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rmak
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# Posted: 6 Aug 2012 07:23pm
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We are planning to refurbish our 18 year old cabin so we can use it more. The exterior was made with 2X6 tongue and groove treated foundation boards. Over the years they have separated and warped a little. Something needs to be done all the way around.
Since I have to re-side it anyhow, and my wife likes the cedar shingle look, I've been looking for some rustic cedar shakes. Not only are they quite expensive, they are straight and new and it's recommended that they get oil treated every few years.
I was buying something recently at a building supply store and saw a sample of a rustic, weathered, grey hand spit shake siding in vinyl. I'm sorry to report that it looks real good. It's exactly what I pictured our cabin to look like, as opposed to the new machined real cedar I've been looking at.
Advantages are that I could put another layer of insulation on before I sided, no maintenance so I could enjoy the cabin more, instant aged look, and maybe I could save a tree.
Disadvantage is my cabin would be plastic coated. I never imagined I'd be thinking about it.
I'd like to hear pros and cons from the pros here. Thanks!
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VTweekender
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# Posted: 6 Aug 2012 09:09pm
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I have seen those as well, they look real good. No getting kicked out, pics when your done though 
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TomChum
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# Posted: 6 Aug 2012 09:35pm
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Plastic is like a drug. Don't start.
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 6 Aug 2012 11:01pm
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It's your cabin... if it works for you, that's all that matters. Vinyl is not my first choice, but it's only personal preference. I must admit vinyl is easy to work with and to fix mistakes, looks good (and for a long time), is low maintenance and easy to update if/when the time comes. It's hard to argue with those features.
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Spudmasher1
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# Posted: 6 Aug 2012 11:18pm - Edited by: Spudmasher1
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"Would I get kicked out of the cabin club if I thought about vinyl siding?"
Yes!
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larry
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 07:46am
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imo its not so much about plastic or wood. its about what you can afford to help enjoy your cabin. isn't that what we're all here for?
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rmak
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 09:02am
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"imo its not so much about plastic or wood. its about what you can afford to help enjoy your cabin. isn't that what we're all here for?"
Absolutely!
Vinyl surely isn't my first choice. I'm just wondering if it's my best choice all things considered.
I don't want to finish it in fake shingles and then realize I made a big mistake.
Kind of hoping to connect with someone who's done it or has a link to picture of an actual cabin with similar siding installed. The glossy photos on the internet ads don't really give me any idea how it might look in my application.
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TheCabinCalls
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 09:32am
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I have seen it look good and terrible. Where it can fail is in color selection and mis matching the textures. With vinyl there isn't really a great trim option. We spent a lot of extra money trying to make a wide trim around the windows and hide the j channel.
We used 1x4 and wraped it in metal stock to give it a punch of color. Then we put a smaller piece of cedar to give it one more highlight color. The coil stock in the picture came out too glossy and was replaced.
All in all. It is done. It wasn't what we wanted, but at the time of our bad contractors, time and money issues this was the best option to keep the project moving forward.
It can look good...if you spend time and money on details. And the farther away from it you get!
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rmak
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:11am
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Here's a photo of the cabin exterior now. I'd probably just keep painting the trim instead of aluminum wrap if I went to vinyl shakes.
The vinyl "hand split weathered shingle" is the next photo.
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Dillio187
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:17am
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you're probably the only one that will know it's vinyl. Go for it I say.
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GomerPile
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:19am - Edited by: GomerPile
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Check the grade on the cedar shakes. They come in several grades the higher (better) grades are pretty expensive. There is a very cheap grade that is about $10 per bundle. There will be some defects here and there but its usually pretty easy to work around them. It also helps to be selective at the home store when picking out your bundles of shakes.
This "shed" is about 3 years old and has never been treated and it used the cheapest grade of shakes I could get ($8/bundle I think)
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TheCabinCalls
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:25am
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Yeah, you already have the trim detail. What you could do it get a piece of j channel and a few more samples and put it up against the window to really see how it will look. My biggest gripe about vinyl is the color selections that no color variations in the patterns. And the j channel - why haven't come up with a better detail there?
I know I priced the viynl shakes and boad and batten and it was cheaper to buy hardi or cedar. It was almost $300 a square for vinyl. We found cedar really inexpensive at 84 lumber.
Your place is small enough where overlapping hardi or using cedar wouldn't be too much extra labor time.
BTW - I like the horizontal lines of the t&g you have now. Makes the place seem bigger.
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:42am
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It's yours, do what you want. Have you checked out the concrete siding boards, some look very good.
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rmak
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:47am
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Thanks folks!
CabinCalls, what's "hardi"?
I never checked locally for shakes. I found these guys in Georgia and talked to them. About $265 a square.
http://ecoshel.com/Prefinished.html
I like the horizontal too, but the picture doesn't show the growing gaps. I found interlocking wooden "log cabin" siding, but my wife says NO! It seems she always has the majority vote.
Nice shed, Gomer!
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TheCabinCalls
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:51am
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Mine has the majority vote too!! haha!
Hardi - James Hardie Siding Products
http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/products_siding_hardieshingleSiding.py
There are other manufactures now too. I saw a week or so ago at Menards they had a great sale on this stuff. I couldn't believe the prices. Maybe they make a thinner version now.
