Vinyl Siding – What are the choices?

So you want to give your home a fresh look on the outside?  Over time the most common siding used went from cedar shingles to composite(asbestos) shingles to aluminum siding to vinyl siding where it has remained for quite some time.  Fiber cement siding such as Hardie Plank is a luxury choice preferred by many but comes at a cost several times that of entry level vinyl siding. So for most of us, vinyl siding it is! There are still so many choices covering size, color and style so that you can make your home match your personality.  Most common is D4 or D4 Dutch Lap. The D4 is flat clapboard style with each piece being two 4″ “boards”.  The dutch lap has more dimension to it with a beveled top to each “board”.

As you go up the price chart of vinyl siding other choices become D5 for a wider board, vertical siding or “cedar impressions” which imitates the look of cedar shingles.  The cedar impressions shingles cost significantly more so, depending on your budget, you might want to consider them only for the front elevation of your house or even just a portion of it to add an accent.  Like everything else, popular colors come and go. In recent years the blues and grays seem to be in with many still opting for traditional white. A wider range of dark colors have become available too including dark greys resembling iron and dark reds resembling firebrick.

If you thought picking the siding color and style was hard – your job is not done!  To complete your new look you may want to add a wider trim around your windows, perhaps shutters or maybe you want to add some contrast with white corners instead of ones that match your siding.  Whatever you choose have fun with the process of choosing your new look and don’t let it stress you out.