We were in a similar situation this last year, since we have 1917 two-story house that needed new siding. It’s our second house, which our kids used while at college, and we’re now renting it out to a nice family, as if that matters.
The bottom floor had been covered by previous owners with vinyl and hard-board (not Hardiboard). However the top story had the original shingle-style siding that was badly deteriorated. I counted over 100 shingles that would have to be replaced, and I’m not sure that the others would stand up to being scraped either. I considered doing the shingle fixes myself, except for the fact that the peak height is 50’ in the air.
We went with with residing with vinyl for both stories, mimicking the original siding: vinyl lap on the lower level and vinyl shingle-shake style on the top. They added sheets of insulation at the same time, and also covered all trim surfaces giving us a totally maintenance-free house (did I mention it’s 50’ to the topmost peak? and a rental?). The previous vinyl lap siding was inauthentic 10" exposure, so we went back to the original 7" exposure, so the new siding brought the house back to its original appearance.
It took the company nearly three weeks to finish the job (with two workers), and our cost was nearly $18,000, which was within our budget. I’d like to think the low price of petroleum helped a bit. The siding company said we got a good deal; they said their final profit was $47. Oh well, too bad for them! I said they could use us as a reference at least.
Very true. However, the problem with dioxin discharge due to fire is that its so toxic that you could have just a corner of the lowest panel near the master bedroom ignited and the smoke/fumes will kill the occupants even if the firefighters save the rest of the house.
As noted in the referenced Wikipedia article (section), firefighters have serious concerns about burning vinyl and exposure to those fumes. I realize, however, that their health isn’t your concern so long as you save money. The OP title does appear to ask for opinions on vinyl siding, though, and I thought I’d share some caveats for the overall discussion.
No need for snark. It’s not like vinyl is some new product being rolled out; there are probably millions of homes with vinyl siding. Fume toxicity is kind of neither here nor there in the bigger picture. I’m sure firefighters would also prefer houses not to have cars parked inside structures, propane tanks adjacent to buildings and many other things… but those and vinyl siding are a part of the safety landscape to be dealt with.
Guilt-tripping the OP on cost savings and snarking at my comments adds nothing here.
Wood restoration is my first choice far and away. I went on a walking tour of my “historic homes” 'hood to see what other folks have done. A few wood-clad exquisitely, some really nice vinyl, and some awful cheapy crap.
I’m sorry if my posts are/were considered snark or thread-shitting. Vinyl is certainly not new and the environmental and personal toxicity are well documented – though rarely discussed and certainly avoided by the sales people.
And I was not trying to guilt-trip the OP on cost savings; I was making a general statement about society prioritizing savings (for the buyer) and profits (for the seller) over safety and environmental concerns that can be easily downplayed. (I’ll admit I’m just as guilty when I reach for the ant spray even though simpler and cleaner bug-fighters are available.)
And while the OP was calling for opinions in the In My Humble Opinion forum, the opinions I reference were not, strictly speaking, mine. I just thought they would provide for consideration some issues (opinions, loosely speaking) that nobody else had brought up. I personally don’t have an opinion one way or another since I have never been in the market for materials for building which might include vinyl.
Sorry my input was considered a Debbie Downer type of quip. I’ll get out.
I re-did the accessible walls of my 100yr old weatherboard house in Australia with vinyl (called PVC cladding here). The weatherboards on my house were in very poor shape and I was also not interested in the constant maintenance required of so much external wood.
I also installed insulation in the walls while I was at it.
I had quotes for $20k+ from contractors to simply install vinyl siding over top of the weatherboards! I got the materials for about $5k, including siding, insulation and plywood for sheeting under the siding. I also re-did the trim around all the openings. The contractors will just butt the siding up against the existing trim and finish with a j-strip. Not as nice.
The only hassles that I see are 1) the siding has a bit of a static charge, so it collects dust and soots pretty fast and 2) need to replace a whole strip if anything gets damaged, perhaps a bit easier to patch/repair wood.
Thanks for the info! A plus on going with vinyl is we can get insulation underneath it – this old house is a drafty monster. If we go with this option one of my worries is what you mention about the trim; I don’t want to lose the period details.