I have no choice but to post this question. Whenever I tell my wife about something I learned on the straightdope, she makes fun of me for trusting information I learn on the internet. Nevertheless, when she has a question that she thinks is important enough, she asks me to post it no matter how crazy I think it is to ask on the internet. If I don’t ask it, then the entire utility of the SDMB is in question.
We are in the process of buying a house. This house has some siding issues. The house is about 3700 sqft. The house is in Springfield Missouri. How much would it cost to put vinyl siding on the entire thing. The inspector suggested 8000$. That sounds a bit shallow.
Naturally, while the straightdope doesn’t know anything about airplanes on treadmills, it can certainly answer this question.
Sorry to make the first reply irritating and off-topic, but–I bought a house with vinyl siding this summer, and every time there’s a stiff wind, I curse it and think about replacing it with wood. It squeaks, creaks, groans, and rattles–and when the wind stops, it squeaks, creaks, groans, and rattles as it works its way back into place.
I have lived in another vinyl-sided house that didn’t have this issue, but I can’t figure out how one knows whether the issue will come up or not, unless one sleeps in the house every night for two weeks.
Size of house-telling me the square footage of the house does not give me enough info to determine the amount of squares (100 sq ft) of the siding. It also depends on soffit, fascia, inside/outside corners, windows, gables, tearoff, tyvek, etc, etc.
Product. There is a large variety of materials out there, until you pick out what you want, too difficult to give you a price, even an out of my ass one.
I cannot give you an accurate price, and most contractors won’t without seeing the house. There are too many variables.
That being said, I just finished a house that ran about $120 labor for tearoff and install, and $150 materials, vinyl, decent quality.
Labor in MN runs from $90-140 depending on the crew, and their expertise. Materials can be quite a bit cheaper than what I paid, but a lot of times, you get what you pay for.
These are my costs, as a contractor, I expect to make money. I charged on that job about $375 a sq.
Not only that, it doesn’t do well in a fire. Not sure how close you are to your neighbors, but we were told by our contractor that it’s been known to melt if the house next door catches fire…
Check out this siding calculator. It’ll at least give you a rough ballpark. Also, look into fiber cement siding (best known brand is hardiplank). It’s supposed have exceptional durability.
The cost using that calculator for the house I just completed would have been $10,500, about $500 a square, with cheap vinyl. Looking back over my records again, if there were door and window wraps, it would be closer to $450 a SQ. They weren’t necessary for this job.
Hardi boards are great, I have them on my own house. Just make sure that the sider really knows what he’s doing. If you want a guide on how to find a good contractor, I can help with that, too.
Did you see the news for Springfield Missouri this last week? I spent most of monday night hunkered down in my bathroom. It was the single most insane weather night I have ever been through. I’m new here though.
What fisha said. To give you an idea of how wide the range can be, product alone can go from very cheap for thin, plain siding, to over $200 per square for the deeply textured stuff that is a dead ringer for hand split cedar shakes. I did a house ~ 20 years ago with CertainTeed Cedar Impressions, tore off all of the original shakes, repapered, all capping, rakes, eaves, and fascia, ventilated soffits, and seamless gutters (subbed the gutters), a couple of windows, and two Larson storm doors, and the total was a little over $20K. I saw the house again before Thanksgiving this past year, and the lady is still tickled-it looks great, and she hasn’t spent a nickel on exterior maintenance all those years.
Welcome to Missouri! There’s a good chance that Monday won’t even be the worst weather you’ve seen by the end of this year. If you don’t have one yet, I’d suggest you get a good weather radio. I like the Midland WR-300 All Hazards Alert Weather Radio - I bought one for my neighbor, too. If your bathroom is on an outside wall and has a window, you might want to find a better place to hole up. An interior closet or hallway is often suggested (I’m assuming you don’t have a basement). And plan what you’ll do if you lose your electricity for a week or two. There’s lots more, but this is off-topic.
The reason why I mentioned weather, is that if there is storm related damage to the exterior of the house, you want the current owners to file a claim before you buy a house. They can still do it after you buy the house, but it’s easier if you do it now.
We sided our house, vinyl, Carolina beaded siding, yellow, ordered from B & L Wholesale, Pennsylvannia (no one had l the colour and type of siding I wanted in Canada) , trucked to Canada, put on house (hubby and best friend, incidentally from Pennsylvannia) just under $3,000 including one large bottle of rye.
Pricing will depend on the area and material used. Hard to say.
Go to - http://www.construction-bids.com/house-siding.php and see what it costs locally.
Good luck. I also used craigslist in the past to find contractors, but dont trust it that much anymore.