We are planning to refurbish our house for appearance and efficiency.
Walking through Lowe’s and Home Depot we notice large areas devoted to upgrading doors, windows, roofs and paint.
The areas devoted to siding is quite tiny. Why?
Is upgrading siding with such as vinyl siding or similar products currently in low esteem?
Where do you live, and what do you currently have for siding?
The trend these days is to use natural products, or products that look natural. Vinyl siding looks cheap, and feels cheap. But you don’t have to paint it, and it doesn’t rot.
If you live in a neighborhood where most houses have wood siding, then vinyl siding is going to make your house less marketable. If you live in a neighborhood where most houses have vinyl, then it’s really not that big a deal.
They are where I live. Did you talk to a salesperson? Maybe they want to sell their professional siding installation services and siding-service-pack.
Home Depot has it’s own installation service for roofing siding and windows; Home Depot At Home Services. You call them and they come out to the house to give you an estimate.
I’d recommend finding you local Norandex Reynolds siding distributor and get a recommendation from them. I sued to be a installation manager for Home Depot and all their installers are subcontractors. Alternatively, look for a job in progress and get a card but ALWAYS CHECK REFERENCES.
Cheap vinyl siding looks and feels cheap. If you want nice looking, quality siding you have to pay more for it. I just helped install some quality siding, but it cost twice as much as the usual bargain basement siding just for the materials. A lot of people don’t want to pay the money, then bitch the product looks cheap. Well, yes, you buy cheap siding it looks cheap! Duh.
Vinyl siding must be installed properly by someone who knows what the heck they are doing. Just like everything else. You want someone who has had experience in installation with good references. If possible, look at a prior job done by the same contractor, preferably several of them. If prior installations look good yours most likely will, too.
Vinyl siding doesn’t have to be painted, but it will need to be cleaned from time to time. It doesn’t rot, but if not properly installed water/moisture can accumulate behind it and rot the substructure.
It’s really not rocket science to install it - it’s possible for someone to DIY and have it come out decent - but most people these days aren’t that handy with tools, don’t have experience with squaring things off and leveling them properly, will be frustrated by the inevitable glitches that come up during installation (cutting siding to fit around doors, windows, etc for example can be tricky), and often don’t have the necessary patience, particularly when a mistake is made and something must be re-cut (it happens). Also, having someone to help hold and position things is very, very helpful.
I will note that we did not get the material for that job through Home Deport, Lowes, or any of the other big box stores. We ordered from a supplier that deals with contractors and builders, not the general public. I’m not impressed with what the box stores stock, but you may be able to order higher quality materials through them if you ask.