Paint or siding?

[Rogar]

My 1950's era frame ranch is close to due for new paint. I painted myself last time it was due several years ago, but it was an ordeal and now my old knees complain about ladder work. Two options I'm considering are to have the house painted by professionals or have vinyl siding put on. I only have very general ideas of cost for the two right now and may well end up painting myself, but am looking at alternatives. I have mixed thoughts about siding. Some neighbors have it and they seem to maintain color but some look rather dingy. And when I lived in a rental some time ago I recall that the siding chipped and broke easily. I also figure siding will be pretty expensive and wonder if it be much help in my home's value.

I was wondering if anyone might be able to weigh in with opinions and experience on this?

[rosarugosa]

Hey Roger, we are also experiencing the waning appeal of summers spent painting and staining our house as the years go by, and our place needs something done to it within the next year. I wouldn't put vinyl siding on my house ( I won't judge you if you decide differently), but recently I've seen vinyl shingles that don't look half bad and there's a synthetic clapboard siding that looks really good - but I think the latter still needs to be painted. I think it's Hardie board. Tough choices, I'm pretty stubborn about maintaining my aesthetic standards (on a humble nondescript cottage no less, imagine if I lived in a grand Victorian), but how much more of my finite time on the planet do I want to spend doing home drudgery? I'm in New England, so I don't know how comparable our prices would be. My mother got her house painted with some small carpentry touch-ups last year for about $5K. I saw a website that gave the impression I could do the vinyl shingles for $15K or less, but that was just what some website said. We also have all wooden windows with true divided lights (Marvin), so pretty, but starting to rot and a maintenance nightmare. Good luck with your decision!

[nswef]

Rogar, I'd have them priced. We did siding 35 yeas ago and have never regretted it. I didn't like losing the wooden trim exterior windows, but every time I wash the siding I am glad I am not painting every year. Ours is pale yellow, did not fade yet, did not crack. We are in central Maryland, hot humid summers and cold winters..well comparatively. The windows...cannot bring myself to replace them.so we have storm windows on the outside and wooded, plastic _the 3 m stuff- frames on the inside that keep the wind at bay. Luckily nothing is rotting. Ours is a small 60s rancher in the country. The newer sidings are quite realistic looking. Ours was the first with wood grain embossed into the color. Right after we had it done the German lap siding in vinyl was introduced. A little sorry to have missed it, but still very glad to have done it.

[awakenedsoul]

I have my house professionally painted every seven or eight years. I've had it done very reasonably. The house is small, which helps. I think I only paid around $900.00 last time. He did a beautiful job. Several neighbors asked for his name.

I don't know anything about siding. I would trust your instincts. It seems like weather has a lot to do with how things wear, too.

[SteveinMN]

I think the decision comes down to price and your environs. I'd price out painting with a few contactors, realizing that prep is the most important part and that buying really good paint helps the job last longer. I'll guess siding will have a similar variation in price with the quality of the siding itself and the workmanship of corners, window joints, etc., making the difference.

The things to think about siding, however, are whether your house style and price range is the kind that will be OK with vinyl siding. Around here you don't get too high up in price before vinyl starts looking like a cost-saving measure, especially on the older Victorians, Four-Squares, and Craftsmans.

Vinyl also has a lifetime. It may be 2-3 decades, but it won't last forever. Maybe that won't matter to you. Lighter color vinyls withstand fading better than dark colors; darker vinyls can expand and contract more. And you will live with the color for as long as the siding lasts. That can be OK. It's all up to you. :)

[Alan]

I'm a big fan of siding over paint. Our previous house, while brick, required fresh paint on the trim every 4 or 5 years. When we built our current house in 1995, we went with full brick on three sides and vinyl siding on the rear, with all wood trim clad in aluminum. Now, twenty years later, the vinyl and trim looks exactly as it did when new. The outside has truly been no-maintenance and I couldn't be happier.

[Blackdog Lin]

Another vote for siding. Environmentally speaking, I think vinyl isn't such a nice choice. But from a maintenance standpoint, boy! it's the way to go. Our house is brick/white vinyl and our only maintenance is an every-other-year power washing, something we are able to do ourselves. We could never paint the house ourselves. And other than some storm-damage replacement, the siding is almost 22 years old and still looks great.....

[goldensmom]

Experiences differ. Our house is aluminum sided and the aluminum is in good shape after 50 years. I've noticed newer neighboring houses with with vinyl siding in poor shape - buckling, fading, green mold - probably depends on quality of vinyl to begin with. Our closest neighbors with vinyl siding replaced it a few years ago. We've had our aluminim painted once and it took well. Paint is clearly cheaper than siding. Depends on what you want and can afford. We are cash only people so that determines what we do but if we weren't we'd go with the best, longest lasting product.

[CathyA]

Don't they put tons of Styrofoam under all that siding? That would bother me. But dang.......painting the house is such a pain.......and so is finding someone to paint it and then dealing with them. Good luck Rogar!

[Gardenarian]

Have you considered cement board (Hardiboard) siding? It is very attractive and eco-friendly. The siding itself is very long lasting, and needs painting far less often (every 10-15 years) than wood. It's pricey, but lower maintenance. We got State rebates for installing it in our area because is it extremely fire-resistant.

I've also read about some new paints that claim to last for 10-15 years - really? Anyone know about these? SHerwin Williams Duration is one brand.

[pinkytoe]

We went with professional painters last time since there was just too much scraping. I think it cost $6000 about three years ago and still looks good but will need to address again in a few years I am sure. Around here, any siding other than HardiPlank is no longer used; I guess because it looks dated? I guess it all depends on whether this is your forever house, how much you want to spend, resale...My dream house would be clad in Texas limestone with metal framed windows and roof so that maintenance would be less.

[SteveinMN]

I've also read about some new paints that claim to last for 10-15 years - really? Anyone know about these? SHerwin Williams Duration is one brand.
We've used Duration. What all the contractors bidding on the job told us is that the 10-15 years is under ideal conditions no one outside of northern California experiences. >8) Seriously, even the best paint won't last much more than 10-12 years or so in our climate, and that's with scrupulous prep and hand-painting (i.e., not spraying). That said, the house we had painted with Duration is still the same color so either it has lasted at least 10 years or it's been repainted in the same color (I see that as unlikely as it was a "hot" color when we used it and it's distinctly unfashionable now). Unfortunately I don't know the new owners to ask them.