Vinyl Siding With Shake Accents Liven Up Your Home’s Exterior
More homeowners are looking for a classic look to enhance their home’s curb appeal. If your house needs a renovation and you’re looking for a way to give it a unique look, think about adding vinyl siding with shake accents to your home exterior.
The Look of Real Cedar
Why pick vinyl shake siding? Cedar shake siding has a timeless look that goes back to the 18th and 19th centuries when cedar shingles were first used for roofing material. That’s why it’s also known as shingle siding.
However, cedar is a natural product. Even when properly maintained, it’s still susceptible to the elements as well as intrusive creatures. Real wood siding can be attacked by insects (and by birds looking to eat those insects). It also can be affected by moisture, causing decay and mold.
Regular vinyl siding (known as lap siding) and vinyl shake siding, on the other hand, are the most weather-resistant siding options available. Vinyl shake siding is low maintenance, only requiring a clean every year or so. Of all siding products, vinyl has the widest variety of siding colors for your home.
A Little Vinyl Shake Goes a Long Way
You don’t need to completely redo the exterior of your home; vinyl shake siding mixes very well with other siding styles. Vinyl shake is vertical siding, meaning it’s installed vertically with the individual shakes overlapping each other in the same fashion as roofing shingles. This can contrast nicely with vinyl lap siding, bricks, or board and batten siding.
Dormers
A dormer is a roofed structure that projects outward from a pitched roof. It often contains a window to allow light into a second-story space. They have evolved into numerous varieties to complement different styles of architecture.
Vinyl shake siding can be used on dormers to highlight them with a similar or contrasting color to the rest of the house’s primary exterior colors. If your house has brick or partial stone cladding, you could potentially use that as the color of your accented dormers.
Gables
A gable is the triangular portion of a house at the peak of an external wall. Gables may also have windows, depending on the style of building. It’s important not to confuse a gable with a gabled dormer, which is a dormer with the roof projecting over it.
Vinyl shake siding for your gables has the same method as accents for dormers – use similar or contrasting colors to make the vinyl shake accent stand out.
Bump-Outs
A bump-out is an exterior wall of a house that extends out further than the rest of the exterior. It adds more square feet to the interior of the house, but bump-outs can look awkward and “stuck on.” Home remodelers can take the opposite approach and highlight an exterior bump-out with vinyl shake siding and turn something unsightly into something eye-catching.
Ground Floor
This is the reverse of using vinyl shake siding on gables and dormers. Instead, utilize it to accent the entire first floor of your home with another material for the upper floor. The main color of the house can be determined by the vinyl shake, and the upper floor’s siding can act as the accent.
Vinyl shake siding can also be used just around the front door to highlight a home’s entrance. Use your imagination!
Caring for Vinyl Shake Siding
Both vinyl lap siding and vinyl shake siding can last anywhere from 15 to 30 years as long as the siding is properly maintained. Fortunately, vinyl siding maintenance is simple.
Wash Gently
Your vinyl siding needs the occasional cleaning to not only look its best but also to keep the material from degrading. Clean vinyl siding with a long bristled brush and a cleaning solution. You can make your own cleaner by mixing three parts water and one part bleach. If you don’t have bleach (or don’t want to use it), you can also make a vinegar and water mixture out of 70 percent water and 30 percent white vinegar. A third option would be to use a small amount of laundry detergent in water. To prevent streaks, wash your siding from the bottom up.
Never use a power washer on any style of vinyl siding. The pressure from the power washer can force water under the siding and cause mold or even start to rot the wood structure of your house.
Repair Immediately
Since it’s on the exterior of your house and exposed to the elements 365 days a year, there is always a chance that your vinyl siding can get damaged. A major advantage of vinyl shake siding over vinyl lap siding is that if one of the shakes gets damaged, all you have to do is replace one shake. If vinyl lap siding gets damaged or punctured, it can’t be patched. The entire section of siding needs to be replaced.
It’s important to repair damage as soon as you see it. Not only is a hole in your siding going to let in moisture and outside air, but it’s also an invitation for insects and other undesirable critters to get inside your home.
Try A New Look
Vinyl siding with shake accents is a great low-maintenance, durable option when it’s time to undertake a home makeover project. Factory Direct Siding offers the most realistic vinyl shake siding in the industry, with real wood shakes being used as the template for our quality products. We stock dozens of the most popular colors and can even mix custom colors for you! Contact us today to find out how we can give your home an amazing new look!
