Exterior Siding Replacement or Repair
LP Smartside
Sheds constructed with LP products offer all the warmth and beauty of traditional wood, along with the outstanding durability you need. With interior panel finishes like SmartFinish® for a beautiful, clean appearance and SilverTech® to help keep shed storage spaces cooler, LP is the smart choice for better buildings. Let’s take a closer look at the most important advantages of LP® SmartSide® siding and trim for these structures.
10. Reversible. Some LP SmartSide trim comes in reversible smooth and cedar textures, greatly adding to its flexibility for shed design.
9. Renewable resource. All SmartSide products are manufactured with wood (a renewable resource) acquired using processes certified by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®).
8. No efflorescence. LP SmartSide products do not contain the natural salts and minerals which sometimes discolor fiber cement products.
7. Easier to install. LP SmartSide is significantly lighter per linear foot than fiber cement, making it easier to install. In addition, no special tools are required to cut it.
6. Fewer seams.SmartSide trim and lap siding come in 16′ lengths, which may result in fewer seams or joints on your structure.
5. More impact-resistant. SmartSide siding products are more resistant than fiber cement or vinyl products to impact damage from common projectiles found in a backyard, such as golf balls, baseballs and rocks.
4. Possible cost advantages. Due to the lighter weight and increased coverage per piece, there may be significant installation cost advantages with SmartSide lap, trim and shakes over fiber cement and other siding products. Ask your local dealer for details.
3. Longer warranty. The LP® SmartSide® 50-year limited warranty is longer than most fiber cement product warranties. Read the warranty for yourself at www.lpcorp.com.
2. Realistic wood grain texture. SmartSide has a more realistic wood texture than most fiber cement and vinyl siding products, so your shed can have all the warmth and beauty of traditional wood.
1. Time-tested performance. LP has manufactured over nine billion square feet of SmartSide siding since 1997. After nearly 20 years of successful performance, LP SmartSide products are proven and time-tested!
vinyl siding
When it comes to upgrading the exterior of your home, there are numerous materials to choose from in terms of siding. Vinyl siding is a popular exterior siding option for homeowners in the United States, and there are several reasons why:
Vinyl siding is affordable, even if you’re looking into high quality vinyl siding.
Vinyl siding is available in a variety colors and highly customizable to suit your personal taste.
New vinyl siding is one of the best ways to transform the outside of your home, and it can even help attract more buyers if you put your home up for sale
Aside from the benefits of vinyl siding, we’re sharing some fun facts that you might not know about this wonderful exterior selection:
1. Vinyl siding is engineered with polyvinyl chloride—which is the third most popular synthetic plastic polymer. It was introduced to the market during the 1950s as an alternative to aluminum siding.
2. Over 30% of homes across the country have vinyl siding, and it’s also the most widely-used exterior for new homes.
3. Mid-grade cedar clapboard can cost 2.5 times more than vinyl siding, although some high grade vinyl siding can cost just as much.
4. The average price for vinyl siding ranges from $3 to $7 per square foot. When you install vinyl siding on a 2,800-square foot home, you can expect to pay anywhere from $8,400 to $19,600.
5. The thinnest vinyl siding that you’ll find on the market is roughly .35”-.40” thick, which is known as builder’s grade siding. This is the bare minimum thickness to protect your home, although it won’t provide the same results as premium siding.
6. Premium siding ranges from .44”-.48” thick, although vinyl siding with a thickness of .55” is available from some manufacturers.
7. Vinyl siding can expand and contract by ½”. The expansion varies due to weather and temperature changes.
8. Vinyl siding can often withstand winds of up to 110 miles per hour.
9. Homeowners who choose vinyl siding won’t have to worry about sanding, painting, or staining. While wood exterior siding requires a lot of upkeep, vinyl is on the opposite end of the spectrum.
10. Cleaning vinyl siding is very easy. All that you need is a bucket, a hose, a mixture of 70/30 water and white vinegar solution, and a scrub brush that’s designed to wash your car.
11. Professional vinyl siding installation ensures that your vinyl siding performs as intended and stands the test of time.
vinyl shake and shingle siding
You love the look of shake siding but you can’t decide if you should go with the real deal (wooden shake siding) or vinyl shake siding. Shake and shingle siding is great for decorating gables or even entire stretches of your home’s siding, but which version of shake siding should you choose?
We’ve put together some facts about both wooden and vinyl shake siding to help you decide.
1. Vinyl Shake Siding Never Needs to be Painted
One of the biggest problems that homeowners face with cedar shake siding is the fact that it needs to be repainted every few years to keep its good looks. The costs of the labor involved to repaint can get quite high over the years and most find it a pain to have to either hire out the work or do it themselves.
Vinyl shake siding isn’t painted, but rather the color of the siding is formulated into the material itself. This means that you won’t ever need to paint or stain your siding again and your new vinyl shake siding will look great for decades rather than just a few years.
2. Vinyl is Much Less Expensive Than Wood Shakes
Another benefit of vinyl shakes is that they’re so much more affordable than wood shake and shingle siding. For example, you’d be looking at spending about $2-6 for vinyl shakes installed vs. over $10 for wood shingles. Vinyl shakes usually come in panels vs. individual shingles for wood so vinyl is also easier to install.
3. Vinyl Looks Just Like The Real Thing
Unless you go right up to the siding and lick it, you’re going to have a hard time differentiating between a quality vinyl shake siding and real wood shakes. Visually, they’re almost identical. Physically, the texture of vinyl shakes is very close to real wood shake siding.
4. Vinyl Shakes Are Available in Hundreds of Colors
This is an easy one. Wooden shake siding usually comes in about 3 or 4 colors max. Vinyl shake on the other hand comes in literally hundreds of colors since the color of the siding itself is baked in when the siding is produced at the factory.
Since shake siding is typically used as “accent” siding nowadays, it’s a good thing to have a large selection of colors to choose from to really set your home apart from your neighbors.
5. Vinyl is Weather Resistant
Wood siding can warp, rot, house an army of termites, peel and do many more things that are generally not good for your home. The reason why wood shakes can become such a problem is because they’re not weather resistant like vinyl shakes.
When water comes into contact with wooden siding, it permeates and can eventually lead to the problems mentioned above.
Vinyl siding is completely weather resistant, requires very little to zero maintenance over time and you won’t have to worry about the color fading or paint peeling off.
6. Vinyl Shake Siding Doesn’t Rot Like Wood
Let’s compare a home with wood shake siding and vinyl shake siding. They both look great at the start but how about if we fast-forward 20 years?
The fact is that any type of wood can rot and warp. Vinyl shake siding cannot rot and certainly can’t warp unless you’re living on the surface of Mars.
7. Vinyl Shakes Keep the Termites and Bugs Out
Termites and other pests just don’t like the taste of vinyl. Wood is another story. While cedar, most commonly used in shake siding and shingles, is somewhat resistant to termites, that doesn’t mean that it’s completely immune to these pests.
The best way to avoid termites getting into and destroying your siding? Don’t use wood!
Which Shake Siding is Better? Vinyl or Wood?
Well, we think that we’ve made a solid case for vinyl shake siding here but if you absolutely need the real deal, go for wood.
But be warned that not only is wood siding typically more expensive than vinyl siding, it’s also a pain to maintain and repaint.
Vinyl shake siding (and all vinyl siding) is energy-efficient, affordable and very long-lasting.