How long does siding last
Vinyl lasts 30 to 40 years, fiber cement 40 to 60, brick a century. Siding rarely fails all at once: it goes at the details first, at the trim, the caulk and the missing flashing.
National average
$750
per square
On this page
- What lasts how long
- The details fail first, and they are the cheap fix
- Reading your own siding
- Repair or re-side
- Frequently asked questions
- Does siding have a warranty?
- Can I extend the life of vinyl siding?
- Is painted vinyl a real option?
- How can I tell how old my siding is?
- What is the longest-lasting siding?
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
| Material | Typical life | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|
| Vinyl | 30 to 40 years | Wash annually |
| Insulated vinyl | 35 to 45 years | Wash annually |
| Fiber cement | 40 to 60 years | Repaint every 10 to 15 years |
| Engineered wood | 25 to 40 years | Repaint every 7 to 10 years |
| Cedar, painted | 30 to 50 years | Repaint every 7 to 10 years |
| Cedar, stained | 30 to 50 years | Restain every 3 to 8 years |
| Cedar, left to weather | 40 to 80 years | None |
| Pine or spruce, painted | 20 to 35 years | Repaint every 5 to 8 years |
| Aluminium | 30 to 50 years | Wash; repaint at 20 to 30 years |
| Steel | 40 to 60 years | Coating-dependent |
| Stucco, three-coat | 50 to 80 years | Repair cracks, repaint if painted |
| Stucco, synthetic | 20 to 30 years | Inspect penetrations |
| Brick veneer | 100 years | Repoint at 50 to 80 years |
| Stone veneer, natural | 100 years | Repoint at 50 to 80 years |
| Manufactured stone | 25 to 50 years | Installation-dependent |
| House wrap, behind | indefinite once covered | — |
| Exterior caulk | 5 to 15 years | Replace on cycle |
| Exterior paint | 7 to 12 years | Repaint on cycle |
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 localised 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. Labour is almost never included, and labour 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 colour no darker than the original, because a dark colour 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.
Read next
Exterior trim replacement cost$8 to $25per linear ftExterior trim costs $8 to $25 a linear foot installed. It is the first thing on a house to rot and the last thing anyone budgets for, and it always fails at the end grain nobody looks at.
Siding repair cost$300 to $2,500per projectRepairing siding costs $300 to $2,500, typically $800. Replacing a few vinyl panels is a two-hour job. Opening a wall because the panels were hiding rot is a different project.
House wrap cost$0.50 to $2per sq ftHouse wrap costs $0.50 to $1.50 a square foot installed. It is a fraction of a re-siding job and it is the layer that decides whether the wall behind the siding stays dry.
Exterior house painting cost$200 to $500per sq ftPainting a house exterior costs $2.00 to $5.00 per square foot of wall. A two-storey house costs up to 50% more per foot, and the reason is staging rather than paint.
Siding replacement cost by state$500 to $1,000per squareVinyl siding costs $625 a square in Arkansas and $875 in Illinois. On a 2,000 square foot house that is $12,500 against $17,500 for identical work.