What Is The Best Siding To Choose For Your Home?

You've probably seen the film credit, “Best Boy,” a thousand times but probably had no idea what it meant. In films, the “Best Boy” is the main assistant to either the gaffer (chief electrician) or key grip (chief lighting and rigging technician). “Best” is completely subjective. What's the best flavor of ice cream? What's the best siding for your home? 

One Siding Does Not Fit All

The siding your Massachusetts or Rhode Island home needs, or the siding you and your family want, may not be the siding a neighbor or friend selects. You have to balance a lot of factors when determining which siding is “best” for your home:

• Cost
• Style and color availability
• Durability
• Ease of maintenance
• Strength of available warranties
• Energy efficiency
• Life span

Suppose, for instance, you know full well you will be selling your home sometime in the next five years. Do you want to spend a lot of money on siding now, when you won't recapture that cost at resale? Or could a more modestly priced siding serve your needs? For you, cost determines the best siding. 

On the other hand, if you are the heir to the family homestead, with plans to retire into the same house and then pass it on to your children, you want a long-lasting siding that will keep the family proud. For you, durability determines the best siding. 

Pressure Point

Some contractors, eager to make quick sales and move on, will pressure you into whatever siding they have cluttering up their warehouse. They are the equivalent of a shabby restaurant pushing the day-old fish. They, and the fish, have a distinct odor you want to avoid. 

Find a contractor who has your needs in mind, who values customer service over a fast buck. Find a contractor who can handle just about any siding you might want, so you are not limited in your choices. 

The best siding contractor can offer the best siding in the widest range of colors, styles, textures, and prices. If you feel like you are getting pressured into choosing between putty-colored vinyl siding and beige-colored vinyl siding, for instance, find a better contractor. That's no choice at all. 

If a contractor does not offer at least three of these choices, you cannot possibly pick what is best for your Massachusetts or Rhode Island home:

• Vinyl
• Fiber cement
• Wood
• Stucco
• Stone veneer
• Brick veneer

Ideally, of course, you want one siding contractor who can offer all six siding choices, each in a beautiful assortment of colors to match your style and taste. Then the only pressure you feel is choosing from so many good options. 

Stack Up

One of two popular choices is fiber cement siding from James Hardie, a pioneer in this innovative technology that combines natural cellulose with human-made ingredients to form a factory-made siding material with a factory finish. 

Fiber cement siding resists temperature, insects, fire, and wind. It ages well and requires minimal maintenance. It installs for a higher square footage cost than vinyl siding. 

Vinyl siding like CertainTeed Cedar Impressions siding is rugged, handsome, and available in many great styles, including scalloped shingles, octagon, half-cove, sawmill, and straight edge shingles. 

These all mimic the classic look of turn-of-the-century homes without all the fuss and bother of natural wood. Vinyl siding costs substantially less than wood siding and is far easier to maintain. 

How do these two stack up against other options, such as stone or brick veneer? A lot of that depends on your needs, your family's taste, and your home's design:

• Architectural look
• Landscaping and environs
• Neighborhood
• HOA requirements

Stucco, stone, and brick veneer are exceptionally long-lasting materials that will come with higher up-front costs than siding like vinyl, shakes, and shingles. If longevity and durability are essential, these sturdy siding materials may be best. 

You may be living in a historically significant home; for you, wood siding may be best. Nobody — not your neighbors, friends, extended family, or siding contractor — can say with any certainty what is the best siding for you. 

But once you decide on what is best, have that siding installed by the best contractor you can afford. An old saying in construction is the best contractor can make an economical material look great, while the worst contractor can ruin the most expensive material. At Couto Construction, we will never try to sell you something you neither want nor need. We are simply the best at installing the best siding for you. We are prepared to install the siding you want, whether you select vinyl, fiber cement, wood, stucco, stone, or brick veneer siding. Contact us today to learn more about our professional siding services.