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Mitchell Andrus
07-09-2009, 9:24 AM
I know all about the suits, failures, water damage, rot....

I've found a house 15 years old without any areas of concern. Assuming I keep up a good coat of paint (as the experts suggest) - does anyone know of a really good reason to assume I'll be un-skinning this and installing vinyl siding? Other than future resale and/or maintenance costs?

I'm thinking it'd cost about 2.5 to 3 paint jobs to just do the new siding soon after buying and getting it over with.

The offer will reflect this.
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Brian Effinger
07-09-2009, 11:08 AM
Mitchell, the fiberboard should be fine, if you can maintain a good coat of paint, and water doesn't get in behind it. Also, if the house was wrapped in tyvek or something similar then this shouldn't be as much of an issue. Overhangs on the house & sheltering trees will help the siding to an extent as well.

Greg Cole
07-09-2009, 11:29 AM
Sun exposure seems to raise heck with that style of siding here in the middle of the midwest too, so give the southern exposures a good look over. The south wall of my home had been screwed in numerous locations by the previous home owner in an attempt to minimize the buckling & bulging. In NJ, you may not have quite of a strong fireball in the sky as here.:confused:
Also any trees-shrybs that maybe a wee bit over grown or are close-in contact with the walls should be looked at closely, but that goes for any siding in that situation.
I tore all that crud off and went with Hardiboard siding all around. The effort of numerous paint jobs was no more tedious than replacing all the siding IMO.

Rich Engelhardt
07-09-2009, 11:57 AM
Hello,
15 year old fiberboard is a far different animal than the crapola they used 45/50 years ago.

Having said that...

IMNSHO, fiberboard on a house in the price range you're looking at (based on your other posts), would be both unacceptable to me and a red flag that other "corners" were cut during construction.

I'd go over every sq inch with a fine tooth comb, paying particular attention to HVAC, roof, foundation and windows/doors.

While it's not a "pass" (as in I'd pass on the house) - it would be a very fine point in the negotiations.

Also - in my past professional opinion - based on 25 plus years selling coatings and resins - to retail/commercial/light industrial customers...
15 year old fiber is near end of life.
Maybe 2 - if you're lucky - times left to paint it. Maybe.
Even the newer stuff calls it quits around 20 years.

Ken Fitzgerald
07-09-2009, 11:59 AM
I won't have it!

My brother and friends have had too much trouble with it.

Ben Franz
07-09-2009, 12:11 PM
I hate the stuff, too. I've had the pleasure of repairing too many customers siding over the years to ever trust it. Contacting vegetation, bad overhangs / gutters / downspouts and overspray from sprinklers can cause extreme damage. Now I get to replace a bunch of hardboard T1-11 and trim on my mother's mobile home prior to sale. The fun never ends.

Mitchell Andrus
07-09-2009, 12:53 PM
Google "fiberboard siding lawsuits"...

I'll assume a re-skin is due in the near future.

The house has so many positives, it's worth the time to get estimates.
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Karl Brogger
07-09-2009, 5:21 PM
What ever you do, don't reside it with something temporary like vinyl. YUCK!

Stay away from Certainteed cement board siding too. Including my house, I know of 4 that have to be re-sided because of shrinkage issues. Hardy Board doesn't have a problem that I know of.

curtis rosche
07-11-2009, 2:20 PM
we had a cabin that had the paper/fiberboard siding on it, it was 42 years old. it was still fine. but replaced it anyways

Neal Clayton
07-12-2009, 12:19 PM
IMNSHO, fiberboard on a house in the price range you're looking at (based on your other posts), would be both unacceptable to me and a red flag that other "corners" were cut during construction.



i agree. more often than not if previous owners went cheap on one thing, they went cheap on at least most, if not all.

Pat Germain
07-12-2009, 11:09 PM
I've got some kind of fiberboard siding on my house, but I'm not sure what brand it is. I guess I should find out. It's holding up fine so far, but the house is only eight years old.

I've seen a few houses in my neighborhood where they put stucco over the siding. It actually looks very nice. I have no idea how durable that would be. But a good stucco job can last forever.

Vinyl siding can also last a very long time in the right climate. I used to live in Southern Virginia where that stuff was used almost exclusively; even on some pretty high-end homes. Sure, as woodworkers, we're going to think it looks kinda lame, but vinyl siding is maintenance free in the right climate.

I've never seen vinyl siding in Colorado. I doubt it would do well in sub-zero temps and hail storms.

Neal Clayton
07-13-2009, 5:47 PM
the proper way to do stucco is to bind it to a wire mesh or rebar, that's anchored to the studs, so anything behind it shouldn't affect it at all really.

stucco will crack occasionally as the house settles, there's no avoiding that, but patches are simple enough.

the reason vinyl siding isn't good for climates with wild temperature variations is vinyl shrinks and expands due to seasonal changes more than wood does. and besides that, there's no way to stop it from trapping moisture. that's the real downfall of vinyl applied to any structure, especially a wood one. it causes more harm than good.

and before anyone says "well it wasn't maintained" or "wasn't put up properly", 90% of homes aren't properly maintained, so poor maintenance is an assumption, imo. and when a vinyl siding job comes up for say, 5000 dollars for a 3500 square foot house, it won't be done right in all likelihood. you pay cheap you get cheap ;).