Siding is a popular home exterior feature across millions of neighborhoods in the United States. But beyond appearances, have you ever wondered what exactly they are for? Whether you’re a new homeowner or someone looking to add to your investment, installing siding can bring many advantages. As the top siding contractor in Delafield, WI, Resistance Exteriors is your helpful resource for everything about siding and its long-term benefits for your home. Explore all of these and more below.
What Is Siding?
Siding is a type of protective material attached to a home’s exterior walls. While many people prefer to have siding installed for aesthetic reasons, it’s also commonly known that siding helps shield the home from unusual weather conditions as well as provides insulation against changing climate temperatures. Typically, a siding contractor can help you install it in a number of different ways, such as horizontally, vertically, a mix of both, or in custom ornate fashions.
What Can Siding Do for My Home?
1. Make Your Home Look Better
Installing siding adds visual texture and dimension to your home’s exterior, making it stand out better than just the typical coat of paint on a flat wall. You can choose different settings and materials for your siding contractor can work with, depending on how you want your home’s siding to look.
2. Help You Save on Energy Bills
Because it adds another solid layer of protection to your walls, siding also helps to improve insulation inside your home. This means that you can keep your home more comfortable while spending less on your HVAC’s energy usage.
3. Increase Your Home’s Value
When checking out homes, buyers typically look for any special qualities that can provide them with additional value for their money. Because siding provides both practical and cosmetic benefits to a home, it’s easily a sought-after feature among homes on the market.
4. Provide Additional Protection for Your Home
As mentioned, installing siding on your home helps protect it from the weather, pests, or even fires (depending on the material or treatment used). It adds durability to your home’s structure, ensuring your important investment lasts you for generations.
Types of Siding Materials and Their Advantages
Different siding materials have their own benefits when it comes to durability and design. The material you choose for your siding contractor to install should not only go with your home’s design, but it should also serve your most important needs. Here are a few common siding materials and their advantages:
Wood
Wood is a classic siding material option that can help elevate your home’s overall visual appeal as it is considered a more “high-end” siding alternative. Wood siding can work both ways for the home, whether you want a traditional cabin-like appearance or a more modern zen spa vibe. One of the best things about using wood as a material is that you can stain or paint it in the style of your choosing. Plus, when maintained properly, wood siding is durable enough to last for decades, making it a great investment for the home.
Your siding contractor can install wood in a few different ways:
- Wood Shingles and Shakes – These were popular siding material options in early New England and are still adopted today in many homes across the country. Wood shingles and shakes come in smooth, tapered tiles of (usually) weather-resistant wood, such as cedar and redwood. When arranged on a home’s exterior, they provide a pleasant textured appearance.
- Wooden Sheets, Drop Siding, and Clapboards – These siding installation types are typically wooden planks lined up horizontally, with a few key variations. Clapboards, sometimes called weatherboards, achieve that “overlapping” look that you see on farmhouse-style homes, as the planks are designed thinner at the top and thicker at the bottom. Drop siding tends to be more of a flat-surface shiplap look, but it can also sometimes feature a tongue-and-groove design for added dimension. Lastly, wooden sheets of plywood may sometimes be used as drop siding options for cheaper building upgrades.
- Board-and-Batten (Vertical Wood Siding) – Board-and-batten siding is sometimes referred to as barn siding. Wide cedar or pine planks (the “boards”) are installed vertically and spaced by thinner strips of wood (the “battens”), adding a touch of visual interest to the home’s exterior.
Vinyl
Vinyl siding is still the most popular option among many homeowners today. This is largely due to its affordability, versatility in color, and its low-maintenance factor. While not as “natural” as wood, vinyl shares just about as many of the latter’s advantages. When properly cared for, vinyl can also last for as long as wood but at a fraction of the cost.
Metal
Metal is becoming a popular choice for modern homeowners today not only for its minimalistic, industrial-style appeal but also for its practical capabilities. Metal provides highly protective advantages from fire, insects, and the weather. It’s easy to maintain, plus you can save money on air conditioning costs as it provides maximum resistance to the sun’s heat. On the other hand, it won’t let much heat in during winter either, so you’ll need to have good interior insulation. It may also cost more than vinyl siding, but it’s still less expensive than wood.
The Importance of Correct Installation
It’s crucial that siding is installed correctly to ensure not only the material’s longevity but also the home inhabitant’s safety. Poor siding installations can allow water to seep into your walls, causing damage to your home’s structure while providing the ideal breeding ground for mold issues. Signs of poorly installed siding include:
- Warping or bulging
- Cracking
- Mold
- Buckling or rippling
- Poor insulation
- Rust marks
- In need of constant painting
- The paint inside the home is peeling
If you notice any of these signs, it’s important to call a reputable siding contractor to correct these issues right away.
Find the Right Siding Contractor in Delafield, WA
At Resistance Exteriors, we help you keep the comfort inside your home and the elements out. We specialize in both corrective siding repairs and maintenance, as well as new siding installations. As an LP Buildsmart Preferred Contractor and a 2021 Delafield Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awardee, we’re the top choice among siding contractors in Delafield, WI, and the surrounding areas. To discover the best siding solutions and warranties for your home, contact us today.
