When Is It Time To Replace Your Home's Siding?

In some instances, the decision to replace your home's vinyl siding is a subjective one based on its appearance and what you want your home's exterior to look like. In other instances, however, replacement is imperative in order to protect your home from mold, mildew or water damage. It can be easy to overlook the need to replace your tired looking wood or vinyl if you don't know what signs to look for. Fortunately, there are several simple ways you can check the integrity of your home's exterior by simply looking at it with fresh eyes.

Signs Your Wood Exterior Needs To Be Replaced

By taking a few minutes to walk around your entire house, you can quickly get an idea of the overall condition of your home's exterior. If it is wooden, look for typical signs of aging and damage such as mold, mildew, splintering or rot. Any of these are an indication that it isn't protecting your house properly and that there may be extensive damage within the walls that can't be seen on the surface. Another obvious sign is the need to scrape, patch and repaint the exterior. If nails are popping up and out of the surface of the wood, you should assume that there is underlying damage from moisture, as the popped nails are caused by excessive expansion and contraction of saturated wood over time. In many instances, replacement with a more durable material is actually the best choice because it will protect your home longer with far less maintenance.

Signs Your Vinyl Siding Needs Replaced

If you have vinyl siding, look for obvious damage such as cracks, holes, chips and popped nails. Because you look at your house every day without truly seeing it, you may be surprised by how many planks are actually damaged. Also take the time to stand near one end of each exterior wall and look back along the length of the house. If you can see planks that are wavy, warped or distorted in any way, you need to talk to reliable siding contractors as soon as possible about replacement. Those wavy or warped pieces of vinyl indicate that there is water damage beneath them. By the time they are distorted enough to be seen, the water damage is most likely extensive. Consider fiber cement as an alternative that is virtually impervious to water.

Do You Want Your House To Be More Energy Efficient?

Many of today's savvy homeowners are looking for ways to make their residences more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint. Wood, aluminum and older styles of vinyl all have limitations when it comes to energy efficiency or reducing heating and cooling costs. You can improve a house's efficiency by having fiber cement siding installed and by adding sheets of insulating board beneath certain kinds of vinyl.

Good Looks Matter

Even if you've checked your home and discovered that your current siding seems to be in fairly good shape, don't resign yourself to having to tolerate an old, unattractive exterior. Get a quote from siding contractors in your area; you may be pleasantly surprised by the actual cost to upgrade to a better quality of materials such as fiber cement. Outdated styles that are frequently replaced by homeowners include those with faded color, planks that are too wide and planks that don't have any texture to mimic the look of genuine wood. If you'd like to improve your home's value and curb appeal instantly, replacement fiber cement siding may be the answer you've been looking for.