What Are House Siding Options?

August 26, 2022

Siding your home

House siding is more than just an exterior facade of your home. It serves a purpose, with house siding benefits that you may not realize, until you don’t have any. For a home is New Jersey, or anywhere else that the temperatures get below freezing, one winter without house siding, you’d realize why you need it. With that in mind, what is the best house siding material for homes in New Jersey or other areas where winters are cold?

Every homeowner in a Northern climate where winters can get brutal, knows that getting through a winter with the house still intact can be challenging if you’re not prepared. We aren’t talking about just staying warm either! There is the matter of minimizing and mitigating the damage a home can sustain when those temperatures drop below freezing … especially way below freezing. That brings us to house siding.

There are many house siding materials available today, including aluminum, vinyl, and wood, but these aren’t the best materials for a cold climate. The winters in New Jersey have a freeze and thaw and refreeze and rethaw cycle that can damage a home. So, the house siding you chose needs to be able to withstand that cycle and protect your home.

Aluminum house siding doesn’t crack, but it dents easily, and the color fade fast, leaving a powder-like residue on your home’s exterior. Vinyl house siding is a plastic type of material that becomes brittle in the constant extreme cold, making it vulnerable to breaking and cracking.

Wood house siding is porous which allows moisture to seep in and becomes vulnerable to the freeze, thaw, refreeze, rethaw cycle. Any moisture that is trapped behind it will damage it, and by spring, you have wood rot to deal with – a lot of it! Wood siding also requires regular scraping and painting, usually an annual event.

This brings us to fiber cement house siding. It has proven to hold up well under any climate, from the far north to the deep south. In a cold climate, it has proven to withstand the coldest and harshest winters, year after year. Other benefits of fiber cement house siding are:

It doesn’t absorb moisture.
It doesn’t get brittle in extreme cold temperatures.
It doesn’t crack.
It doesn’t split.
Cleaning and maintenance is minimal in the spring.
Pairs easily with additional insulation making it more energy efficient.

Use of a foam insulation with fiber cement house siding eliminates air gaps in between the insulation and the house siding, making installation a better fit and provides a smooth install process.

What are the different types of siding for a house?

Five popular types of house siding include:

Vinyl House Siding – available in several colors, styles, and textures, including horizontal and vertical panels, even wood shake style. A low cost and its longevity makes it popular among many homeowners.
Wood House Siding – available in several finishes, styles, and textures and comes at a moderate cost, but painting or staining is required on a regular basis. It does absorb moisture which can lead to wood rot.
Metal House Siding – available in several panel styles, vertical strips, and shingles. The lost cost and minimal maintenance makes it appealing for homeowners, but dents easily.
Fiber Cement House Siding – looks like wood and with professional installation, a durable material at a decent price point. Insect and rot resistant with low maintenance required.
Insulated House Siding – a vinyl type siding that includes a layer of expanded foam insulation that makes it more energy efficient.

Is vinyl siding better than wood?

Wood house siding has proven to be a longer lasting siding and with an oil-based staining, can hold up in any climate and environment better than vinyl house siding. Over time, the wood house siding will look better than a vinyl house siding material.

How do you calculate square footage for siding?

This is the joy of having a professional contractor install your house siding: You won’t have to worry with the exacts! However, it never hurts to know how it is measured so that you can make sure you’re getting what you’re being charge for, so:

House siding is ordered in squares, equaling to 100 square feet. You want to multiply the height times width of the surface to be covered, divide that total by 100 to get the total number of “squares” needed for your home. Tip: If different materials are to be installed on different walls, measure them separately. Include any windows in your measure, do not subtract them from your measurements.

Can house siding be painted?

If you have vinyl house siding, yes, but it will have to be repainted every so often, so you should consider this fact before you paint it. Once you apply a coat of paint to vinyl, you can’t go back. The same is to be said with painting aluminum house siding, or any type of house siding. You want to find the best method for how clean house siding before you start painting. For the paint to adhere and last, a clean surface is recommended.

With house siding, while it looks good and can last for 20 to 30 years, even longer, knowing when to replace house siding is important. So, just how long does siding on a house last? Vinyl house siding of quality material and installed by an experienced contractor can last up to 60 years.

Aluminum house siding is the lowest costing siding with a lifespan up to 40 years and wood siding has a lifespan up to 40 years too. Fiber cement house siding has shown to last up to 50 years, maybe longer. Call (856) 662-1382 today for your house siding needs in Berlin and Cherry Hill, NJ.