The exterior walls of a house can be a veneer of beauty or an ugly shell that begs to be removed or covered up.
If your home is in the latter category, there are several good reasons to give the exterior walls a facelift. One of the most appealing reasons is financial: When a home is neat and fresh looking, homeowners generally realize a greater profit at sale time. Another is practical: Re-siding exterior walls can decrease heating and cooling costs.
While ”there`s not much innovation in exterior siding products,” says John Vostal, co-owner of Mayes Vostal Architects in Elmhurst, homeowners have several options. ”Aluminum, vinyl, wood and stucco are pretty much what you`re dealing with on existing homes.”
Vostal says deciding what type of siding to use depends on several factors: where you live, what type of house you have, what you want it to look like and how much money you have to spend. ”The answer is different for everyone,” he says.
While wood is still a popular choice for many homeowners, its high cost makes less expensive manufactured sidings, such as aluminum and vinyl, an attractive alternative for cost-conscious homeowners.
Goodbye, paint
Even homeowners who crave natural wood may like manufactured sidings because they are pre-treated and don`t require stain or paint.
”I like wood, but I don`t have the time or the money to keep painting every few years,” says Wallis Glos, who has a two-story house in Forest Park sided with vinyl.
Aluminum and vinyl siding have been popular for years with homeowners as low-cost, low-maintenance facelift materials. ”People like it because 30 or 40 years from now it will be in pretty good shape,” says Tony Abate, a siding salesman for Lewis Supply in Melrose Park. ”It lasts and it`s relatively inexpensive.”
When selecting between aluminum and vinyl, Abate says a home`s surroundings are an important consideration. ”In an area with high sun exposure, a product with a sun block coating (available on aluminum) is good,” he says. ”And homeowners should think about how much tree sap is hitting the house as that will make cleaning more important.”
On a practical level, says Abate, aluminum, unlike vinyl, can be recycled and is fireproof. The down side is that aluminum dents easily. ”If you`ve got kids playing around the house, vinyl is a better selection,” says Abate. Damaged panels, however, in both aluminum and vinyl, can be removed individually and replaced, he says.
Inherent properties of the materials can also help homeowners select between aluminum and vinyl. ”Over time, aluminum siding can chalk and fade,” says Frank Rosspank, operations manager for Courtesy Home Center`s Forest Park store. Aluminum has a baked-on finish or is coated with a thin plastic. Vinyl is made with a solid color throughout. Both materials come in a wide range of colors and styles, some embossed with a simulated wood grain. For a fresh look, aluminum siding can be painted, says Rosspank, vinyl can`t. Vinyl siding won`t show scratches, but is hard to find in dark colors because of its tendency to fade with age, says Rosspank.
What`s cheaper?
Vinyl siding once had a reputation for cracking in extremely cold weather, but Rosspank says that`s the result of poor installation, not frigid temperatures. ”Vinyl expands and contracts depending on the weather, and so does aluminum, but to a lesser extent,” says Rosspank. ”If the panels look lumpy or cracked, it`s because they weren`t put in with enough room to move.” In price, vinyl is generally cheaper than aluminum siding products. Depending upon the finish and grade, Lewis Supply sells vinyl siding for $40 to $70 per 10-by-10-foot sheet. Aluminum siding of the same size sells for $60 to $110.
At Courtesy Home Center, 100 square feet of vinyl siding sells for $54.96. The store does not carry aluminum siding.
That`s largely because vinyl has displaced aluminum as the siding of choice, says Courtesy`s Rosspank. ”It`s easier to work with and install,”
he says. ”Do-it-yourselfers find it especially easier to cut.”
Even if the job will be done piecemeal, it is best to order all the material at the same time and from the same supplier to ensure a color match, says Abate. Suppliers recommend storing the siding flat, off the ground and covered with a tarpaulin.
Whether aluminum or vinyl siding is selected, both are easy to maintain. Suppliers recommend washing twice a year (spring and fall) with a mild cleaner, a soft bristle brush and a strong stream of water. Strong detergents and abrasive cleaners should be avoided as they will dull vinyl and possibly take the finish off aluminum siding.
To estimate the amount of siding needed to cover a house, calculate the square footage of the outside walls.
Some contractors advise excluding the windows and doors in the estimate, while others say to include it because the overage will be made up in trim and waste, particularly if it`s a do-it-yourself project. Suppliers can also help determine how much siding is needed to cover the home.
Take it off?
