Cedar siding any good?

2

2cylpartsinfo

Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

Had a call from a Realtor regarding some limited acerage that has a house built in 1997 covered with cedar siding. Does anybody know if cedar siding requires maintenance similar to a wooden deck?
The pictures look good (out of state) but I am scared I'll be spending all summer every year maintaining the siding.
Anyone have any experience with this or thoughts?
Thanks.

 

Scott 730

Well-known Member

Location

EC MN

• May 10, 2011

• #1

Use a quality name brand stain and you should get about 5 years between applications. Solid stains last longer than transparent. Depends on the look you want. Cedar is a much better product than the Tupperware siding on most new homes. I guess I'm biased though, been a carpenter for 33 years. My house is 100% wood on the exterior. Siding, soffits, and facia.

 

R

RodinNS

Well-known Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

Needs stain periodically. Otherwise... it will last a LONG time. Cedar doesn't rot.

Rod

 

K

KD Cannon

Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

Our house has the same cedar siding on it that it was built with by my grandparents in 1914. Siding is still in great condition. It is painted & will out last us & still be there for our grandkids to live in if they choose.

 

M

MSD

Well-known Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

I put it on my own home in 1991. Looked good the first year, less so the next and so on. My original intent was to leave it weather natural but my wife didn't like the in between look of it. I power washed it and it again looked like new. This time I put a coating called Floods on it. I really like the look of it but after 2 years it was again turning dark. Did the power wash again and coated again. This time it got blotchy where the coating was thick in some spots and thinner in others. Where it was thicker I couldn't get it power washed off. I am now going back to my original plan and just letting it weather out. Looks tough though. If I knew I could get it all clean again, I would paint it and try that. I put cement board on the new houses I build but not impressed with it.

 

L

Lloyd In South Carolina

Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

Our house was built in 1985. We purchased it in 1993. The siding is in great shape, has with stood the very harsh southern sun with no issues. Looks very nice.

It does however require staining to keep it look nice. We get about 5 years on all of the house except the southern exposure, it lasts about 3 years. The sun here is killer! Lucky for me that is the end of the house, I can stain it in a day without too much effort.

L.

PS sorry about the christmas picture, it was handy!

 

S

State of Jefferson

Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

I think good cedar siding is the best thing out there. It's been around for hundreds of years. All these newcomers(vinyl, fiber cement, etc) aren't gonna stand the test of time.

Ben

 

J

JDseller

Well-known Member

• May 10, 2011

• #1

Is it the smooth machine lap board siding or the rough shingle looking type???? The smooth lap siding will last a long time if kept painted. The shingle looking type requires more maintenance. A buddy had it. He had to treat it every year with preservative or the shingles split and fell out. He also had a hard time with wood peckers beating the "H" out of any knots in the shingles. He sold the house and built a brick one. He did not want to spend his retirment messing with siding. Even the smooth lap siding you will have to paint the sun side every 3-4 years.

I would never own either. Brick or rock for me. Once done it will out last you.

 

G

Gun guru

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

Wow !!! That looks nice.
Looks like a mini plantation.

 

G

Gun guru

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

You will need to see it first and find out what the condition of it is now.
My neighbor has a cedar lap board sided home, looks nice, but there is maintenance on it. He used a clear type of stain like Penofin or Super deck on it. I have a cedar deck, looks nice but every year I bleach it and restain, last week I put Behr deck stain on it. Looks great until next year when it gets done again.

 

G

Gun guru

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

You will need to see it first and find out what the condition of it is now.
My neighbor has a cedar lap board sided home, looks nice, but there is maintenance on it. He used a clear type of stain like Penofin or Super deck on it. I have a cedar deck, looks nice but every year I bleach it and restain, last week I put Behr deck stain on it. Looks great until next year when it gets done again.

 

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

I had my first adventure with cement board a couple weeks ago. It's as much work to install as any other kind of siding and several times heavier. Kind of hard on saw blades, too.

 

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

Sikkens makes some great wood sealers and stains. i use a clear product on my log house and it last about 7 yrs. Goes on really fast too.

 

6

641Dave

Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

Loyd, I really like your taste! Beautiful home you've got there!

I'm glad to see this post. We're planning on building in a few years and leaning towards the cedar siding and white stone look.

I've only heard good things about the hardi-board though, other than as mentioned about being tough to work with.

 

M

MSD

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

We use a nippers on a drill. No dust and the blades last forever.

 

R

Rettchr

Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

One point not yet mentioned: Woodpeckers.
We built our house in 1971 and put cedar siding on it. It looked nice and needed restaining about every 10 years. One issue was mildew on the wood in sheltered areas-- needed scrubbing by hand with bleach before restaining.
However we have Downy Woodpeckers [SE Wis] and they woud drill holes through the siding. I remember patching a hole and they had a hole through the patch withion a couple days. I tried the .410 solution, but there were more of them than there were of me.
We put cedar LOOKING steel siding on 6 years ago and are happy with that.

 

Geo-TH,In

Well-known Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

I know of a house built in 68 and the south side of the house is a mess. When you cut the wood it smells like you are cutting tar, not cedar. Then someone painted over it with latex a few times. Paint is pealing, cedar has major cracks in the middle of the boards. The wood is ruff cut and ran vertically, 10-12 inches wide. Stripped most of the paint off with 3600 psi along with about 1/16 inch of the wood. I'll have no choice but fill in the major cracks and paint it. Not to steal your post. Does anyone have a solution short of re-siding?

BTY, I would not ever use cedar on a house.

I have a house built in 39 with wood lap siding and could never keep paint on it. Put 20,000 brick on the house 20 years ago and I've never had to do a thing to the siding again.

As you can tell, I'm not a fan of wood siding.

 

T

Todd Heck

Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

We bought our house in 05.It was power washed then stained. I was told about every 5 or so years it needs rewashed or stained. I love the siding but like every says it does need to be cared for. It will not rot but it is wood siding.

 

I

IOWA NORTHEAST

Member

• May 11, 2011

• #1

Old wood cedar shingles lasted fifty plus years. A big mistake made now days is cedar shingles must breath in order to stay good. The old sheathing had gaps in order to let the shingles dry. Today we put OSB, or plywood under it, so it can not last near as long.