Vinyl Siding v's Brick, v's Wood

[Skipper]

Anymore it seems every other house is being built with vinyl siding. No painting and better I guess.

My concern with it is it's repairability, which is not possible. With all these storms going through, we are working claim after claim on vinyl houses, and while they are relatively minor looking, they keep coming up to be big deals. A couple of pieces of siding blown off or a few pecker holes from hail damage keeps meaning replace all of the vinyl on the house. Why? Because it can't be repaired to people's satisfaction. The companies that make this stuff do not make the same styles of it or colors for very long, and matching it is difficult. In addition, it fades, so even if you could find an exact replacement, it won't satisfy.

The thing is, the stuff isn't cheap either. These little deals where we end up buying 10 Grand in siding for 5 hail holes are a little aggrivating.

My house is sided partly with immitation cedar, brick, and T-1-11 siding. Hail hasn't damaged it yet, and it doesn't blow off in the wind.

Something to consider.

Skipper

 

[AgE]

Skipper,
I agree with you 100% on this one. I have been asking the question of "how do you fix it" for years now, and the most common response has been "you don't have to fix it because it's maintenance free." Duhhhhhhh, but it ain't indestructible!

The other thing is, I didn't think insurance companies can guarantee a match? On the insurance jobs I have worked, if a match can't be made, they will usually just pay for one side instead of the whole thing. :

AgE

 

[Skipper]

Rules vary by state as to what insurance companies have to do. Kentucky is a little tough to do business in. When people move here from out of state, they are usually shocked by the rates in this state as they are significantly higher than other states. The reason they are higher is situations like this.

We used to be able to get away with paying for 1 side of siding or a roof, but as of the last few years, we haven't. We sometimes offer some appearance damage money, and if they accept that, that's ok, but if they push us, we have to replace it.

Skipper

 

[stumpman]

I dont worry my house is brick with vinyl eaves and soffits no painting just wash once a year and go.

 

[Guy]

Hardi Plank! My house has a brick front with Hardi plank sides. Good stuff

 

[cowboyron]

We remodeled an old house down in south Fl. did the outside in T1-11 it was ok for awhile. We redone it again with vinyl siding to sum it all up I was not impressed with either materials. If I was to build a house today I would go with brick or block with stucco. I would never go with vinyl siding or the T1-11 just my opinion.

 

[Buzz]

We have a brick front house with the other 3 sides being vinyl. We've been in the house for about 7 years now and I've not had any problems whatsoever. The houses in my subdivision are all 6 to 8 years of age and they all look brand new. All you have to do is pressure wash it and it looks like putting a fresh coat of paint on the house. If I bought a new house I might buy 4 sided brick just because I like the way brick looks; however, I would rather have vinyl siding than some type of wood siding.

One subdivision over, the houses are built with regular siding and they are approximately the same age; these houses have not aged as gracefully and consequently the houses in my subdivision have a higher sale price at this time.

 

[stumpman]

As i type my son is down at a rental that is made out of T111 sideing bleaching and pressure washing it it needs painting about every 2 years its a pain it gets fungis and mildew but the bleach makes it look new the renter came home and thought he was painting.

 

[ramblinrack]

skipper, if you're paying ten G's for siding repair....i will load up all my belonging's and head to kentuck as fast as possible. a complete job using premium siding on a LARGE home should not run that much. you are clearly being taken advantage of by someone looking to rip off the insurance company. most reputable mfg's of siding keep the same style and color for many years.usually only odd colors that are slow sellers are discontinued. fading is only bad in your darker colors. if it is just a couple of damaged panels, they can be replaced by taking some off an inconspicuous part of the house...low to the ground, behind bushes, back of the house, etc and then replacing these with the new. any panel can be removed, and replaced with little problem. if i were you, i'd shop around and try and find an honest siding man who's not lookin to retire off one job. just my opinion but, i've got 33 yrs in this business.

 

[Vernon Holt]

Vinyl Siding

You can put what Rack sez in your pipe and smoke it. Good stuff.

