Siding near you

The Department of Energy's Building America guidance compares cladding materials on exactly the properties that decide durability, and the comparison is more useful than any showroom sample. Fiber cement resists sustained moisture, pests and fire well, is rated non-combustible, and is described as more rigid, brittle and prone to cracking under impact. Vinyl resists moisture and pests but melts at relatively low temperatures and tends to crack or fracture when struck. Wood resists moisture only with maintenance and is combustible. Stucco and brick are non-combustible and pest-resistant, while stucco has low impact resistance and cracks once its strength is exceeded, and masonry over structural sheathing performs well against impact.

Building America is blunt that a drainage approach, rather than a perfectly sealed barrier wall, is the practical way to build a house. The code requirement it cites from the IRC is that the exterior envelope must prevent water accumulating within the wall assembly by providing a water-resistant barrier behind the cladding and a means of draining to the exterior any water that gets past it. The barrier can be housewrap sealed or taped at all joints, taped rigid foam sheathing with a weather-resistant coating, building paper installed with shingle-style laps, or a liquid-applied coating.

Drainage needs a gap. The guidance recommends at least one-sixteenth inch behind lap siding, a three-quarter inch space between stucco and plastic housewraps, and notes that codes typically require a minimum one inch gap behind masonry veneer. Installing the siding on furring strips or a drainable mat over the drainage plane, the approach usually called a rainscreen, opens an air gap that improves drainage and lets the back of the cladding dry, which is why it is increasingly standard in wet and humid regions.

Flashing is what ties the system together. The drainage plane has to lap over the flashing at windows, doors and every wall penetration, with each upper layer shingled over the one below so water is always directed down and out. Two details worth asking about by name: the guidance calls for at least six inches of non-combustible foundation siding between the ground and the first course of lap siding, and for weep openings screened with a fine mesh, on the order of one fifty-fifth of an inch, so the wall can drain and vent without admitting insects.

California is the clearest licensing example: the Contractors State License Board issues a siding and decking classification covering contractors who apply or install all types of exterior siding, including wood, wood products, vinyl, aluminum and metal siding, on new or existing buildings, together with wooden decks and related handrails, while excluding the construction of covers or enclosures. Most states have nothing so specific, and siding falls under a general contractor registration or under no licensing at all, so the questions become who pulls the permit, whether general liability and workers' compensation coverage are current, and what local work you can go and look at.

Permits for re-siding are common but not universal, and they matter more than usual because a re-side is the moment when insulation, sheathing repair and window flashing are all accessible. Where a permit is issued there may be an inspection of the water-resistive barrier before the cladding covers it, which is the single most valuable inspection on the job.

The federal rule applies everywhere. EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule requires that anyone paid to perform work disturbing painted surfaces in homes, child care facilities and preschools built before 1978 be a certified firm with trained employees, and the requirement reaches sole proprietors. EPA administers the program in most of the country, with fifteen jurisdictions running their own authorized programs, among them Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin. A whole-house re-side on an older home disturbs far more than the twenty square feet of exterior painted surface EPA treats as minor repair and maintenance, so on a pre-1978 house the certification is not optional: ask for it and keep a copy.

A repair is right when the damage is localized and the wall behind it is dry: a few panels cracked by a mower, one elevation hailed while the others were spared, or trim that has rotted at a single corner. The practical obstacle is matching, because vinyl colors fade and product lines are discontinued, so ask whether any leftover stock from the original job exists and whether an inconspicuous elevation can donate matching pieces while the new material goes somewhere less visible.

Replacement becomes the honest answer when water has been getting in for a while, when sheathing is soft in more than one place, when the original installation has no functioning drainage plane behind it, or when repeated patches have not held. Re-siding is also the only realistic opportunity to add exterior insulation, correct window flashing and fix a wall that was built without a rainscreen, and those improvements are inexpensive relative to the cost of opening the wall again later.

LokalMatch is the introduction step for either path: describe the siding work once, including the material, the number of stories, the age of the house and any soft spots you have found, and siding contractors serving your area contact you directly. Those pros pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not install siding, does not set prices, and does not vet, rank or recommend any contractor, so compare what each one says about the water-resistive barrier, the flashing and, on an older house, their lead-safe certification.

In the wildland-urban interface across the West, combustibility is the governing property, and local fire requirements can restrict what may be installed. The Building America comparison rates fiber cement, stucco and masonry as non-combustible, wood as combustible and vinyl as poor in fire because plastics melt at relatively low temperatures, and it calls for at least six inches of non-combustible foundation siding between the ground and the first course of lap siding. Screened vents and a clear zone at the base of the wall are part of the same strategy.

On the hurricane coasts, cladding is part of the building's defense against wind-driven rain, and the same Building America guidance that sets out roof deck and covering requirements for high-wind regions relies on a properly built drainage plane behind the cladding to manage water that gets past the surface. In jurisdictions with product approval requirements, ask for the approval documentation for the specific siding and fastening system being installed rather than accepting a general assurance.

In hot, humid regions the wall has to be able to dry, and the direction it dries in depends on the assembly. That is a conversation to have with the contractor before choosing a barrier and an insulation strategy, because a wall that cannot dry to either side will hold moisture no matter which cladding is on the front. A rainscreen gap is one of the few measures that helps in nearly every climate.