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rmak
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 10:51am
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Sorry for a double post, but I forgot to ask. Approximately how much surface can be cover with a bundle of shingles? Also, is it feasible to insulate under the shakes with some thin styofoam or something to add to the r-value?
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TheCabinCalls
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 11:04am
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you might be able to get a thin sheet of Polyiso under there, but be careful not to lose the trim detail. You might have to put nailer strips on top of the foam too.
What is under you t&g boards? The studs?
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rmak
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 11:14am
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I was a lot younger and crazier when I built this thing. I actually used post and beam construction and mortised and tendoned all the 4 X 4's to build the skeleton of the cabin. So the exterior 2 X 6's are just nailed to the vertical framework. I insulated the room part and nailed in 2 x 4's where needed to put up the interior walls.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2012 11:56am - Edited by: trollbridge
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Here's one more opinion of do what YOU want and what YOU can afford!!!
We have a variety of siding on our cabin-we did what we could afford and have not regretted it. Our vinyl siding is used on the lower portions and on the gables. Originally we had salvaged wood siding from an old church that was going to be torn down-then we saw the vinyl at a reuse shop and the price was too good to pass up.We made all our own trims out of wood which I personally like much better.
We are building our cabin as we have funds available and are having a great time doing it and that is what it is all about for us. I knew we would be re-purposing many materials and we went with a rustic look for that reason-that and I wanted the cabin as different from our house as possible.
Best of luck with whatever decision you make-just remember the decision is ultimately yours
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shnnnh
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2012 10:29am
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There was an interesting column in American Craft magazine a few months back, critiquing the use of words like "authentic," "honest," and "hand-crafted" to sell high-tech automobiles and pointing out how a material or a mode of construction can get loaded with many value judgements.
So for example, because at the moment our culture identifies post and beam as an "honest" method and "real wood" as an "authentic" choice, as contrasted to "fake vinyl," we might wonder if we'll enjoy our cabins as much with vinyl, or if they'll somehow feel tainted, almost like we've "cheated" in some way, right? And since part of the enjoyment of the cabin is thinking about it and talking about it when we're not there, knowing what other people might think of our materials choice becomes a factor.
All of which is long way of saying that I don't know which material you'll be happier with, but I'm pretty sure that the context that produced post and beam as a construction method--ready access to labor, hand tools, and large wood--would allow for the use of vinyl or any other material, in the sense that it's about using what's near to hand. Have no fear!
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rmak
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2012 11:10am
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Thanks, shnnh! Great post.
I think it's more of an internal conflict with me rather than concern about others (the topic title was tongue-in-cheek) Very few people know we have a cabin and less have actually visited it.
I've always considered myself something of a craftsman, an amateur to be sure since I've never made my living with my hands since I worked construction to help pay for school.
Now that age and arthritis is creeping in, I just can't do some things like I used to so I've got to compromise my principles on honesty of materials vs. simple, easy and low maintenance. I'm paying for others to do things I used to do myself. It's heck getting old!
I really came here to hear opinions and the experience of others. If the majority said vinyl siding is goofy, and had legitimate reasons,that would help me decide. If people used it successfully and were happy with the results, that would help me too.
I'm actually thinking now of finding the cheapest cedar shakes and going that way. Of course, that could change as well.
Thanks again!
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TheCabinCalls
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2012 11:15am
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with your nice wood trimmed windows either one will look good. Just put a piece of J up there with the samples and see if you like it.
As for maintenance...everything requires something. Cedar left to gray will last a long time. Vinyl if installed right will last a long time, but extreme temps, storms, etc could damage it.
Go with what you are comfortable with. The size of your place will make cost a wash really. Just make sure you will love the look before you commit.
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brokeneck
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2012 10:16pm
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Our big cabin has steel siding shaped like logs looks great zero maintainance gave me time to build the little cabin --
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TomChum
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2012 01:10am - Edited by: TomChum
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Quoting: rmak I'm actually thinking now of finding the cheapest cedar shakes and going that way.
Now you're talking. If someone throws a snowball 20 years from now and breaks a shingle, you'll be glad it wasn't vinyl. And you can't get or match that vinyl anymore.
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neb
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2012 11:34am
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I see nothing wrong with what you use for siding. I think the siding looks good. Way less wrok then natural wood siding but the look is what some want.
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roskopf
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# Posted: 31 Oct 2012 09:36pm
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I'm currently building a cabin this summer. Hired a contractor to build the structure and my husband and I will do the the interior. I decided to go with all artificial or non-wood on the outside (except for the pressure treated porch floors. Our main home is cedar and we're sick and tired of having to stain it and have woodpeckers and bees put holes in it. I will admit that if the staining is kept up, then we wouldn't get the holes from the birds & bees though. I will post some pictures of the cabin...hopefully I'll figure it out...first time. And here's my FAKE siding...
south side
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Front -west end
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Back - east end
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guy48065
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2012 12:44pm - Edited by: guy48065
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I'm new to my 1950 log cabin and it was aluminum sided long ago. I looked into restoring the logs but they were too ruined from "flattening" for the siding. I wanted low maintenance but a traditional look so I priced vinyl "cedar" siding & shakes. Not bad on a "per square" basis for just the siding but the trim doubled the cost! I guess they really make their money on the trim. What an eye-opener.
It looks like I'm going to side with 3/4" natural edge white cedar planks. Higher maintenance for sure but it's the real deal, unique, and cheaper than the imitations like Hardie board & vinyl.
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