No one wants a cracked, faded exterior — even on their home! If it's time to give your house a face-lift, you've come to the right place for some great tips for siding, hardscaping, front doors and more.Choosing the Right Siding
Siding is the most popular way to finish the exterior of a home, and there are quite a few options on the market. There also are several factors to keep in mind when you're deciding what kind of siding to get. Here's the lowdown on what to put up on the outside of your house.
Vinyl. One of the most popular exterior finishes, vinyl is economical and available in a rainbow of colors from tropical pastels to deep Colonial hues. While vinyl may not seem particularly strong, it's actually designed to stand up to winds as high as 190 miles per hour.
When you shop for vinyl siding, check the depth of the overlap of one "board" over the one below it. That overlap not only gives the siding the look of real clapboard; it's a design feature that gives the siding its strength. So you want an overlap of 3/4 inch or so.
Another advantage of vinyl siding is that the color is all the way through the product, so fading is a thing of the past. It also expands and contracts, moving with the sheathing behind it with changes in temperature and humidity. If you want siding that is easy to clean, vinyl is an excellent choice. Installed correctly, it will look beautiful for many years.
Wood. No matter what material siding is made of, just about all of it looks like wood. That's because of the natural, traditional style that wood siding gives a home — and the upscale look, too. Wood is the only renewable, sustainable option in siding, too.
Cedar is often used because it's naturally weather- and insect-resistant. The tannic oils in cedar are a natural preservative, but you still need to provide some kind of sealant or stain. You can order cedar that has already been stained at the factory, though, and that finish is usually guaranteed for 10 or 15 years. Cedar comes in different grades, too. You can choose a smooth texture or a more rustic look.
Redwood is another good option for siding for all the same reasons.
Fiber cement. Another wood look-alike is fiber cement, which is a composite material that includes, yes, cement as well as sand, water and wood pulp. It gives you the maintenance-free qualities of vinyl, the look of real wood, and it won't warp, check or rot. Even better, it won't burn. During the manufacturing process, the siding is embossed with a wood pattern. It's available in many colors, and it can be painted, too. One of the largest manufacturers of fiber-cement siding, James Hardie, has a 15-year warranty on the finish.
Fiber-cement siding is installed just like wood. You use a lot of the same tools, but you do need diamond blades on the saws.
Stucco. Almost all of the "stucco" used today is actually something called an exterior insulating finishing system or EIFS. There have been a lot of problems with this "synthetic stucco" in the last decade or two, but they have been related to poor installation, not the product itself. EIFS is designed to keep moisture out, but if moisture gets behind it somehow, it can't escape. That results in mold problems.
However, EIFS is one of the most versatile products to come onto the building market in years. It can be shaped to follow arches and curves. It's perfect for a lot of the architectural styles that are so popular right now: Tuscan, Spanish, old world. It increases the energy efficiency of the house, too, since it provides additional insulation. One of the largest manufacturers, Dryvit, says that its products can cut energy use by 20 percent.
If you decide to use EIFS, be sure the contractor is experienced in working with it. Look for an installer that has EIFS certification, which ensures adequate training and continuing education in using the product.
Brick. If you're building a new house, brick is a great option. (It's not used for re-siding, though.) Brick is a natural product, of course, and it's versatile. Masons can create different patterns to add interest to the exterior of a home, even though they're using the same brick for all of them.
Because brick is pervious, the builder needs to provide a drainage plane behind it, as well as weep holes to allow any water to drain out and air to circulate.
No matter what kind of replacement siding you plan to install, take the old siding off first. That gives you a chance to add more insulation and house wrap, which increases the R-value of the house and saves money on your utility bills.
