How long does siding last

Vinyl siding lasts 30 to 40 years. Fiber cement lasts 40 to 60. Brick lasts a century. Wood lasts anywhere from 20 to 80 years depending entirely on whether it is maintained.

Those numbers are useful mainly for planning, because siding rarely fails all at once. It goes at the details first: the trim, the caulk lines, the wall under a missing kick-out flashing.

What lasts how long

The details fail first, and they are the cheap fix

Almost nobody replaces siding because the siding wore out. They replace it because something at an edge let water in for years.

Caulk has a five to fifteen year life and it is what seals every joint around windows, doors and trim. Re-caulking a house costs $400 to $1,200 and it is the single highest-value exterior maintenance there is.

Trim, particularly the bottom end grain of corner boards and window casings. Test it with a screwdriver each spring.

Kick-out flashing where a roof edge meets a wall. Its absence rots that wall quietly for a decade. Look for it at every roof-wall junction; it is a $30 part.

Grade contact. Siding should stop six inches above soil and two inches above a paved surface. A flower bed raised against the wall by a landscaper is a slow guaranteed failure.

Penetrations. Hose bibs, dryer vents, lights and cables. Each is a hole through the drainage plane and each is worth inspecting.

Reading your own siding

Walk the house once a year, ideally in spring, and look for:

• Vinyl: cracking, warping near a barbecue or a reflective window, panels that have unlocked at a corner, chalky residue on your hand
• Fiber cement: paint failure, swollen board edges, gaps at the butt joints where the flashing behind is missing
• Wood: soft spots at the bottom of every vertical piece, cupping, peeling that starts at the joints
• Stucco: cracks wider than 1/8 inch, cracks stepping diagonally from window corners, staining below a crack, a buried weep screed
• Brick: spalling faces, missing or filled weep holes, stepped cracks in the mortar
• Any material: a wall that is soft when you press hard, or an interior stain that keeps coming back after painting

Repair or re-side

Repair while the damage is localized and the rest is sound. Re-side when:

• Repairs are becoming annual
• More than a quarter of an elevation is affected
• The material is at the end of the range in the table above
• Opening a wall shows the house wrap is missing, torn or was never taped
• You are replacing the windows anyway, which is the one moment window flashing can be integrated with the wrap correctly

Frequently asked questions

Does siding have a warranty?

Vinyl frequently carries a lifetime limited warranty, prorated, transferable once, and covering the material only. Fiber cement carries 30 to 50 years on the board and 15 on the factory finish. Labor is almost never included, and labor is most of a re-side.

Can I extend the life of vinyl siding?

Wash it annually, keep landscaping off it, keep barbecues away from it, and re-caulk the trim joints on cycle. There is no coating or treatment that meaningfully extends vinyl.

Is painted vinyl a real option?

Yes, with a vinyl-safe paint in a color no darker than the original, because a dark color absorbs heat and warps the panels. It costs $2 to $5 a square foot and lasts seven to ten years, which is a legitimate alternative to re-siding a house whose vinyl is sound but dated.

How can I tell how old my siding is?

Vinyl often has a date stamped inside a panel; pull one at an inconspicuous corner with a zip tool. Fiber cement is usually stamped on the back. Otherwise, the house's records or the style of the profile give a decade.

What is the longest-lasting siding?

Brick and natural stone, by a wide margin, at a century or more with only repointing. Among claddings people actually choose for a re-side, fiber cement at 40 to 60 years is the durability leader.