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I have never lived in a home with vinyl siding and many of the older homes we are looking at to buy have it. I don't know why but I just don't like the idea of it--it's plastic and I don't want to live in a plastic house--but then again there must be advantages--cheaper? easier to maintain? Insulating?
I would really appreciate any information regarding the pros and cons of vinyl siding (or aluminum siding for that matter) and if we were to buy a house with siding is there any reason why we couldn't take it off and have the original wood (or brick?) showing again? Is that expensive?
Do people put up vinyl siding to hide damage? I can only imagine it's like when you take off wallpaper and see the state of the walls underneath how you then understand why the wallpaper was there in the first place.
Is it expensive taking it off? Would it decrease/increase a home's value if it was taken off?
Thanks in advance for any views or insights you have.
I believe I lack the words to describe how deeply I despise vinyl siding.
You are right-on about the covering damage. Usually, on older houses, people use it to cover problems that they are too lazy/cheap to fix properly.
These homeowners (old-house people refer to them as "remuddlers") buy into the easy-care myth. But it's not really care-free. Vinyl ages and becomes dirty, stained, and, where I live, covered with moss and mildew on the north side of the house. People then "clean" this vinyl with high pressure washers. Water gets under the siding....and of course all kinds of problems fester under the surface.
People can and do remove siding and replace the original siding.
An excellent resource for all things related to older houses is oldhouseweb.com
I too like older houses, but bypassed all of the vinyl-ized houses and went with a brick.
I have never lived in a home with vinyl siding and many of the older homes we are looking at to buy have it. I don't know why but I just don't like the idea of it--it's plastic and I don't want to live in a plastic house--but then again there must be advantages--cheaper? easier to maintain? Insulating?
I would really appreciate any information regarding the pros and cons of vinyl siding (or aluminum siding for that matter) and if we were to buy a house with siding is there any reason why we couldn't take it off and have the original wood (or brick?) showing again? Is that expensive?
Do people put up vinyl siding to hide damage? I can only imagine it's like when you take off wallpaper and see the state of the walls underneath how you then understand why the wallpaper was there in the first place.
Is it expensive taking it off? Would it decrease/increase a home's value if it was taken off?
Thanks in advance for any views or insights you have.
Vinyl siding is great! Easy to care for...not too costly! Most likely there is NO brick or nice would under it...although it may have wood shingles underneath,which is ugly!(in my opinion)
Today siding has been made even better, and could cost about $6,000 to change, that's really not expensive and it Will increase the value of the home
I have never lived in a home with vinyl siding and many of the older homes we are looking at to buy have it. I don't know why but I just don't like the idea of it--it's plastic and I don't want to live in a plastic house--but then again there must be advantages--cheaper? easier to maintain? Insulating?
I would really appreciate any information regarding the pros and cons of vinyl siding (or aluminum siding for that matter) and if we were to buy a house with siding is there any reason why we couldn't take it off and have the original wood (or brick?) showing again? Is that expensive?
Do people put up vinyl siding to hide damage? I can only imagine it's like when you take off wallpaper and see the state of the walls underneath how you then understand why the wallpaper was there in the first place.
Is it expensive taking it off? Would it decrease/increase a home's value if it was taken off?
Thanks in advance for any views or insights you have.
When we sold our home in Michigan back in 2005 we had older (1970's) aluminum siding. Most of the people looking at our home made comments about it, saying that they prefered vinyl and if they bought it would change to vinyl. I'm not sure because I am not a professional, but I think it is because it is easy to clean and maintain. Myself, I prefer brick homes I just like the look of it, and it feels more like home to me. Again, just my preference and experience with one home.
Thank you plaidmom for the link! and the information. I will definitely do some more research.
And thanks to you too pidge, to hear a different view is good too--I guess I need to do some research on it. I can usually spot the vinyl siding a mile away, even in a photo--it looks "flat" or lacking depth or something. But maybe the new stuff is better?
cassy--so I guess aluminum siding is worse than vinyl? I can imagine it would dent if a ball hit it? Or am I just being ridiculous about that. Maybe it's stronger than I think.
We never had any problems with it, power washed it a couple of times. I suppose it could have used a coat of paint, but we never did that. I liked the way it looked and most of the homes in our area still had the original siding on them (development was built in the 70's). Michigan does have a mold problem and we never saw any sign of mold on it. Down here in NC these vinyl homes need to be cleaned every season because of the pine trees. I might add that we had 3 children and one of them was always out with the basketball, never saw any signs of abuse on the siding from him.
Well after so many years in the sun the paint faded, some people paint it to make it look new and fresh. I don't think vinyl would hold paint, but not sure.
And thanks to you too pidge, to hear a different view is good too
One of the great things about these forums.
Quote:
I can usually spot the vinyl siding a mile away, even in a photo--it looks "flat" or lacking depth or something.
Personally, I wouldn't dismiss the aesthetic factor.
I have an art background and I notice those things. If I walked up to my front door every day and thought "ick" I'd have to fix that!
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