Siding: Steel, Vinyl, Aluminum?

[Dartgod]

Thinking of putting on some siding rather than painting and I know nothing about it. What kind is best? Any siding contractors in KC that you would recommend? Enlighten me!

[Ralphy Boy]

We went with a high grade vinyl. Not the crap that most builders use. Ours is a wider 8" plank.
Wrapped all the sofit, fascia and windows. Very happy with it.
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[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by Ralphy Boy

We went with a high grade vinyl. Not the crap that most builders use. Ours is a wider 8" plank.
Wrapped all the sofit, fascia and windows. Very happy with it.
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How much did it cost, if you don't mind me asking?

[threebag]

Street signs

[Stewie]

I have vinyl on the sides and back of my house. It's absolutely no maintenance and has never been a problem. I made a change a couple of years ago to the back of my house and had to get more siding. The vinyl was 5-6 years old on the house and I was worried the new pieces wouldn't match. When I brought the new stuff home and placed it against the existing siding there was no difference in color, at all. My siding is CertainTeed and is heavier with better stabilizers than run-of-the-mill siding, or so I've heard.

[MTG#10]

Thought about creating a new thread but this one looks as good as any.

I'm having a contractor replace my old shitty horizontal siding with some new, thicker vertical. He gave me a quote, I paid a down payment, then when he arrived to start the job tells me my house is foam under the siding and that wont work for vertical. He says I'll need wood sheathing under and my house should have had it anyway for structural support. He basically made it sound like this is very rare, a huge issue and that the builder must have done it to cut costs.

My question is, it it really that uncommon for there to be nothing but foam under the siding? Attached are pics of what he's talking about. I'm fairly sure I've seen this before on houses.

[ptlyon]

Mine has foam sheets like that.

Edit - I have horizontal siding like you have. Sorry can't contribute to it for vertical.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

We're building now. Using fiber cement.

[TinyEvel]

I just visited my 80 year old mom in Ohio. Her house is 3+1 one-story and white vinyl siding on it. She hadn't had anyone out to power wash it in years. It was dirty and moldy green all over.

This California boy decided it would be a good deed and good exercise to wash it myself with one of those "Siding Kleeners" chemical sprayers that you attach to your garden hose, and brush it with any combination of push broom, long handle brush and scrub brush. (because no way does it "just hose on, spray off!" like the bottle says.

Three days later I was done and it looked good but I had invented all sorts of new cusswords.

[MTG#10]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

I just visited my 80 year old mom in Ohio. Her house is 3+1 one-story and white vinyl siding on it. She hadn't had anyone out to power wash it in years. It was dirty and moldy green all over.

This California boy decided it would be a good deed and good exercise to wash it myself with one of those "Siding Kleeners" chemical sprayers that you attach to your garden hose, and brush it with any combination of push broom, long handle brush and scrub brush. (because no way does it "just hose on, spray off!" like the bottle says.

Three days later I was done and it looked good but I had invented all sorts of new cusswords.

This was the first year in my house that I didn't powerwash mine as you can tell by the photos...I knew I was getting it replaced in the fall so I said **** it. Hopefully the vertical siding I'm going wirth stays clean longer like I've heard.

[Perineum Ripper]

Originally Posted by MTG#10

Thought about creating a new thread but this one looks as good as any.

I'm having a contractor replace my old shitty horizontal siding with some new, thicker vertical. He gave me a quote, I paid a down payment, then when he arrived to start the job tells me my house is foam under the siding and that wont work for vertical. He says I'll need wood sheathing under and my house should have had it anyway for structural support. He basically made it sound like this is very rare, a huge issue and that the builder must have done it to cut costs.

My question is, it it really that uncommon for there to be nothing but foam under the siding? Attached are pics of what he's talking about. I'm fairly sure I've seen this before on houses.

That stuff is just fiberboard, it’s used as an insulating board and has no structural value. Cheaper builders do that to save money

[srvy]

As long as the nails extend through the foam into a solid base then I'd think it wouldn't matter Horizontal or vertical.

[srvy]

There should be plywood sheathing behind that foam. Cut a small piece out of the foam to see what is behind it.

[Bearcat]

I wonder if Dartgod ever got his answer.

[tyecopeland]

The house I bought is sandstone exterior but has cedar shake siding on the triangular parts where the attic is. Unfortunately it's 70 years old and is need of replacing. Trying to decide whether to replace with new cedar shake (like the look, don't want the maintenance) or go with Hardie board in a shake look (or a vertical hardie siding) which has a 100 year color last.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by MTG#10

Thought about creating a new thread but this one looks as good as any.

I'm having a contractor replace my old shitty horizontal siding with some new, thicker vertical. He gave me a quote, I paid a down payment, then when he arrived to start the job tells me my house is foam under the siding and that wont work for vertical. He says I'll need wood sheathing under and my house should have had it anyway for structural support. He basically made it sound like this is very rare, a huge issue and that the builder must have done it to cut costs.

My question is, it it really that uncommon for there to be nothing but foam under the siding? Attached are pics of what he's talking about. I'm fairly sure I've seen this before on houses.

Old ass thread bump. Anyway... That's completely normal and was done with 99% of all vinyl siding installs. Typically the installer would nail something exactly like that thin layer of R3/R5 insulation down over whatever was the base currently covering the house was(wood/stucco/batten/imitation/etc).

He's full of shit saying it won't work for vertical siding. There's really no difference. It absolutely positively does not need any additional "Structural support." That's laughably dumb. Yes, it wouldn't be as energy efficient as applying a wood sheathing lining underneath, but it's not necessary in the slightest. FYI, I've installed vinyl siding and soffit to probably over 60+ different houses.