Vinyl Siding Costs In 2024. New Vinyl Siding Installation Or Replacing Prices Guide.
Vinyl Siding - 1,250 sq. ft. | $14,300 |
Vinyl Siding - 1,250 sq. ft. | $14,300 |
When it comes to your property’s paintwork, it can be incredibly distressing to see those first tell-tale signs of wear and tear. Indeed, while we like to hope that our beloved property’s paintwork will last for a long time, it is likely that it will eventually need to be redone. And, as such, you might want to consider the fact that this year might be the year when you finally need to consider re-skinning the house in vinyl siding instead.
But what is vinyl siding? Indeed, you might be wondering at this point what vinyl siding is and why you should consider it over a standard paint job. It’s a relatively new form of house cladding material too, and vinyl siding has hence only been on the market for 50 years or so.
It was introduced as an alternative solution to metal siding. Of course, vinyl’s reputation for being a cheap building material was arguably well-earned. Indeed, the early versions of plasticized siding were incredibly prone to cracking or sagging with time. What’s more, the range of colors was very limited, and even that limited range faded over time. So, even the best cared-for vinyl siding still looked much like… well, exactly that: vinyl siding, and you could tell.
Nonetheless, advancements have been made in recent times in regard to the quality of materials, as well as the expertise of installation. This means that somewhere around 1/3 of newly built American homes are made with cladding in the form of vinyl siding – an excellent maintenance-free (well, nearly) option.
Numerous surveys have been carried out over the last century to help people decide on the right type of material for their property’s siding, and in these, vinyl has regularly been included. As such, the decision is now much easier to make than it would have been before.
So, how much does vinyl siding cost to install? Indeed, a paint job can seem like a much more affordable option, but the low-maintenance nature of vinyl siding means you’ll only need to do the job once. Of course, the final cost of installing vinyl siding for your property will vary from home to home. With that being said, an approximate cost for installing vinyl siding is in the region of $6.50 to $12.50 per square foot installed. This will likely fall around $650 to $1,250 per square meter, which in turn will represent somewhere around $13,000 to $25,000 for an average two-story home. Of course, this will still vary from property to property, so you should get in touch with your local vinyl siding experts for a more accurate quote for your home’s makeover.
A remodeling contractor survey was carried out by the team at Hanley Wood, and in this research, it was discovered that the cost for mid-range vinyl siding for a standard home (with up to 1,250 sq. ft. of siding being used) in the US coming in somewhere in the region of $14,300. The survey also found that the average cost-to-value return represented somewhere in the region of 75% for a brand-new vinyl siding project.
Now, with that being said, it should be noted that the final total cost for a new vinyl siding project across your home will inevitably depend on a couple of factors. First of all, the quality of materials should be considered to determine the starting costs of buying the materials. In other words, is your chosen vinyl siding low-end, mid-range, or high-end in terms of quality? Furthermore, other factors that could impact the final cost of vinyl siding for your property could include the quality of installation services, as well as your home’s geographic location, the land topography, property accessibility, level of difficulty for the project, and the like. We’ll take a look at a few of these different factors to help you understand further how the costs of vinyl siding can differ.
One of the largest and most notable costs associated with getting vinyl siding for your property will be the cost of buying the materials themselves. Indeed, it’s crucial that your vinyl siding goes through a range of quality checks, to begin with, to ensure that the materials are of high quality; the universal standard for these tests is ASTM D3679. Meanwhile, there are also a wide variety of other checks and tests that can be done on vinyl siding to ensure its quality and durability. For example, many brands will certify their vinyl siding for color retention. This is measured based on the ASTM D6864. Furthermore, although building codes require the use of ASTM DS3679-certified vinyl siding, builders and siding companies don't need to use color retention certification for their vinyl products.
You can often pick up smooth builder’s grade vinyl siding (with a thickness of .040″) for around $70 per square foot, including delivery. If you’re looking to save money in this respect, then considering thinner grades could be a good option; with that being said, while these are sometimes available on the market, their thinness and poorer quality mean they are usually best avoided for residential properties and projects.
Thicker vinyl siding is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a more expensive option to invest in than thinner solutions. Indeed, vinyl siding can have a thickness of up to .052 inches, and these thicker siding solutions will usually have a far superior life expectancy as well as reduced fading. What’s more, thicker vinyl siding solutions can provide superior thermal stability for your property than a generic vinyl siding option might provide; this is partly why modern vinyl siding is so much more effective and has less of a reputation for being low quality compared to the earlier versions.
It is common for manufacturers to sell vinyl siding in a Good-Better-Best product continuum. In these scenarios, top-of-the-line grades can potentially reach an additional $30 to $50 per square (100 sq. ft.) in comparison to some other lesser-quality types.
