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The more I research this, the deeper I find that this debate goes. The debate between wood siding and vinyl siding, what magnifies this pickle I find myself in is that I have an old house, and some excerpts I have come across suggest that vinyl siding on an old house is not as effective and does not look as natural as the original wood siding.
Anyhow, let me start off by saying I have a 1,440 square foot house built in 1923 in Mishawaka Indiana, right next to South Bend Indiana (home of Notre Dame). My neighborhood is not a designated historic district, however many of the homes are very well up kept and some retain their original or as close to original architecture and siding as possible. I would wager that 50% or more of the houses in my neighborhood have added vinyl siding to their house, and in almost every case to my eye, it looks good.
My house, as far as I know, has the original wood siding. The paint on the southern side of the house is beginning to crack and peel in spots. Impossible to notice from a distance, but becoming very evident upon close introspection. I want to continue to maintain and improve upon the house, eventually replacing all of the original windows in the porch.
However, right now the siding is my chief concern. Being an older house I know that insulation in the 20's is not the same as it is today, and I am unaware of what if any insulation is underneath the original wood siding. If there are any insulation gains to be had by adding new siding I would like to have those, as the house can have rooms of varying temperatures in the winter time.
My main question is, do I go with wood siding? Likely cedar, as that seems to be the choice wooden siding, or do I go with a high quality vinyl siding?
Are there drawbacks to either? Are there benefits to either?
Your house has nearly 100 year old, original, wood siding. Do a quick search to see how long the average vinyl stuff lasts (it will vary, but look at the trend).
You can have insulation blown into the walls from the outside. The original wood, if it only needs paint, will probably be cheaper to make look nice and it 100% a DIY job if you're Really thrifty (just takes time). Even if some pieces need to be replaced, that's almost certainly going to be cheaper than vinyl. From a cost perspective, just making it look nice, keeping what you have is the winner and doubly so if you're willing to do the work.
You do realize that after a while paint cracks and peels and you repaint it, yes? You do not need to replace siding every time the paint cracks and peels; you scrape down the paint, prime the bare wood, and repaint with a high quality paint.
If you do one side a year the house will never look too bad (most paint starts to peel around four years) and the job is is always manageable.
I see nothing in your post to indicate why you would be contemplating the replacement of all your siding. After a while, there will probably be a few pieces that rot and need to be replaced. You just pull off the ones that are rotted and replace them with new wood. It is easy and straightforward.
Vinyl siding is maybe 1/16" thick. It will do nothing to improve the insulation in your walls. The way to improve insulation in your walls is to improve the insulation in your walls. You can go from the outside by pulling off the top board of the siding all round and blowing in from there, or you can go from the inside by cutting a strip off the drywall (plaster?) along the tops of all the walls and then patching after blowing in the insulation. Obviously if you have siding on the outside, blowing it in from the outside is preferable.
Do not replace original windows just because people who make windows advertise heavily. All the evidence I have seen indicates that storm windows plus carefully sealing around the existing windows provides as much insulation benefit as new double pane windows plus you won't get condensation inside the panes when (not if) the seals fail plus you will be retaining the much higher quality all-wood double hung windows (which I assume is what you have based on a 1923 build date) and they will fit properly with the age and architectural style of your house.
Further to both subjects, a 1440 sq. ft. house built in 1923 was quite a nice house in that day, when the average house built was probably around 800 sq.ft. I expect there are a lot of high quality features and details. Don't put el cheapo vinyl siding and vinyl windows with fake window pane dividers on a nice house like that.
There is paintable vinyl siding which can be a better option. With colored Vinyl if one piece id damaged, you cannot match the fading and you will have to reside your entire house. Ordinary Vinyl siding will not hold paint well. I do not know whether the siding sold as printable vinyl siding is any better at holding paint without peeling, or checking, or cracking as the vinyl flexes.
Most vinyl looks horrid on a historic house. There is some higher end (more expensive) vinyl siding that is made to look more like wood. It looks more like wood but it does not look like wood. However it is less horrid looking on a historic home.
Some historic houses walls need to breathe. Otherwise you will get mildew on and in he walls. You need to be careful about sealing up the walls with underlayment, new siding or even insulation. Either that or side/pain the house black so the mildew does not show.
A good quality vinyl siding is .040" thick (2/5"). Not 1/8".
OP, there are pros and cons to both. My dad owned a vinyl siding company for decades prior to moving on to a full on construction operation. I spent half my life installing it but we also installed wood siding as well.
