Making Your Home Siding Decision

A primer for choosing your home siding
How will you choose the right type of siding for your home in Boston? Each has unique benefits. If it’s time to explore which option meets your lifestyle, personal taste, and budget, we are ready to help you make this important decision based on what’s most important to you.

What’s Important to You?

You know your home, lifestyle, and budget. The next step is knowing what each option offers.

Your home is likely your most valuable financial asset. Home siding protects your home from Boston’s rugged weather, enhances curb appeal, reduces energy costs, and provides other benefits as well.

If you are interested in home siding, where do you start? The more you know about siding options, the better you’ll be prepared to make this investment in your home.

Only you know what matters most to you. The first step in thinking about siding is to set your priorities.

Deck with a light to showcase choosing new home siding for your home by Golden Group Roofing.

Choosing New Home Siding

Homeowners who currently have a wood exterior may care most about reducing maintenance costs and improving insulation.
  • A homeowner who plans to put their house on the market may be most interested in curb appeal and market trends.
  • For those living close to neighboring homes, avoiding catching fires from nearby houses may be a primary concern.
  • After that, it’s time to dig into the benefits and drawbacks of each category of siding. Your siding and installation expert can help you determine which best matches your preferences.

This may be your first experience with choosing new home siding. Or you may want to upgrade your 20-year-old siding. In either case, advancements in technology give homeowners more choices than ever.

There’s siding for every budget, every style, and every homeowner. It’s just a matter of finding the right one.

Ready for your next home siding project?

Know the key decision-making factors for choosing new home siding

Here are highlights of some key benefits of the siding we offer:

41 colors. 3 styles. Unlimited possibilities. As the setting for your life story, your home should reflect your family’s lifestyle and personality. With the widest color spectrum in the vinyl siding industry, Monogram offers unparalleled versatility to design your home to your unique taste.

James Hardie® fiber cement siding is an ideal choice for Greater Boston area. It won’t rot, crack, or split, plus it holds paint up to three times longer than wood. Baked-on ColorPlus® technology has exceptional resistance to fading, chipping, and cracking.

Get the advantages of a completely new category of siding from Everlast. The innovative triple-composite material combines inorganic minerals, polymer resins, and acrylic colorants for a thick, solid, and strong siding with extreme durability and protection from pests. This innovative triple-composite siding by Everlast stands out among premium siding options. Everlast’s advanced engineering removes the need and bother of costly maintenance while boosting curb appeal. When you choose Everlast, you choose siding that stands out among premium siding options.

Tando Shake Siding

Quick installation. Great coverage. Low maintenance. Enjoy the look of natural cedar shake siding at its best with iconic TandoShake(™) siding. Achieve your personalized taste by designing according to your architectural preference. A wide range of colors is available in five styles. Imagine how your home will look with the style you’ve always wanted: Cape Cod Perfection, two types of Roughsawn Cedar Shingle, Rustic Cedar, and Hand-Split Shake–all with an extensive choice of solid or natural colors.

Choosing siding for your home

If you’re not sure which factors to consider when looking at siding options, here are some important factors.

CertainTeed Vinyl: Vinyl siding is the most affordable option upon installation, but the cost of maintenance is a long-term consideration

Tando Composite: Composite siding costs more than vinyl, but requires less maintenance in the long run. Tando has a 10-year “looks like new” warranty and a 50-year performance warranty.

James Hardie Fiber Cement: James Hardie is a high-quality product that costs more than vinyl and composite but is still moderately priced. James Hardie has a 50-year limited warranty.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Everlast is a premium product that costs more than the other three options. However, it boasts near-zero maintenance and a lifetime warranty.

CertainTeed Vinyl: Vinyl siding is fade-resistant and comes in the widest variety of colors, plus it offers a broad range of textures, grades, lengths, widths, and covers.

Tando Composite: Fade-resistant Tando siding is vailable in many colors and styles. Tando Beach House Shake, TandoShake, and TandoStone look nearly identical to the natural materials they simulate.

James Hardie Fiber Cement: James Hardie comes in many textures, styles, and colors. It holds paint well and can be repainted for a new look. However, it will fade over time.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Everlast offers a realistic look of rough-sawn cedar planks and is available in a variety of widths, styles, and covers. It provides extreme protection against fading and UV light.

PRO CertainTeed Vinyl: If properly installed and well-maintained, vinyl siding is durable and resists moisture, wind, extreme temperatures, and UV.

Tando Composite: Tando products are moisture-resistant but not watertight.

Pro James Hardie Fiber Cement: James Hardie is leak-resistant, but upon installation, many seams must be sealed, creating a risk of water infiltrating behind the siding and damaging nearby areas.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Everlast is impervious to water, resistant to mold and mildew, and offers superior protection against rain, wind, UV, and other weather elements.

