[MassHistPres] MassHistPres Digest, Vol 80, Issue 14Re: wood vs vinyl siding

Fri Oct 26 20:51:39 EDT 2012

painting is the easy part...prep is tedious, dirty, time consuming and must be meticulous...unfortunately, i have seen painters with good references do a completely unsatisfactory job...

in the case of massive peeling, it is very possible the building is experiencing water infiltration that is getting behind the wood/paint...if wood is not properly primed--all sides, front, back and edges--water will seek the path of least resistance, get behind the wood and push the paint off...caulking beneath clapboard only serves to trap moisture that should be allowed dry out with the small amount of air that vents behind the clapboard...i have seen overzealous caulking jobs lead to moisture build up causing rot, mold and paint failure...

sorry for your experience cynthia...

thank you michelle for your post and the link...i am dismayed that the nthp would suggest that there are cases, limited as they may be, where aluminum or vinyl would be an acceptable building material...

...jade
heartwood window restoration
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Cynthia Burr 
  To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu 
  Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:10 PM
  Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] MassHistPres Digest, Vol 80,Issue 14Re: wood vs vinyl siding

  of course the major issue is .. how does an owner specify an appropriate paint job?

  My church has had several paint jobs over the years ...from presumably reputable companies ... and the jobs have failed.  They have resulted in failing paint (massive peeling) within the warranteed years ... and the companies have either failed to honor their warrantees or have moved out of state ... and ceased business in MA.
  *sigh*

  Cynthia K. Burr, Executive Director 
  Millbury Improvement Initiative, inc. 
  P.O. Box 767, Millbury, MA 01527

  -----Original Message-----
  From: masshistpres-request <masshistpres-request at cs.umb.edu>
  To: masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
  Sent: Wed, Oct 24, 2012 12:00 pm
  Subject: MassHistPres Digest, Vol 80, Issue 14

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: wood vs vinyl siding (Michele P. Barker)

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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:29:22 -0400
From: "Michele P. Barker" <mpbarker at preservationmass.org>
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] wood vs vinyl siding
To: "'Marcia Starkey'" <mdstarkey at crocker.com>,	"'MassHistoric'"
	<masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Message-ID: <005501cdb12a$cc56dd40$650497c0$@preservationmass.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi, Marcia,

For a good article on the merits of vinyl vs. wood, see the NPS Preservation
Brief on artificial siding:

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief08.htm

They estimate that vinyl siding has a 15-20 year lifespan (and that's
usually about all a warranty will cover, anyway) before it gets so faded,
cracked, weathered, etc., that it needs replacing. All of us have seen
wood-clad buildings where clapboards or shingles have lasted a hundred or
more years. So the durability of the wood shouldn't be an issue - but
there's the question of the durability of the paint, which has a 10-15 year
lifespan, depending on how well it was applied. So the trade-off is getting
the building painted every 10-15 years versus getting it sided every 15-20
years. There's also the issue that, should the vinyl get damaged, it will be
nearly impossible to match the color - even if some of the original siding
has been set aside, it won't have faded the same way that the exposed vinyl
has - and if you haven't saved any siding, forget it. If wood siding gets
damaged, it's easily replaced and painted to match the rest of the building.

There's also the moisture issue. Just anecdotally, when my husband and I
were house-hunting many years back, we found that when we peeked under the
siding, every single aluminum or vinyl sided house that we looked at had
major rot underneath - of course, we weren't sure whether the siding had
been done to hide the rot, or was the cause of the rot, but there seems to
be substantial research indicating that poorly installed siding contributes
to moisture problems and decay of the underlying structure. So regardless of
the durability of the siding, vinyl can definitely reduce the durability of
the building underneath. 

Hope that helps give you something to back up your case.

Regards,

Michele

Michele P. Barker

Circuit Rider

617-999-3256

mpbarker at preservationmass.org

Preservation Massachusetts

www.preservationmass.org

Old City Hall

45 School Street

Boston, MA 02108

From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu
[mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of Marcia Starkey
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 5:54 PM
To: 'MassHistoric'
Subject: [MassHistPres] wood vs vinyl siding

Hello all,

The Greenfield Town Hall is receiving a "facelift" to the building,
originally the Second Franklin County Courthouse. It has had several extreme
exterior changes i.e. a ca. 1870 brick skin with high Gothic details to
comply with a state fire prevention requirement for courthouses and a ca.
1950 reworking of the details in the spirit of Isaac Damon's original
classic design.  Under a four year plan, last year all the 1950s wood sash
and frame windows were replaced with vinyl, and now the wood siding has been
replaced with vinyl.  The reason given for this particular choice is that
vinyl is "more durable" than wood.   It is true that the quality,
preparation and maintenance of wood on building exteriors is critical. I
would appreciate any experiences with the use of new wood siding on historic
buildings or suggestions  for information sources.  The center of town is a
National Register District.  

Marcia Starkey

Greenfield Historical Commission       

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