And you want vinyl siding ??? (alternatives, heat, paint, plank)

[urbywan]

From Kunstler 4/30/07

After the 1980s, there is a distinct acceleration in the use of vinyl for practically everything. The vinyl clapboards, soffits, window-surrounds, et cetera, are often little more than stapled onto the house. And naturally they begin to sag and pull apart instantly. After twenty-odd years of that you end up with a house that looks like a birthday present wrapped by a five-year-old.


Down here in Hurricane prone NC vinyl siding is well a poor choice of material.
Plus the heat and sun bleach the heck out of the siding.

[OmegaBaby]

Yea...but what options do you have?

Brick & stone? That adds about $50,000 to the price of a home.
Wood siding? Then you have to paint every other year.
Hardboard siding? Falls apart if it gets wet.

Brick and stone is the way to go, but it's just too expensive for most people. And that's why vinyl is popular.

[urbywan]

Originally Posted by jbognar

Yea...but what options do you have?

Brick & stone? That adds about $50,000 to the price of a home.
Wood siding? Then you have to paint every other year.
Hardboard siding? Falls apart if it gets wet.

Brick and stone is the way to go, but it's just too expensive for most people. And that's why vinyl is popular.

50K per house? for brick or fiber cement on a house down here? Not really that much. BUT if it was at 5.75% it would add 280 a month to the mortgage.

I say it would be worth it. Oh do not use masonite siding!! Only the cement boards!!

[VickiR]

It is costly to re paint your home every 8 years. A typical 2 story with about 3,000 sq. ft. costs about $4500.

However, in this area, we viewed vinyl as cheap and only the lower end homes used it.

I'm seeing more and more builders use vinyl but neighborhoods like Heritage do not allow it.

I don't have any personal experience with vinyl but am I to assume that there are different grades of vinyl? Might some be better than others?

Vicki

[OmegaBaby]

Originally Posted by urbywan

50K per house? for brick or fiber cement on a house down here? Not really that much. BUT if it was at 5.75% it would add 280 a month to the mortgage.

I say it would be worth it. Oh do not use masonite siding!! Only the cement boards!!

Yep....I'm getting brick/stone front on my house, but if I wanted 4-sides brick, it would have cost an additional $50,000. You seem to imply that $280/mo isn't that much.

So instead, I'll stick with vinyl. In 20 years, when it starts looking bad, I'll replace it with something better then (hopefully I'll be in a better financial situation in 20 years) Maybe I'll install brick, or I'll use the new carbon-nanotube-enforced/indestructable building materials that they'll invent in the year 2020. But at least my house will look fine for 20 years.

[dengar]

What about hardiplank (fiber cement)? This is a great alternative to vinyl from what I have read.

[Desdemona123]

Originally Posted by urbywan

From Kunstler 4/30/07

After the 1980s, there is a distinct acceleration in the use of vinyl for practically everything. The vinyl clapboards, soffits, window-surrounds, et cetera, are often little more than stapled onto the house. And naturally they begin to sag and pull apart instantly. After twenty-odd years of that you end up with a house that looks like a birthday present wrapped by a five-year-old.


Down here in Hurricane prone NC vinyl siding is well a poor choice of material.
Plus the heat and sun bleach the heck out of the siding.

Must be nice to your money that brick or stone are the only way to go. High quality, decently installed vinyl (most of what you are talking about is because people install it themselves and/or take shortcuts)

It's not like Raleigh has direct landfall with Hurricanes every year, either.

As someone who has painted myself, and has paid to have painted, wooden siding. I'd take vinyl anyday compared to that headache.

As jbognar said, hopefully by the time the vinyl needs replaced, they will have even better, more affordable alternatives.

[urbywan]

Originally Posted by Desdemona123

Must be nice to your money that brick or stone are the only way to go. High quality, decently installed vinyl (most of what you are talking about is because people install it themselves and/or take shortcuts)

It's not like Raleigh has direct landfall with Hurricanes every year, either.

As someone who has painted myself, and has paid to have painted, wooden siding. I'd take vinyl anyday compared to that headache.

As jbognar said, hopefully by the time the vinyl needs replaced, they will have even better, more affordable alternatives.

Have you driven around the triangle since the windstorms of the last two weeks? Siding has been torn off many houses. Low end and higher priced homes that allow vinyl. I had a vinyl sided Toll brothers house back up north, the stuff was top quality, it blew off in bad windstorms buckeled in the heat, faded badly and then needed to be replaced after 10 years. Not the best product. Cheap just like most of the newer stuff we use in america these days.

Brick in North Carolina was the way to go all the time. Red clay it was made down here. What happened?

[Nacht]

Originally Posted by VickiR

However, in this area, we viewed vinyl as cheap and only the lower end homes used it.

Vicki is 100% right. If people in lower end homes were willing to give up a little space then they could probably afford brick but most just have to get that 3,000 sq ft house.

[Nacht]

Originally Posted by urbywan

Brick in North Carolina was the way to go all the time. Red clay it was made down here. What happened?

There are still plenty of brick homes being built. A buddy of mine owns a residential masonry company and his business has been booming for the last 15 years.