I have recently purchased a house that is desperately in need of new siding. Currently, the siding material is sheets of painted plywood with narrow vertical strips every 12″ (to simulate board and batten, I assume). I am not replacing this with the same system.
I thought of a couple of options:
1. vinyl siding: to be honest, i hate the stuff, but i’ll never have to worry about maintenence and it is waterproof
2. real board and batten: i think it would look nice, but I have some questions:
1. what maintenence is involved? (e.g. re-staining)
2. how waterproof is it?
3. I saw an ad for factory finished wood siding at my local lumber yard. they claim a 20 year warranty on the finish. Has anyone ever used this stuff?
i live in southern ontario (hamilton), so weather is a factor (cold, snowy winters, humid summers)
thanks everyone,
ryan
Replies
Vinyl siding is definitely not waterproof, at least in terms of keeping water out from behind it. Maybe what you mean is that it's impervious to water? It is assumed that some amount of water will get behind all siding systems.
Wood siding is a different animal than vinyl. Most people think it looks a helluva lot better. The most thorough application is to prime the back before installing it, then finish the front. To do vertical board and batten you would need to consider where the nailing is, because you will not hit a stud with every board. I am going to be doing some board and batten coming up shortly and will be installing blocking horizontally in the wall to catch the nails.
I know that prefinished siding is getting more common. Maybe someone else can comment on that. Pre-primed is certainly a good way to go, I've done a lot of that. It's important to get the paint on it as soon as possible.
Hardi plank or other fibercement siding.