9 Signs It’s Time For New Home Siding
When is it time for new siding? Replacing your home’s siding may not be at the top of your to-do list. In fact, if there isn’t an urgent problem with your home’s siding, replacing it may not have even crossed your mind at all. However, just because there is not a serious problem doesn’t mean that there are no problems. As a homeowner, it is in your best interest to detect small problems before they become big ones. In order to prevent you from paying for potentially expensive repairs that could result from outdated siding, we’ve outlined 9 signs that indicate that it’s time for new siding.
Frequent Painting Is Required
If the exterior of your house needs to be frequently repainted, (once every 5 to 6 years or more) then that is clear sign that your siding needs to be replaced. Good home siding should keep its shape and color for at least 8 to 10 year, if not longer.
High Heating and Cooling Bills
When a home’s heating or cooling costs are far more expensive than they should be, that’s an indication that a home may need new siding. There are other causes for expensive energy bills, but if your costs are not in line with those of your neighbors with similar structures, then something is seriously flawed with the home’s exterior wall insulation. Poorly performing siding and low grade wall insulation are leading causes for excess heating and cooling bills. If a visual inspection of the siding indicates that air could be escaping through, then little more needs to be said.
Rotting or Warping
This is one of the more obvious indicators that your siding needs to be replaced as soon as possible. Walk around your house with a screwdriver in hand. Look for warping or rotting in the boards and poke the damaged area with a screwdriver. If the layer under the home’s siding feels soft with the poke, then that is a sure sign that you have to replace your siding. Water leaking through your siding could potentially damage the rest of the home and the repair costs are expensive.
Cracked or Loose Siding
If only one or two boards have cracked or come loose, this is not a big deal. It is possible for the homeowner to remove a few bad pieces of siding and have them replaced. It’s always best to check under the layers of bad siding to ensure that no damage was dealt to the layers underneath the siding. However, if a large section of siding is loose or cracking, then this indicates a more severe problem and all of the siding on your house should then be replaced.
Peeling Paint or Loose Wallpaper Inside the Home
If your paint or wallpaper is peeling inside your home, this means that moisture could be making its way in. Moisture let in through faulty siding can percolate through the wallboard and eventually cause significant damage to the interior walls of your home.
Fungus, Mold, or Mildew
Again, these types of growth are more indications of water penetration. If you have fungus, mold, or mildew growing at or near seams in the siding, do some further investigation to find out if water is leaking through your seams. Often times, water penetrates siding seams and is held hidden inside the wall to be slowly released back out. This release of water then spurs on unwanted growth. Not all fungus, mold, or mildew is cause for alarm, but it is an indicator to investigate the situation further.
Bubbles
If your siding is bubbling up just underneath the surface then you most certainly need to replace your siding. Bubbles are a clear indication that water has become trapped and any indication of water trapped on or under siding is an immediate red flag.
Holes In The Siding
Holes in siding are a blatantly obvious sign that you should replace your siding. Holes are caused by insects that have eaten their way in. Holes serve as open entryways for both unwanted insects and water. If your siding has holes, invest a little bit into replacing your siding now before you’re investing more money on more costly repair work.
Dry Rot
Dry rot begins below the surface of the siding and slowly eats away the main body of it. The only thing that stays left intact is the top layer that is visible to you. To test for dry rot you should again use the screwdriver method, tapping the siding in areas to make sure the material underneath is still solid. Siding plagued with dry rot can still look great from the exterior, even though a large bulk of the material has rotted away on the inside. This is precisely why it is important to check your siding even if it appears fine.
All of these problems are indications that your siding should probably be replaced, or at least thoroughly checked. While reading this article did you realize that 6 of these 9 issues start at the seams in your siding? That’s correct, a good chunk of these issues could be eliminated if seams were removed from your siding. Is that possible? The answer is yes!
With our patented state of the art siding technology, Majic Window can install ultra-strength, long lasting seamless siding that will make your home more beautiful than it’s ever been! To learn more about our seamless siding visit our siding page.
