Save Thousands on Vinyl Siding Cost

Older siding often suffered from significant color fading in the darker colors but that is no longer always the case. The Vinyl Siding Institute has been running multi-year tests on newer siding and giving certificates to the Companies/Colors that pass. You should ask if your siding is ASTM D3679 with a ASTM D6864 or D7251 Color Retention Certification, if it is it should stay pretty close to it's original color over it's lifetime. You can check out a chart of passing siding here, VSI Color Siding Tested and Approved Colors / Companies. The downside to darker colors is that they do absorb more sunlight and your cooling bill in the summer may be a little higher.



Sears has a number of approved colors you may want to ask them to come out and show you their color palate, have them measure your house for you, and give you your first estimate. Click Here

Insulated siding works according to a study conducted by New York State Energy and Research Development Authority's (NYSERDA) of James Hardie fiber cement siding vs. Insulated Vinyl Siding. It would save about $50 a year off your energy bill more or less, bottom line is it is probably not worth it, a 1 dollar increase per square foot for vinyl siding for a typical 2000 sqft house would cost $2000 and take 40 years of energy bills to repay, not a great return on investment.

Siding to meet code must be .035" and some premium brands sell .055" thick panels. Thinner panels will tend to sag over time giving your house a "tired and worn" appearance, thinner panels also tend to be caught by the wind more easily. The minimum suggested thickness for most weather conditions is .045" thick, if you live in Miami or on the gulf coast you will need special help to get a wind rated brand, (talk with a licensed contractor in your area see installations below to find one).

This is really a question that you need independent information to answer. The Vinyl Siding Institute does multi-year testing on different types of siding for color retention, weatherability, wind resistance, etc. I highly suggest that any vinyl siding you use is quality certified , VSI Certifications. , click to download a list of certified vinyl siding. You can use this list to check any siding that you are interested in to make sure that if installed properly it will hold up for years and retain it's color. When properly installed certified vinyl siding will withstand sun, rain, and up to 110 mph winds.

Dark colors can be great with little fading but check out their VSI ASTM rating.
Insulated siding is not worth the extra cost
You probably should buy siding at least .045" thick
You should check to make sure that your siding is certified VSI Certifications

Siding prices per square foot vary wildly from $1 per sq foot Lowes to $7 per sq foot premium siding. Most brand name siding is in the $5 per square foot range. What you are willing to pay is gong to be up to you. If you follow the guidelines above you can pick your siding based on what you like and what you can afford. Remember that price does not indicate quality in this market, a $3/sq foot brand may be just as good quality as a $7/sq foot brand.

Vinyl siding is usually sold in "squares", a square is simply 100 sq feet, (10' X 10'). So typically a square will cost $100-$700 dollars.

Most houses will have between 1000-2000 sq feet of surface that will need to be covered. For a 2000 sq foot house the cost for just the siding would be $2,000-$14,000 dollars. There will be other costs for other vents, nails, permits, etc.. expect costs to increase by 30% or more. Total cost before installation $2600 - $19000 dollars.

Your biggest chance to save money is in this step! Would you buy $20/gallon gas when there is $3/gallon gas around the corner? Find something you like but be sure to keep in mind your talking huge price differences.

Vinyl Siding $1-$7 per square foot
Siding is sold in "squares" of 100ft square a square will cost $100-$700
Total Cost before installation for a 2000 sq foot house is $2600 - $19000
Picking the right siding for you is your biggest chance to save money.

Click Here For A Free Estimate from Sears

If you are comfortable calculating square feet you can get a pretty close ballpark idea of the square footage of your house. You will need a pen, paper, a friend, and the longest tape measure you can find. (You may just want to call Sears and have them come measure for you, Click Here).


For each rectangular part of your house you will need to find the length of the wall and how high the wall is.

Area Of Wall = L x H

remember to measure everything in feet so that you end up with a number in square feet. You can convert inches into feet by dividing by 12.

  10 inches / 12 inches per foot = .83 feet

For the triangular eaves or dormers of your home, you will need to use the triangle formula.



Area of Eaves or Dormers = 1/2 x B x H

Remember to measure the height from the base in the middle to the highest point for the eaves measurement. You may need a pole or a ladder to do this effectively.



You will also need to measure the surface area of the windows and doors so that you can subtract them off.

Remember in this process that you are trying to get an estimate, you do not have to be perfect. When the installers quote they figure on at lease 10% "wastage" due to pieces they have to cut off etc..

Typical Set of Calculations:
wall #1 wall #2 wall #3 wall #4 eave #1
10 ft high * 50 ft long + 10ft * 50ft + 10ft * 65ft + 10ft * 65ft + 1/2 * 50 * 10 +

eave #2 window #1 window #2 door #1 door #2
1/2 * 50 * 10 - 4ft * 18 ft - 4ft * 18ft - 3ft * 8ft - 3ft*8ft

= 2658 sqft

So in the lingo of vinyl siding you will need about 30 squares or 3000 sq feet. Why not 27? Unfortunately when cutting vinyl to fit there is wastage, you can figure the wastage as about 10%.

2658 sqft = 27 squares+ 10% waste (2.7 squares) = 30 squares

This number (whatever yours comes out to be) is really the key to figuring out what vinyl siding is going to cost. I would suggest that even if you have calculated all of this yourself already that you have a trained installer come out from Sears and measure this for you again, it's free and they may have some ideas that can help. Click Here

Why is it so important to know the surface area of your home? Unfortunately one of the easiest ways to pad a job is to over order siding and then return it for a refund to where it was purchased and charge the customer for installing it to boot. If you don't know how much siding you should be buying then you are a prime candidate for someone to take advantage. Two or three extra squares can amount to $4000 or more and if you are not keeping any eye out. Because Sears sells and installs their own siding a lot of the possible fraud is cut out, that is one of the reasons that I suggest them. You can get them to come measure everything for you if you Click Here.

Measuring your house is not rocket science, you can do it
Sears can help you Click Here
The most common fraud in the business is padding Vinyl Siding Squares (product and installation)

Professional installation costs $1.25 - $6 a square foot depending on the area of the country you live, the contractor that is performing the work, etc.. This is a huge difference in pricing! You will need to get multiple quotes to make sure you are not overpaying.

I suggest getting a quote from Sears for the whole job, prepping the walls, vinyl siding, and installation. They seem to be pretty consistently reasonably priced across the US and Canada.

Click Here To Get a quote from Sears

You should get additional quotes from certified installers in your area, the Vinyl Siding Institute maintains a lists of certified installers, Click Here. I would suggest also looking at what the BBB has to say as well about each company as well as asking for references from other customers.

At a bare minimum I would suggest that you get 3 estimates.

If you are a good handyman you can probably install your vinyl siding yourself, but.... It will not look like professionally installed siding, there are a lot of tricks used to reduce the appearance of lines at overlaps etc. that you learn only after a few installs. There are other tricks for proper water channeling, etc. I suggest you get a good DVD on DIY vinyl siding installation and watch it very carefully. You will also need to purchase a few specialty tools. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you find out what temperature that the vinyl needs to be hung in and any special spacing requirements, this varies by brand of vinyl. (All vinyl expands and contracts and this has to be taken account of in the installation).

Click Here For A Free Estimate from Sears