A good quality vinyl siding can be purchased that very closely mimics real wood siding. Usually a D5 Dutchlap is pretty close. Granted, there is no way to ever match wood siding completely so if you want the most realistic look you'll need to stick with wood. However, you can get really close nowadays.
Vinyl siding pro:
No painting
Easy to clean
Durable (no.... it won't bust when hit with a rock if it's good quality)
Customizable
Installs over the wood siding and can have foam board insulation installed between it and the wood siding to increase insulating qualities
Will never rot
Cons:
Not real wood (this is personal preference)
Can fade over decades (though new siding has a lot better fade resistance depending on the quality)
Cost - The upfront cost of vinyl siding is much more expensive than a repaint. However, it's typically a one and done type of deal
Sometimes manufacturers go out of business, so if you ever needed to match a piece down the road and didn't have spare pieces it could be a challenge. Doesn't happen often, but it is always possible.
You're pretty much stuck with the color you have installed
Wood pros:
Durable
Easy to change house color
Authentic look on an old home
Cheap to repair and/or paint when the time comes (but over decades the cost of scraping, repainting,etc.. can be more expensive)
Wood cons:
Water can penetrate it if the paint fails
Can rot
Requires labor intensive prep work prior to repaint (scraping, sanding, patching, etc...)
Will have to repaint every 10-15 years (maybe less depending on the climate)
In the end it is personal preference and neither is really the wrong answer. It all depends on your personal situation and preference.
There is paintable vinyl siding which can be a better option. With colored Vinyl if one piece id damaged, you cannot match the fading and you will have to reside your entire house. Ordinary Vinyl siding will not hold paint well. I do not know whether the siding sold as printable vinyl siding is any better at holding paint without peeling, or checking, or cracking as the vinyl flexes.
Most vinyl looks horrid on a historic house. There is some higher end (more expensive) vinyl siding that is made to look more like wood. It looks more like wood but it does not look like wood. However it is less horrid looking on a historic home.
Some historic houses walls need to breathe. Otherwise you will get mildew on and in he walls. You need to be careful about sealing up the walls with underlayment, new siding or even insulation. Either that or side/pain the house black so the mildew does not show.
What turf3 said. I have a 1927 bungalow that had vinyl siding and vinyl windows installed on it. I did remove the vinyl siding but the the original windows are gone forever. However, my pride and joy is the matching garage with its original windows and cedar clapboard siding. I've repainted it a couple of times, because the moisture level here is extremely high. I even had some clapboards replaced by a really good handyman who knows how to work with old homes - you can't tell the older clapboards from the new, except that the newer ones are a little smoother in appearance. Scraping them is no big deal, even for an old 967) broad like me, and I like outdoor painting. It looks just like it did in 1927.
BTW, I did manage to uncover 2 original side windows in my dormer when the vinyl siding was removed (only the center one was visible beforehand), and it was literally one of the happiest days in the 15 years I've owned this house. At last I had some original windows to look at. I an SO envious that you still have all of yours - please don't remove them. You'll pay a whole bunch of money for a product that deteriorates and doesn't look as nice as the ones you have. If you need "energy efficiency", get some storm windows made to cover the original wood windows. They can be maintained quite well, just as your original siding.
If you think the "clapboards" are original to the house-
Are they clear? Little to no knots? It's probably Spruce.
If there are knots- small; like half-dollar or smaller- it's probably Pine (old growth).
If it's got a heavy tight grain it maybe a hardwood.
Either way; as previously mentioned, it's already lasted longer than any vinyl will. Hopefully you are understanding the "value" of what you have now.
If you are really just wanting something that is maintenance-free so you can enjoy other things in life- sale the house and buy a condo!
I live in a 1942 Cape with wood and aluminium siding. The wood is in terrible shape because the previous owner did not keep up with the paint. It needs to be repainted every few years. We will be residing this summer and we're replacing all of it with vinyl. We can clean vinyl with no trouble. We are not about to spend thousands of dollars every 5 years to have our house repainted. Almost every house in our neighborhood has been resided with vinyl. It's cheap and easy to maintain which is a big deal in snow country.
I live in a 1942 Cape with wood and aluminium siding. The wood is in terrible shape because the previous owner did not keep up with the paint. It needs to be repainted every few years. We will be residing this summer and we're replacing all of it with vinyl. We can clean vinyl with no trouble. We are not about to spend thousands of dollars every 5 years to have our house repainted. Almost every house in our neighborhood has been resided with vinyl. It's cheap and easy to maintain which is a big deal in snow country.
It's your house. But instead of paying thousands every few years, you could spend a hundred or two every year, and do one side a year. It's not that tough or time consuming. On the other hand, I can understand not wanting to do it at all.
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