Home owners in search of a wood home look, without the price tag and maintenance needs, should look at faux wood siding options.
Faux wood siding is an alternative to wood siding that provides the same look and feel of natural wood, but without the risk of damage from the elements and bugs or constant maintenance needs. Faux wood siding can easily be installed, offering homeowners wood look without all the hassle of real wood.
So, what are your options when it comes to faux wood siding? Siding panels can be created from many materials, including vinyl, fiber cement, and steel. It is important to learn about each type to find the right alternative for your siding needs: an option that will not only look great, but also be durable and protect your home.
Vinyl Siding
One option available for homeowners is vinyl siding. This type of siding is affordable and comes in a wide array of colors and textures. It is easy to install and is water repellent.
However, one downside is that vinyl is not completely durable, and can be easily dented or bent if affected by the elements like hail or fallen branches. The type of vinyl you choose can also result in paint loss over time when cleaning or using a high-pressure power washer.
Fiber Cement Siding
Another option for siding is fiber cement material. This option is created from wood pulp, clay, cement, and sand mixed together. The siding can have a rustic feel, created in a faux wood fashion and offered in several colors.
The downside to this siding type is that it wears like wood siding. You will have to perform maintenance on a regular basis to ensure the siding stays free of any repair needs. Over time, the siding also requires re-caulking at the butt joints of trim terminations, so there is an additional maintenance need for this option.
Steel Siding
Steel is yet another material used to create faux wood siding and can be your best bet when it comes to overall quality. Today’s manufacturers are able to construct steel siding that looks just like real wood. A product like TruLog offers homeowners a faux wood siding option that is durable, low maintenance, and cost-effective.
The TruLog products are offered in a wide variety of colors and textures, easily installed to create the look of a log home. With this product, the siding is created from rigid 28-gauge steel that is painted to look like real wood. The paint is top of the line: resistant to peeling, blistering, cracking, and chipping.
The construction of the siding includes a contoured foam underlayment that helps to provide impact resistance for the siding. If you knock into the siding, it won’t bend or dent, like other materials. The siding comes in 12-foot panels that have a wood grain texture, which helps to create the rustic log look home owners want for the exterior of their dwelling.
The term chinking is used in a traditional log cabin installation to describe the sealant line that is used between two logs. With this faux wood siding choice, the appearance of chinking lines is added to the design, helping to create the log siding look of a real log home.
8 Benefits of Faux Cedar Siding
By far one of the most popular styles for outdoor siding, cedar boasts an attractive color that can beautify the home’s exterior. However, natural cedar also comes with an array of downsides that make it particularly challenging to maintain. Woodpeckers, for example, are drawn to pecking holes in natural cedar siding, and the flammability of this material makes it particularly risky for arid regions prone to frequent wildfires. For this reason, many homeowners are turning to faux cedar siding as a practical alternative.
In addition to providing a gorgeous surface appearance that boosts curb appeal, faux cedar siding also carries a number of practical benefits that can save the time, money, and stress that often gets poured into traditional siding maintenance tasks. Take a look at some of the unique benefits of faux cedar siding.
1. Low Maintenance
Faux cedar siding is a low-maintenance option for homeowners looking to cut down on chores. Unlike natural wood, which usually requires stripping, sanding, sealing, and painting, faux cedar siding is ready to go right out of the box and doesn’t require much attention post-installation.
2. Durability
Various materials and construction techniques allow faux cedar siding to offer enhanced durability. The warping, rotting, and chipping that is common with natural wood and other traditional building materials simply isn’t a factor with faux cedar siding.
3. Anti-Corrosive
Most homeowners know just how much damage water and excess moisture can do. Yet the anti-corrosive properties of faux cedar siding made from steel allow homeowners to forget about rust buildup, which can be unsightly and compromise the integrity of the home’s exterior.
4. Fade-Resistant
Another huge advantage of faux cedar siding is that it’s resistant to color fading. It’s common for a home’s exterior to experience different amounts of sun exposure depending on the home’s orientation and surrounding shade. Siding materials that are susceptible to sun damage, like natural wood and basic vinyl, typically experience noticeable color fading in some parts, like south-facing walls, at different rates. This can require repainting — and sometimes all-new siding. Faux cedar siding is fade-resistant, meaning the color won’t change over time.
5. Longevity
While homeowners can expect natural wood siding to require significant repairs and upkeep after a few seasons, TruLog’s faux cedar siding has a 30-year warranty, offering a long-lasting product that homeowners can count on.
6. Color Options
There’s no doubt that natural wood is beautiful, but the color selections can be quite limited. In addition, for homes that require more coverage or those with new additions, it may be difficult for builders to source wood that is uniform in color and matches the existing siding precisely. The advantage of faux cedar siding products is that there are more colors to choose from, and the colors are standardized, meaning there aren’t variations in tone that may create distracting imperfections.
7. Real Wood Look
Faux cedar siding manufacturers like TruLog have perfected the ability to create imitation wood grain and tonation, meaning homeowners can get all the additional benefits of faux cedar siding without sacrificing beauty!
8. Insurance Benefits
Finally, faux cedar siding comes with insurance benefits, as this innovative building material does not have the heightened level of flammability that natural wood does. This is particularly appealing for individuals living in areas prone to wildfires.
Making the Right Selection
These are just a few of your options for a faux wood look when it comes to siding. Finding the right option for your home will require a little investigation on your part. When weighing all the pros and cons, steel siding definitely comes out on top. Contact a trusted manufacturer like TruLog to achieve the wood siding look for your home.
