One of the many services we offer here at Artisan is exterior remodels. That includes giving the outside of your home a facelift. Transforming your home’s exterior might be something as simple as new paint and a few cosmetic upgrades or adding sections of decorative siding to make your home look even better. Or it could be completely replacing your home’s siding.
Siding isn’t just there to increase your curb appeal (although done right, it definitely will), it’s also important to protect your home from our Canadian elements. It keeps snow and rain from getting to the structure of your home (thus increasing longevity), plus it also helps insulate the home to keep warm or cool air inside.
5 Different Types of Siding for Your Home
If you’re thinking about upgrading or changing your siding, here’s some of the more popular options that you can choose from.
Wood Siding
Wooden siding was a popular choice for the longest time. Older homes are most likely to have this kind of siding, unless it was replaced. Wood siding is attached to the house in several different ways depending on the trends of the time and what type of technology was available in the area. Although it’s now largely been replaced by vinyl due to costs and durability, some people may still prefer to use (or keep existing) wooden siding on their home.
If you already have wood siding we may be able to repair broken pieces. We can also paint and seal the siding for a fresh look.
Vinyl Siding
Vinyl is the most popular material used for siding, and for good reasons. It mimics the look of wood, but at a lower cost. It’s also more durable, lighter, and easier to work with. Vinyl siding doesn’t need to be repainted frequently like wood. Vinyl siding, on average, lasts 60 years – which is 20-40 years longer than wood.
There are so many style and colour options for vinyl siding that most people have no problem finding something that they love and looks great on their home. Vinyl siding is also easy to mix with other types of decorative finishes to create a unique facade on your home.
Brick Siding
Most of the time brick siding that you see on homes isn’t made of real brick. It’s actually brick veneer panels that come in sheets. While they’re still more costly than vinyl, brick veneer can be installed on any structure to give the house a brick look. Even when it wasn’t constructed from brick in the first place.
There are two kinds of brick veneer: Real brick and faux brick. Choosing the right one depends on several factors including your personal preferences and budget. Typically real brick is more expensive than imitation brick. We can also work with existing face brick to get the exterior look you want.
Stone Siding
Like brick, stone siding isn’t usually individual pieces but rather made up from larger sheets. These sheets come in all kinds of shapes, styles, and colours to fit with any exterior aesthetic you want to create. Stone siding, when combined with other materials like vinyl planks, can help add texture to an otherwise monolithic house.
Stone siding comes in a variety of real and imitation rock types.
Stucco Siding
More common in warmer climates, stucco siding also makes its way onto Alberta homes from time to time, especially if you have an older house. Stucco has a tendency to flake in areas where snow is piled against it, which means it’s not ideal in most Canadian cities. Stucco siding works best in dry environments.
Stucco can be repaired and repainted, though, often with great results. Since it’s a masonry made from multiple layers of cement plaster, stucco is difficult to remove from a home’s exterior. It is possible to install vinyl siding over top of stucco, though.
At Artisan Kitchens, we specialize in kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations, and house renovations in Calgary.