CertainTeed Vinyl: If vinyl siding is well-installed and maintained, it requires little maintenance other than an occasional power wash. It is fade-resistant, moisture-resistant, and easily serviced if damaged by weather events. Depending on the home’s setting and level of maintenance, it can last 20-40 years.

Tando Composite: Tando products provide strong protection against weather events, moisture, salt air, fungi, and pests. Tando can last up to 30 years and will need repainting every 5-10 years.

James Hardie Fiber Cement: James Hardie resists insects, mold and fungus, weather-related forces, pests, and UV rays. Its durability gives it a life span of 50+ years if properly cared for. However, it requires regular maintenance, caulking, and touch-up if it chips.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Everlast’s zero-maintenance technology makes it the most durable in different climates and weather conditions. It is impervious to water and insects, plus there’s no need to paint, seal, or caulk. Everlast offers a limited lifetime warranty.

CertainTeed Vinyl: Vinyl is the fastest and easiest siding to install, resulting in few craftsmanship issues.

Tando Composite: Tando is lightweight and easy to install. However, it must be installed over a weather-resistant house barrier system, such as house wrap.

James Hardie Fiber Cement: Fiber cement can turn off installers because the boards are bulky, it takes more time to install, and workers require special tools.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Because Everlast is light and comes pre-molded, installation is relatively quick and easy. Everlast technology removes the risk of water infiltration.

CertainTeed Vinyl: Vinyl siding does not ignite quickly, is inherently flame-retardant, and is easily extinguished.

Tando Composite: Beach House Shake is one-hour fire-resistance-rated.

James Hardie Fiber Cement: James Hardie has the highest flame-resistance class of sidings in its class. It’s considered 100 percent fire-resistant (but not fireproof).

Everlast Polymer Composite: Everlast is resistant to high temperatures and has a class-A fire rating.

CertainTeed Vinyl: Vinyl siding rates high in sustainability as it requires minimal raw material, produces virtually no waste, and can be recycled.

Tando Composite: Tando is made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is environmentally friendly.

James Hardie Fiber Cement: James Hardie is sourced from common species of wood, has no toxic materials, and manufacturing doesn’t require fossil fuels.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Everlast has poor sustainability as it is a petroleum-based product.

CertainTeed Vinyl: Installation is relatively easy and fast, resulting in few craftsmanship issues.

Tando Beach House Shake Composite: Lightweight and easy to install, but it must be installed over a weather-resistant house barrier system, such as house wrap.

Hardie Fiber Cement: If not installed properly, water may infiltrate it and damage the surrounding siding. Installation is difficult and time-consuming because the material is heavy, special tools are needed, and proper installation requires more advanced skills.

Everlast Polymer Composite: Its manufacturing process does not require the installer to seal the planks to make them watertight. Its lightweight construction and butt joint system makes installation easy.

Pros and cons at a glance

CertainTeed Vinyl
Tando Composite
James Hardie Fiber Cement
Everlast Polymer Composite
Material and Installation Cost
Most affordable
Moderately priced
Moderately priced
Higher Price
Appearance
Widest color palette; a broad range of style options
Nearly identical to Cedar Shake; fade-resistant
Many styles; Can be repainted but will fade over time
Many Styles; No fading
Maintenance
Little maintenance; fade-resistant; moisture resistant; Lifespan 20-40 years
Weather resistant; repainting in 5-10 years; Lifespan up to 30 years
Durable; ongoing sealing and maintenance; Lifespan 50+ years
Zero-maintenance; most weather-resistant; Lifetime warranty
Water Tightness
Resistant to moisture if well installed and maintained
Moisture-resistant, but not watertight
Leak-resistant if installed correctly
Impervious to water; highest weather protection
Ease of Installation
Easy and fast; few craftsmanship issues
Easy and lightweight; must install over weather-resistant house barrier
Difficult and time- consuming; requires special tools and advanced skills
Easy and lightweight; Requires no sealing of planks;
Fire Safety
Flame-retardant; easily extinguished
1-hour fire resistance rated
Highest flame resistance; 100% fire-resistant
High fire resistance; Class A fire rating
Sustainability
High sustainability; recyclable; produces little waste
polypropylene product; recyclable; Low hazard to environment
No toxic materials; no fossil fuels used in manufacturing
Petroleum-based; pure sustainability

Choosing siding for your home

Ready to choose the home siding that’s right for you?

Every home is unique. Every owner has different priorities. We recommend that you learn about each type of siding so you can think about which option may right for you. Our experts will work with you, provide you with the information you need, and help steer you in the right direction, and answer any question you may have prior to selection and installation.

Whether you are familiar with home siding or starting from scratch, we respect your home as if it were our own. Whatever your personal taste, budget, and home location, be assured that Golden Group has a beautiful, durable product for every budget. Once you choose your siding and we agree to the terms, our craftsmanship means that your installation will be done with care for results that meet the highest standards.