Vernon

 

[Skipper]

Our problem here is that we can't get the good reasonable contractors interested in doing this kind of work because they are all working on new construction. We've got about 3 crooks running around here who carpet bag every storm we have. They are much better salesmen than they are contractors, and they generally reach our insureds before we do. They are real bad about going door to door and offering to do "Free Home Inspections" after storms. The first thing we know is they are turning in claims for our clinents, in a lot of cases, claims they didn't know they had. If we try to buck these people, they make us out to look like the bad guy. For us, it's become a fine line to walk. The thing is, these 3 crooks we are having to deal with do not do the jobs themselves, just bid them. He's paying someone $80 a square to put shingles on and billing us $120 to $140.

You might be surprised Rack, the next storm I'll let you know.

Skipper

 

[Duff]

Skip,

I put hardi plank on my house when I built it 4 yrs ago. Great product and very resonably priced-compared to vinal. I did the siding, overhang, face board, paint, the whole 9 yrds for about 1/8 the price that several vinal contractors quoted me. Paint stays on great. Pressure washed and it looks like new. The James Hardie company recommended using spiral nails or 1 1/4 roofing nail. I bought a roof nailer to put my siding on. Your more than welcome to use it if you want to tackle it your self.
Duff

 

[Skipper]

Is Hardi plank what that cement fiber board stuff is called?

I've only seen it used 3 times around here, but it's some darn good stuff. The first one I ran across, I got qualified for a brick rate because of the fire resistiveness of it. I took a piece of scrap back to my garage set up a video camera and burned it for 15 or so minutes with a propane torch. It did not catch on fire. The inside layer did flake off a bit, but other than that, no damage to it. I then sent the underwriter the sample and the video.

If I were building one for myself, I'd very much consider that stuff.

Skipper

 

[huntnnut]

The less you have competition the higher the prices are going to be. The quality of the work and materials will also play a part as it should.

If the insurance company is paying for it why wouldn't they want the best job available?

Rack, we need to talk Buddy...

 

[Duff]

Yea, thats the stuff. Has something like a 50 yr. termite warranty. I'm not sure what someone would charge for labor but a 12'x8 1/4" pc is $3.89 at Home Depot. Hardie also makes a Hardipanel board. 4x8 or 4x9 sheets. Looks like T-11 type siding-24.95 per sheet . Best of luck to ya skip

 

[AgE]

Skipper,
Yes, Hardi Plank is the cement fiber. When I built my house two years ago I used it and have been very please with it. I actually used a combination of hardi plank siding and a PVC material. In the attached pictures, everthing that is grey is hardi plank and everything that is white is the PVC material. I have absolutely no wood on the exterior of my house other than the pressure treated wood on the screen porch out back!

I am very pleased with these materials and would recommend them to anyone.

AgE

 

[Steven Farr]

That is a fine looking house!!!! I am getting my siding for $9200 installed. That is all trim, soffits, metal, labor and materials. I got some quotes that were almost $20,000!!!!! I chose vinyl over hardiplank because it is cheaper. As far as the shingles being $80 per square. Good Grief!!! I just had 45 squares of architectural shingles put on complete with continuous ridge vent, aluminum drip edge, and of course ridge cap for $35 per square. This guy is revered as the best roofer in our area too! It took him 3 days to complete it all and it is a 12/12 pitch. I believe that he was part monkey though. He climbed all over the place on that roof and from peak to ground it is 51 feet in the front :speechles :speechles

 

[Skipper]

What most people don't understand, is really, I'm trying to save them money when we look for cheaper repairs. The thing is, the company won't loose money, they'll raise rates to cover it. We have the lowest fire rates of the surrounding 3 counties because always in the past we have been able to control these situations a little bit. The problem is, we've been invaded by these crooks from out of town, and they are eating our lunch.

What will eventually happen if we don't stop it is our rates will go up like the other three counties.

Skipper

 

[Steven Farr]

Yeah I agree. Sometimes it is true that you get what you pay and a little more money means a lot better job but the crooks are everywhere. I have checked prices on everything I have had done and feel good about my decisions but I tell you, I have had to actually run people off when they tried to sell me their line of crap. I can see where folks get ripped off though because there are some silver tounged shysters out there. I hope some of the locals get wise to what is going on up there and step up with better prices before everything gets out of hand. Maybe the rates would be so good that the out of towners will be priced out of the market.

 

[AgE]

Thanks Mr. Farr!

AgE