Looking for good siding installer (San Antonio, Liberty: for sale, house, new construction)

[shenane]

Hi
I live in a 1400 square food KB (acutally Ray Ellis) home with a brick front. Fence posts right up against the house.
A Home Depot person gave me a quote of 12K to install "basic" siding - basically the cheap flimsy stuff I have right now. 14K for Ridgwood siding or about 18K for Hardi Plank.
Is that sort of high?
Has anyone had any siding work done in San Antonio that they are satisfied with? BTW, I'm replacing my siding because my house is in one of those zero lot lines and there are bunch of holes in the siding where my house sits in my neighbor's yard. Any body else have problems like this in those zero lot lines where your house is in someone else's yard and you have no control of what goes on at the side of your house?

Thanks

[Paka]

I HIGHLY recommend Southwest Exteriors for window/siding work. He uses only Hardiplank for the siding...and we are having them replace our windows (allllllll 27 of them) with the Renewal Windows by Anderson. IF you join Angies list, SW currently has a 10% discount good for all Angies List members list...so that $25.50 to join (where you can get referrals/feedback from folks who have had work DONE by the companies they rate for an entire year) would save you BIG BUCKS on costly repairs (and lets face it, good siding and windows are NOT cheap).

All 16 of the ratings on Angies List shows them an A rating and everyone says they were EXTREMELY pleased with the product/service/delivery of product. This is why we have decided to use them. There are also interesting videos answering both siding and window questions for those of us in need of these major repair investments.

www.southwestexteriors.com

Hope this helps!!!

[shenane]

Thanks for the great recommendation about Soutwest Exteriors and Angie's list. I joined them. I have contacted SE and they are out until after the new year.

I had Sears over for a siding quote. The sales person said that cement fiber is heavy and with all the shifting of soil we have in San Antonio the heaviness of the hardi plank will make my frame more likely to crack when the foundation shifts. Was he telling me this because they only do siding or does he have a valid point?

Another question
Also, I watched Southwest Exteriors hit hardiplank with a hammer on TV and nothing happened to it. But I just went to view a house for sale that was built in 2006. The cement fiber siding had several dents in it. So are some cement fiber planks better quality than others?

One more question. My house is pretty close to my neighbors house and when they play their TV or radio, the sound radiates through my wall. Is there something that would reduce that noise? Really thick insulation like that pink stuff that sears uses? Would hardi plank do better than siding in this case?

I do know that Hardi plank is fire resistent compared to vinyl

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Paka

I HIGHLY recommend Southwest Exteriors for window/siding work. He uses only Hardiplank for the siding...and we are having them replace our windows (allllllll 27 of them) with the Renewal Windows by Anderson. IF you join Angies list, SW currently has a 10% discount good for all Angies List members list...so that $25.50 to join (where you can get referrals/feedback from folks who have had work DONE by the companies they rate for an entire year) would save you BIG BUCKS on costly repairs (and lets face it, good siding and windows are NOT cheap).

All 16 of the ratings on Angies List shows them an A rating and everyone says they were EXTREMELY pleased with the product/service/delivery of product. This is why we have decided to use them. There are also interesting videos answering both siding and window questions for those of us in need of these major repair investments.

www.southwestexteriors.com

Hope this helps!!!

[Paka]

I would definitely bring all these questions up to SW when they come out to give you your estimate and answer all your questions.

I know nothing about siding at all (have a brick house) BUT that entire statement from the Sears guy (if you understood him correctly) does sound fishy!

Did you take a look at their website??? It does have a FAQ section and a little video on their products...I have to be honest, I did not check out much about siding because we were researching the window replacement, so siding was not an issue to me.

Hope this helps!! Good luck!

[shenane]

Hi
Yes, I did watch their video. That's where I saw them hit hardi plank with a hammer an it didn't get a scratch. Something that bothered me about the video - They picked up the siding and bent it to show how flimsy it was. They didn't pick up the hardi plank all they way - only lifted it slightly off the table. I suspect they did that because the hardi plank might break. I was in home depot one day checking out the stuff. I picked up a long piece and it broke in half!

[Paka]

Originally Posted by shenane

Hi
Yes, I did watch their video. That's where I saw them hit hardi plank with a hammer an it didn't get a scratch. Something that bothered me about the video - They picked up the siding and bent it to show how flimsy it was. They didn't pick up the hardi plank all they way - only lifted it slightly off the table. I suspect they did that because the hardi plank might break. I was in home depot one day checking out the stuff. I picked up a long piece and it broke in half!

It may be that your concerns are valid...but I certainly would want to take into consideration the actual TRACK RECORD of the available "sidings" and the brutal South Texas heat...lots of folks with certain types of siding have watched it blister, peel, crack and develop holes as the sun beats down on it after a while. Again, I know NOTHING about siding...but certainly think you are wise to investigate well before investing. Same thing with my windows...there are just TOO many to choose from, and they all tell you the good thing about theirs and the bad thing about "the others" but I tried to pull my information from research thru someone other than the ones trying to sell it to me.

[RGJ]

a friend of mine used to sell siding for Sears and FYI, of the total cost of installation...1/3 to sub-contractor(material and labor, I presume)...1/3 to Sears and 1/3 to the salesperson....My friend did quite well in the day.......

[sandrads]

My family is in the construction business in Missouri. Call Bob at Liberty Builders. They are currently installing Mastic (formally Alcoa) Elite siding on my 25 year old Rayco house. I couldn't be happier with the value I'm getting for the price. No other company could come close for the same exact product. I would not use Hardie unless it's new construction.