After considering the quality of the vinyl being used, we should also consider how aesthetic options can inflate the final project price of re-siding your home with vinyl. Indeed, it’s a well-known fact that brands and vinyl-creating companies are passionate about the challenge of making vinyl and plastic have the same aesthetic value as real wood materials.
In terms of styling for your property, one of the most popular styles people choose for their vinyl siding is beaded seam siding, which features rounded edges on the bottom. This style is often used as it mimics the style of 19th-century, handmade wooden clapboards, giving a more rustic aesthetic that many people can appreciate. Alternatively for people who appreciate the rustic feel of early American designs, the barn-style board and battening also provide a stunning visual effect, and modern vinyl siding can even be textured!
Finally, manufacturers can now even create unique designs and colors for their vinyl siding, which allows it to create a weathered look or provide a more unique design. That’s not all, though; indeed, vinyl siding manufacturers have also now mastered the art of creating wood-style shakes and hand-sawn, fish-scale style shingles. These can give a truly unique aesthetic for your property without the staggering expense that could come with buying the real deal.
At this point, though, you’re probably wondering how much this unique style of vinyl costs. Well, you’ll naturally expect to pay a little more than the standard vinyl siding price for these solutions. For example, Beaded Seam and Board and Batten will come with a slightly higher price tag, and the unique design can bump the cost of these vinyl siding solutions to around $100 for 100 square ft. Meanwhile, for imitation cedar shakes that provide a similar aesthetic to real wood, you’ll likely be looking at around $160 per 100 square ft. Finally, Victorian-style fish scales are some of the most expensive types of vinyl siding, and the price for these can rise as high as $240 per square meter, and that’s before even considering the cost of installation – indeed, that’s for the materials alone.
With that being said, while these can seem like expensive solutions, it’s worth considering that most homeowners will recoup this investment when it comes to selling the house. Indeed, to the standard untrained eye, high-quality vinyl siding can look almost as good as the real thing. As such, you can usually expect to recoup around 75% of the total buying and installation costs for mid-range vinyl siding, and potentially a little more if you have chosen a premium-quality vinyl solution.
At this point, we’ve considered the cost of buying the materials themselves, but what about the complete cost of installing the vinyl siding? Indeed, the cost you’ll pay for installing vinyl siding will vary depending on a few factors, including how much you need to be installed and who you get to do the installation work.
Indeed, if you can do the vinyl siding installation work yourself, you’ll likely be able to do so for around $300 per 100 square ft. Alternatively, if you hire a professional to help with installing the vinyl siding, you may be expecting around $30 to $40 per hour, depending on the expertise and experience of the professional in question.
Notably, you should always hire someone who is fully certified in vinyl siding installation to help; failing this, you might experience numerous side effects and you likely won’t get the same quality finish for your home as you might expect.
To do your vinyl siding installation work, you’ll need a selection of different materials and tools.
These include the following:
All of these tools will prove crucial for installing vinyl siding. Alternatively, you could save a lot of backbreaking work by hiring a professional siding company for all or part of these tasks. For example, even if you decide to do the installation yourself, you might still want to get a professional to remove any existing siding to save on the cost of siding removal yourself.
Naturally, while you can do your vinyl siding installation work, there are many benefits associated with hiring a professional vinyl siding installer to help with your project. To this end, there are a few points of note that we need to raise here, including the following aspects.
For one thing, it can be incredibly costly to make mistakes with your installation work. Indeed, it’s common for rapid temperature changes to cause your vinyl to expand and contract aggressively. To this end, it could alter by as much as 3/4 of an inch. To this end, you should be aware of this when installing the vinyl to allow for this and let the vinyl siding “breathe”. Indeed, while wood siding gets fastened firmly to the sides of a property, vinyl siding is hung loosely from nails. Meanwhile, manufacturers also add horizontal slots to help with this purpose.
On the other hand, while it’s important to hang your vinyl panels loosely, going over extreme with this and hanging the panels too loosely will result in the siding banging and rattling in the wind. Of course, this can result in potential damage to the panels, so you might want to consider this as part of your decision-making process.
Vinyl siding is incredibly easy to maintain and has a reputation for being a “maintenance-free” solution, although this may not be entirely accurate. Indeed, it won’t need repainting, although you may need to clean it occasionally to keep it looking at its best. Usually, a quick clean with a hose will be enough to remove any unpleasant-looking dirt and grime; alternatively, a mild soap and water solution will usually be fine to remove more stubborn dirt.
Vinyl siding has massively grown in popularity in recent times, and this could be a good option for you to consider for your own home as well. As such, it’s worth considering the benefits that vinyl siding can offer as part of your home design decisions.