Never have to paint your house again.  That’s the wonderful promise of vinyl siding installations.  It’s true to a large extent too.  Vinyl sidings, after all, are pretty durable.  They neither rot nor flake and many modern units come in colors and designs that mimic architectural details that were once only available for wooden surfaces.

They aren’t perfect, though, and do come with their own share of baggage.

1. Environmental Issues

Vinyl is derived from PVC, a plastic resin with cancer-causing properties in humans.  While the vinyl should be safe while installed in your home, their manufacturing and disposal have long been questionable.  Burning vinyl, for instance, produces toxic, highly-dangerous fumes.  If you’re an eco-conscious consumer, you’ll probably want to investigate the carbon footprints associated with vinyl sidings before pressing forward.

2. Property Appraisal

While vinyl siding is gaining greater acceptance among homeowners (and home shoppers), it bears repeating that it can still serve as a cover-up for some inherent problems.  I would probably be suspicious when buying a house filled with vinyl too and the burden of proving otherwise, of course, will rest on homeowners like you.

3. Maintenance

Vinyl sidings have been touted as maintenance-free.  After all, you won’t need to ever paint or stain the units.  Apart from an annual washing, there is really little needed to keep it from looking fresh.  Do expect some amount of slight fading starting five years onwards though.

What vinyl installations put your home at risk of, though, are hidden rotting and insect infestations beneath the sidings.  Left unchecked, the damage can end up being considerable before any signs manifest.

4. Energy-Efficiency

Some salesmen will try to sell you on the energy efficiency of vinyl.  They’re lying.  Vinyl panels provide no significant insulation so it will not help in lowering your energy bill.  Additional insulation inside the walls is what you’ll need if you want shaved-down energy use.

Related posts:

1. Siding Manufacturers
2. Vinyl Siding
3. Tips For Painting Vinyl Siding
4. Vinyl Siding Components: Soffits and Fascia
5. Vinyl Clad Aluminum Siding

Tags: vinyl sidings

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Siding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.