Should You Repair or Replace Your Siding?
Not every siding problem needs a whole new house of siding. Here is how we help homeowners decide.
| What you see | Usually |
|---|---|
| A few cracked or loose panels | Usually a repair. |
| Faded siding, sound wall | Repair if you can live with color differences; otherwise replace. |
| Soft sheathing, stains inside, peeling paint behind the siding | Replace, so the wall can be fixed. |
| Several old layers | Replace, with full tear-off. |
| Brittle vinyl that cracks when touched | Replace. |
When a repair is enough
A storm-damaged section, a few panels cracked by a ball or a snowblower, or a piece of trim that has come loose can usually be repaired. The challenge is matching: faded siding is hard to match, so new panels may look brighter than the old ones next to them.
When replacement is the better money
If water is getting behind the siding, the wall needs to be opened, and patching the surface will not fix it. Signs include soft spots, stains on interior walls under windows, paint peeling on the inside of exterior walls and mold in the corners of closets on outside walls.
What we do at the visit
We look at the siding, trim and the bottom of the walls, check around windows and doors, and tell you honestly whether a repair will do. If it will, we say so.
Older houses and hidden damage
On houses built before 1978, any repair that disturbs painted trim or old siding follows lead-safe rules, so even a small repair includes containment and cleanup. Older houses with board sheathing can also hide rot behind siding that looks fine from the street, especially at the bottom of walls, under windows and where a roof meets a wall. Those are the places we check first.
Replacing one side of the house
Sometimes the best answer is in between: replace the siding on the side that takes the weather or has the damage, and leave the rest. It costs less than a whole house and fixes the real problem. The trade-off is that the new side may not match the old sides exactly.
If you do replace the whole house, our vinyl siding cost guide shows example ranges, and the Instant Ballpark prices your own walls.
Related pages
- Siding replacementThe full job, tear-off to trim.
- Vinyl siding cost guideExample ranges.
- More resourcesGuides, glossary and comparisons.
Common questions
Can you match my old vinyl?
Sometimes closely, sometimes not. Profiles and colors change over time, and old siding fades. We tell you before we start whether the match will look right.