To developers and builders in the area.. (Charleston, Mount Pleasant: real estate, houses)

[Maryjane55us]

And another thing..

I keep noticing that in relatively new houses/condo's down there, that the heating/air systems have been replaced.. plus they advertise new roofs, new water/heaters in fairly new homes.

Roofs should last 20 yrs min, and HVAC systems similar, shouldn't they?

Is the weather so pervasive that these need to be replaced so soon?

[StarryEyedSurprise]

Originally Posted by Maryjane55us

And another thing..

I keep noticing that in relatively new houses/condo's down there, that the heating/air systems have been replaced.. plus they advertise new roofs, new water/heaters in fairly new homes.

Roofs should last 20 yrs min, and HVAC systems similar, shouldn't they?

Is the weather so pervasive that these need to be replaced so soon?

No, it's the cheap materials that new home builders use to build the houses.

[moneill]

I like the look of cement plank better.

[moneill]

Also -- cement plank is considered to be more durable and require less maintenance. Vinyl can fade, become brittle, etc.

[moneill]

Maybe not gone -- but back to more reasonable numbers.

[jesposito]

Originally Posted by moneill

We would never buy a vinyl siding house. That's the problem with many in Charleston. It would have to be a deal to convert to cement plank.

Take a drive through White Gables in Summerville and you'll see whay alot of builders in the 150-2280k range won't do cement board. after 3-4 years the houses start looking very "weathered". There are a multitude of houses in White Gables that are in desperate need of a paint job but maybe the homeowner just doesnt have an extra 5k laying around to do it. it may make sense in the higher end where people have alot of extra money laying around but not for most. Vinyl doesnt fade, has a 20 year warranty, cleans off very easily and essentially requires no maintenance. some one give some REAL disadvantages to vinyl if there are any...

[OleTomCat]

I like brick, never needs painting, won't ever fade and when it gets dirty you just blast the hell out of it with the pressure washer and it is as good as new.....

My second choice is a log home, actually I think a log home would be my first choice even though it is a high maintenance finish.

[Maryjane55us]

Take a drive through White Gables in Summerville and you'll see whay alot of builders in the 150-2280k range won't do cement board. after 3-4 years the houses start looking very "weathered". There are a multitude of houses in White Gables that are in desperate need of a paint job but maybe the homeowner just doesnt have an extra 5k laying around to do it. it may make sense in the higher end where people have alot of extra money laying around but not for most. Vinyl doesnt fade, has a 20 year warranty, cleans off very easily and essentially requires no maintenance. some one give some REAL disadvantages to vinyl if there are any...

I agree with you on the advantages of very low maintenence with vinyl. 15 yrs in coastal NC and we've been through quite a few hurricanes and never had siding damage. It always amazes me to read in covenants, NO vinyl siding allowed.

I'm part of the minority that likes it and would use it again. If we had to shell out 5k to repaint every 5 yrs (15k by now) along with all the other continuing maintenence costs of ownership, we'd be in the poorhouse.

Our 15 yr old house was built with a brick front and white vinyl on the sides and back. It always bugged me that they didn't do one or the other.. and mostly, that they didn't use colored vinyl to blend with the brick. To me, that would be more attractive.

I think what disgusts a lot of people are those white 'vinyl villages', where empty farmlands are filled with white after white house with no green trees to offset the "glare" of all that white. Vinyl comes in many colors.. why repeat white and more white? is white cheaper?

[mrpeatie]

The cmentitious fiberboard is actually better than wood at holdign paint. I think a bigger issue is that in much of this area you have to pressure wash yearly. I have seen plenty of homes that looked horrid clean right up after being washed.

I have also seen faded vinyl and unfortunately a lot of people choose less attractive profiles of it. One of the good things about vinyl is that when you do pressue wash it you do not have to worry about stripping paint although some poeple do use too powerful of machines and someties strip of the vinyl (not sure how they don't notice that as they move along or why after blasting one piece someone woould do it over and over.) But again it is vastly easier to tack back up than patching brick or siding.

I do not think there is one perfect type of siding for this area. Unfortunately we also see alot of poorly painted (often skipping a cat o the prep work) siding, poorly executed or detialed brick and poorly selected vinyl (because yeah white vinyl is pretty hopeless.) At least they beat the glory that was the shoddy EIFS job of the 90s. Which has turned people off of real stucco which can actually be quite nice.

[moneill]

I like brick too.

Maybe in Summerville there wasn't a good installer. Here in Atlanta -- those older homes look fine.