Why Adding Vinyl Siding to Your Home May Not Increase it Sales Value
Considering investing in vinyl siding to improve the sales value of your home? Could be a good investment, depending on the circumstances. But you may have heard some pretty nifty things about vinyl siding in a generally speaking sort of way that perhaps aren’t quite so true. In fact, going with vinyl siding specifically to increase the value of your home could have just the opposite effect. You may actually get less money for your home.
Cleaning
Vinyl siding will become dirty as a result of the build-up of mildew over time if not kept clean. A quick survey of internet sites will lead you to the conclusion that cleaning vinyl siding is as easy as investing in a pressure washer. In fact, you need to look a little closer at this suggestion and read every word carefully. In all halfway honest articles on cleaning vinyl siding with a pressure washer, you will come across perhaps a single sentence that warns against positioning the pressure sprayer in a way that allows the water to be get behind the siding. Honest articles will then go on to warn that water driven behind the siding can result in everything from the panels coming loose to rotting any wood over which vinyl siding is placed.
Poor Insulator
If you are thinking that you are going to increase the value of your home because vinyl siding will help cut down on energy bills, think again. Vinyl siding is thin and fragile and adds very little insulating quality . You can opt for foam backing beneath the vinyl panels but even this is going to have little impact on your monthly heating and cooling bills.
Carcinogenic Claims
Toxins in the PVC that is used to make vinyl siding has been linked to the development of cancer. The National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health have stated that cancer results from exposure to those working in the factories that manufacture vinyl siding rather than from exposure to the siding itself. That means you are safe from developing cancer if you go with vinyl siding. The problem may arise when trying to sell your home. You may very well come across a potential buyer who is committed to the belief that vinyl siding will eventually give them cancer and even showing them scientific evidence refuting those claims won’t be enough to change their opinion and close the deal.
Durability
You may hear from a vinyl siding salesman that it will last forever . Or, at least, as close to forever as you are likely to need. Thirty or forty years sounds pretty good, right? Well, sure, the siding could last that long. But by the time that definition of forever rolls, the siding is likely to be discolored, stained, cracked, falling off or otherwise not worthy of looking at. If you live in climate regions subject to high winds, you increase the odds of panels being blown away. Vinyl siding can also be damaged by people banging into it, balls bouncing off it, branches being blown into it and a myriad of other accidents. The point being that trying to increase value in your home when you sell it by thinking you can convince buyers that the siding is going to last them throughout their residency is perhaps not the most ideal way to go.