Do-it-yourselfers can save time by applying new siding directly over old siding. This can save owners from having to buy insulation, or insulation of heavy quality, for the base, says Rosspank, as the existing siding already provides insulation.
Yet, if the house has more than one layer of siding, an additional layer may make the walls so thick that they extend beyond window and door frames.
”It can look like a cavity that needs filling,” says Lewis Supply`s Abate of doors and windows that aren`t even with the side walls. To correct this, the frames can be extended or the existing layers of siding can be removed.
While siding can provide good insulation and eliminate the need to paint, in some cases it may even reduce a home`s value, says Mary Antenpenko, owner of Re/Max Combined Realty in River Forest. ”If you have the only home with siding on a block full of Victorian restorations, buyers may want and get a discount in the sale price,” says Antenpenko. ”You have to be conscious of trends in your neighborhood.”
When deciding whether to side or restore, Antenpenko says, homeowners should consider restoration if the home is worth more than $160,000 and is in a neighborhood where home values are on the rise. She says homeowners with property under that price may find the cost prohibitive and not worth the return on the investement.
Jean Stoffer and her husband, Dale, for example have a four-bedroom, asphalt-sided home in River Forest, one of the tonier Western suburbs. With neighboring homes in the $300,000 to $400,000 price range, the couple hired a contractor to remove the asphalt siding, replace rotted wood, strip and repaint.
Before the project started, Stoffer worried about the condition of the wood. Encouraged by what she saw after peeks under select pieces of asphalt, Stoffer looked up the building permit for the asphalt at the village hall to determine its age. She learned that the siding was installed in 1952.
”I figured 40 years of covering was good for the wood,” says Stoffer.
”Even if it wasn`t, the asphalt looked so bad on this house I just wanted it off.”
Asphalt covers the exterior of many of the area`s older homes. While once popular for its low price and durability, asphalt shingle is generally no longer manufactured for siding, though it`s still quite popular as a roofing material.
The asbestos problem
Asbestos shingle is no longer manufactured because its link to cancer no longer makes it an attractive siding option.
While asbestos can be covered with another siding, removal is a safer option, says Elliott Wall, owner of Elliott & Associates, an asbestos removal company in La Grange. ”Getting rid of the asbestos can prevent particles from contaminating the air around the house,” he says.
Wall says that many homeowners call him after banks reject them for refinancing. ”Often times, money isn`t available for houses with asbestos siding until it is removed,” says Elliott.
While most other sidings aren`t classified as dangerous, they do have limitations. With natural wood, the limitation is its high cost.
Many homeowners like natural wood, but it can be one of the most expensive siding options. Made from pine, redwood or cedar, the latter is the most common of the wood sidings. Homeowners with bigger budgets may like cedar siding or cedar shingles, ”because they are among the best wood choices for exterior walls,” says Mike Sanville of Complete Supply Inc. in Cicero. Cedar siding is sold in straight-length pieces, like aluminum or vinyl siding. Cedar shingles are just what they`re name implies.
”Pre-stained cedar siding is a good choice, but it costs $120 to $135 per 100 square feet,” says Sanville. The price is affected by the number of stains applied to the wood. ”If the wood is painted, pre-stain can reduce the number of times you need to paint,” says Sanville. He recommends pre-stained cedar with at least two coats for weather protection.
Hines Lumber in River Forest sells cedar shingles in bundles for $46.50 each. A Hines salesman said four bundles would cover approximately 100 square feet.
”About 85 to 90 percent of sales are for new construction,” says Joe King of Cedar Siding & Lumber in Rochelle, Ill. ”Homeowners can re-side with it (cedar siding and shingles),” says King. ”But many don`t because there are less expensive materials to buy.”
Another option, albeit a much less popular one for re-siding projects, is stucco, a rough-surface sand and cement mixture. Stucco is said to crack with age and repairs can be expensive. Tom Hohmeier, owner of Chicago Stucco, estimates that repairs on a 2,400-square-foot house with extensive damage would cost some $4,000 to $5,000.
Though stucco is a durable siding, it is primarily used in new construction or repair, rather than re-siding, says Hohmeier. ”Stucco is great for builders, but it`s not really for homes that don`t already have
(stucco),” he says.
Unlike any other exterior siding, stucco can wrap around curves and follow irregular shapes. It can be painted, but it should be professionally cleaned, says Mike Niesterczek of AAA Stucco in Chicago. The price to clean a 2,400-square-foot house would be $1,000 to $1,500, depending on the home`s style, says Niesterczek.
