Fiber Cement as a siding option continues to be quite a popular choice. A review of U.S. Census data for new single-family houses sold in America shows Fiber Cement garners nearly a quarter of all siding materials.
Brick, Wood and Vinyl are on a downward trend while Fiber Cement continues to gain in popularity. Stucco is, perhaps surprisingly, the #1 siding option in America where its popularity in the Western portion of the U.S. is enormous, but so is Fiber Cement in that region. The two materials combined account for a whopping 92% of the overall residential siding market share out west.
Note that there is also a more traditional cedar shingles and shakes siding option explained in our consumer guide here.
The many styles and options of wood siding are what other, competing materials such as Vinyl, Fiber Cement, Engineered Wood and other synthetic materials routinely mimic. Wood though, has a natural beauty that is very hard to match, and yet, with that comes the need for ongoing maintenance.
A few decades ago, wood siding used to be the #1 option for residential siding in America, and historically it has ruled over all others. But not anymore.
According to the U.S. Census data, Stucco and Vinyl are at the top, while wood has declined to just 3% of all new-single family homes having such cladding.
Wood still offers much versatility, decent insulation and installation that doesn’t necessarily require as much expertise as some other siding options.
Cost
The labor costs for installing wood siding, particularly bevel and board-and-batten planks, is comparatively low (compared to fiber cement siding). A handyman can do the job, as can a do-it-yourselfer. Like all home improvement projects, a professional contractor will handle installation more efficiently and provide warranties on their service.
Residential grade (architectural) natural wood siding can cost between $9.50 and $16.50 per square foot, depending on the type of siding being installed, project difficulty, and location. Split log would be on the upper portion of this range, board-and-batten on the lower end, with bevel style siding being somewhere in the middle. Lots of factors impact the costs for wood siding which we’ll address below.
A typical two-bedroom house requiring 2,000 square feet of siding will cost between $19,000 and $33,000 for new natural wood siding installed by a professional contractor. That’s for all 3 materials included, which is why the range is so great. If we break down the prices by type of style, it helps understand project costs more acutely.
PVC is widely understood as a heavy-duty plastic-based material. The “V” in the middle of the acronym stands for Vinyl, which in the home siding market, represents the #1 selling material for most of the US. The PVC used for siding benefits from additives that resist color fading and increase flexibility, while not sacrificing durability.
For residential siding, vinyl is quite versatile. The horizontal plank (bevel) style is the most common cladding option for vinyl, but there are many more ways it is utilized as a cladding material for homes and buildings. On the east coast, vinyl’s primary competition comes from wood and fiber cement, while stucco dominates the western part of the US.
Cost
Because R-Value is a key factor when considering any siding material, it is important to note that vinyl siding takes this into consideration and that this skews its pricing data.
Generally, costs for vinyl are based on material thickness, with most residential products ranging from .040 to .046 inches thick, or about 1/16th of an inch. At that level of thickness, the R-value is unsurprisingly low.
However, vinyl comes in one of two primary variations: hollow-back and insulated, or foam-back. The foam-back provides at least 3 times (or more) the R-value, while increasing the cost by at most 3 times, or usually doubling it.
In terms of what to expect pricing-vise, vinyl siding typically costs between $7.50 and $15.50 per sq. ft. installed. This breaks down to the low-end cost of $5.50 to $8.50 per sq. ft. for hollow-back (uninsulated) siding. Mid-range cost is $7.50 to $12.50 per sq. ft. for foam-back siding. The high-end or deluxe vinyl siding costs between $8.50 and $15.50 per square foot installed.
On average, hollow-back vinyl siding installation results in a $11,000 to $17,000 overall cost for a typical two-bedroom to three-bedroom sized house with approximately 2,000 sq.ft. of siding. Foam-back siding averages between $15,000 and $31,000 installed on a similar property om the US.
While “average” is a bit vague, we’ll break the costs down further (next section) and explain the factors that impact costs (2 sections below).
Average Cost To Install New SidingTypical Range: $5,780 - $8,210
