Your home’s siding serves multiple functions, and differences in how well it performs each function can complicate decisions about whether to repair or replace your siding. One purpose of your siding is functional. It protects your home from the elements, keeping rain, wind, and snow from entering.
By keeping out of the house, siding also protects the wall’s interior, including the framing, sheeting, and insulation. It also protects the interior wall’s fiberboard, plaster, and paint. Siding also provides insulation value, so your home stays cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. That means well-maintained siding saves money through reduced energy costs.
Siding’s second primary function is its appearance. Beautiful and well-maintained siding is attractive, adding to the home’s curb appeal and value. Replacement siding is also an investment in the property by improving functionality and appearance.
Due to insufficient maintenance or other factors, siding can reach the point that it begins to fail from a functional or appearance standpoint, and it becomes time to repair or replace the siding. Shortly, we will discuss the signs that your siding is not performing correctly. Whether the best decision is to repair or replace siding is based on how many problems exist, the severity of the issues, and how widespread the problems are.
Functional Signs
Some homes have hundreds of years old siding that continues to perform well, so the siding’s age is not the issue, but whether it still protects the home. Signs that your siding is failing and needs fixing before additional damage occurs behind the siding include:
- Loose or missing siding
- Holes in the siding, often due to pest damage
- Siding that does not lie flat, buckles, sags, or is warped
- Rotted siding
- Paint that is bubbling or blistering
Each sign indicates that moisture or pests can enter the walls or have already done so. Each problem should be fixed as soon as possible. Interior drafts, moisture and mold on interior walls, and high energy bills also suggest checking the exterior wall at the corresponding part of the building.
Appearance Issues
Besides functional concerns, siding affects your home’s appearance. Many of the problem signs mentioned above are also unsightly. Homes with missing, rotted, or sagging siding are less attractive and suggest more widespread disrepair. However, even when all the siding is flush and working correctly, color fading can be a problem, and the fading is a bigger problem when combined with the need to replace some boards or sections due to difficulties in matching the old and new colors.
Siding as an Investment
A third reason to replace siding comes from its investment value. In addition to replacing existing siding with traditional products, homeowners now have the option to replace their siding with a new generation of products that came on the market in the last 20 years.
Products like LP Smart Siding provide substantial functional benefits over traditional wooden or aluminum siding. Improved insulation value, fade resistance, pest avoidance, and reduced maintenance are examples of improved performance. Meanwhile, these products provide all the appearance value and more of traditional siding products.
In the end, the decision to repair or replace the siding is a matter of weighing the cost of each option, considering the ability of repairs to provide long-term solutions to the problem. So, if you need a siding contractor in Wales, WI, to repair or replace your siding, please get in touch with Reliance Exteriors today.
