Time to replace your siding?
When is a good time to replace your siding? That's a good question for the Seattle are as our weather is one of the wettest in the nation and our winters can cause many problems with your homes siding. For the most part you find 4 types of siding on homes in the Pacific Northwest:
Wood siding which is usually Cedar, Vinyl Siding and occasionally Asbestos siding and fiber cement. The typical life expectancy for cedar is about 40-70 years. A lot depends on how well it was maintained. Vinyl siding can last up to 25-30 years asbestos will last more than 50 years and fiber cement will last more than 50 years.
The most common siding material you will see on homes in our area is cedar. Cedar cared for properly caulked and painted or stained on a 5-7 schedule will be able to make it to the later part of our 70 year time frame.
You will start to see the effects of weather on your siding because the siding will begin to crack and split. We also find the nails start to pop out as the wood expands and contracts. The paint will crack and peel off the siding and you may have layer upon layer of paint to deal with.
At this point it is usually better to replace your siding rather than repainting it from the basis of cost aesthetics and long term value. Siding that is starting to show this type of wear may be at risk of leaking and letting water in behind siding usually causes rot and mold in the Pacific Northwest which leads to much more expensive repairs.
To evaluate siding replacement compare to fixing a few boards and repainting you should
call 2-3 local siding contractors and get bids on repair or complete replacement with a product such as hardieplank.
In my experience siding replacement with Hardiplank usually cost about $ 5.00 dollars a square foot for removal and replacement.That means a typical home in our area can be completely resided for about $ 10,000.
You should also get 2-3 paint bids to compare the replacement costs with. Once you get all the you may find siding replacement is good value because it will reduce your maintenance and it will add a lot to the value of your home.
You can still get some of that beautiful old growth lumber its just so expensive many people would find it impractical.