can you post some sources and/or test that support this?


    its not the board itself that will get you,,its the fiber/cement dust created if cut with a high speed saw,on most boxes it has a warning label about the dust and to use a mask,if you use shears its perfectly safe.I will dig up some articles on it for you,I have several out of the building industry mags.

    Here I went to James Hardy's website,read what they say about cutting it with a circular saw,and they are down playing it because its their product.
    http://www.jameshardie.com/builder/faq/default.php
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    gagirlgagirl Member Posts: 5,408
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by sharpshooter039
    quote:Never saw anything regarding cement fiber board being carcinogenic.. that would lead me to think... isnt all cement then a carcinogenic. I would highly doubt that cement siding causes cancer. Can you post some sources and/or test that support this?


    its not the board itself that will get you,,its the fiber/cement dust created if cut with a high speed saw,on most boxes it has a warning label about the dust and to use a mask,if you use shears its perfectly safe.I will dig up some articles on it for you,I have several out of the building industry mags.

    [image]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/869284/nogunnextdoor.gif[/image]




    No need to... I think you are talking about silicosis. It is a lung disese that sometimes turns into cancer.. I know what you are talking about. But do you realize how many things out there have silica dust in them? Jeeze Cement fiber board is the least of our worries.

    And as to Vinyl... there are some that are miles ahead of others, but I have still never seen any that can handle being in this area over 5-6 years without becoming very brittle. I think that the question is vinyl better than cedar is only one in a long string he should be asking... you know how long is he going to hold on to the house.... what is the real difference in resale value between the two.. the list could go on and on... there is a much bigger picture in reality.

    its all about pucks and bucks
    smilie_schuetze.gif
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    GuvamintCheeseGuvamintCheese Member Posts: 38,932
    edited November -1
    What a great thread, We are in the middle of making our minds up on which to choose( vinyl, cedar, fibreboard) and this is a real eye opener. I guess I need to be asking the question: " how much will it recoup itself in 10 years"? I am not planning on selling now but the kids will be gone in 3 years and who know then?
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    rswolffrswolff Member Posts: 113 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My father has had cedar siding on his cabin for 26 years and has never done a thing to it. It has weathered a nice grey. If you want it to remain brownish red, then you will have to stain it every few years.

    I used hemlock 1"x8" as siding on my cabin and have been more than happy with it. It's a heck of alot thicker than any cedar you could afford to buy, and alot less expensive.

    Another option which looks great is cypress. Check around. There are several sawmills in my area that sell these types of wood. You won't find them at Home Depot or Lowe's.

    I will never use vinyl on anything. It can hold moisture behind it and/or have insect problems before you realize it.



    "A gentleman learns how to suffer ignorance with a smile."
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