When you are faced with either buying a new home-which might be unlikely in today’s economy, or repairing or refurbishing your old home, you have a few choices to make. First of all, decide if the exterior of your home is in ill-repair or damaged. If so, you will need to either replace cracked or broken bricks or warped wood, or install vinyl siding. The following are a few pros and cons of vinyl siding. There is a debate as to whether vinyl is the way to go and a lot depends on personal preference. Here are a few tips that will help you make a decision that you will have to live with, or rather in, for years to come.

PROS

• Vinyl Siding can be a lot less expensive than brick or wood
• It is very easy to maintain and never has to be painted
• It comes in a variety of colors (mostly light) and styles (scalloped, smooth, wood grain)
• Most siding comes with a lifetime warranty
• Vinyl Siding can be easily installed over the original home material (brick, wood) allowing the material base to breathe
• It sheds water helping to alleviate mold and mildew
• It is termite and dust mite resistant
• Vinyl Siding has a beautiful, new appearance
• It won’t rot which alleviates replacement
• It can be trimmed with other materials such as wood for a less generic look
• Everybody’s doing it

CONS

• Vinyl siding can be very expensive depending on the type and grade that you are purchasing
• It may be very difficult, in case of damage or fading, to find exact duplicate replacement siding that is the exact color or style of your current siding
• It has not proven to be very weather resistant. Consider carefully because if you live in an area prone to tornados, hurricanes, or extremely bad storms, siding has not proven it’s durability or resistance to strong winds as well as brick, wood, or cement have
• A lot of vinyl siding comes with a lifetime warranty but you should read the contract very carefully to find exact replacement clauses
• The color fades over time
• It is not as noise resistant as brick or wood
• Vinyl siding will crack very easily after being exposed to extreme sunlight and inclement weather

• It is very “cookie-cutter” in appearance leaving little room for visual personality and is unoriginal
• It has proven to chalk over time
• Vinyl Siding cannot be removed unless you are willing to replace all of the removed trim, fill all the nail holes leftover from the siding, and restore the beauty of the brick or wood by treating or replacing

While any choice comes with its own set of problems it generally boils down to personal preference. Whatever you decide, be sure that to do your research and price comparisons.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 8:37 am and is filed under Home Improvement, Home Improvement Tips, Vinyl Siding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.