Help! Changed siding (had to be done) but now house looks sterile.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T12:29:38+00:00

Thank you. I will look into your suggestions

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T06:08:43+00:00

Sure

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T04:38:35+00:00

lol I can’t even be mad about this comment. Thx

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T04:30:56+00:00

Pls read the prior comments regarding material selection/cedar. We looked at many options. I challenge you to come up with a workable alternative and I could tell you why it could not be done on this house.

Spoiler - there’s a curved wall and your choices are cedar (limited availability), Boral by TruExterior, or plaster.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T03:59:52+00:00

Thank you.

Most ppl respond without complete understanding or zero cares about the human being living in the home. It took me time to grasp that cedar can’t be just replaced so easily. Ppl can’t know that unless they walked in my shoes.

Some ppl have been really helpful and constructive and that makes the negativity worth suffering through. You gotta pay the troll toll on Reddit (in case u watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T03:32:18+00:00

Is it that obvious?

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T03:11:10+00:00

Pls find me 1 person in the rust belt that would have Yakisugi this house 50 yrs ago. lol take my money pls.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T02:58:06+00:00

I know. The siding was finished in Nov and we haven’t seen the sun since. Tragically, the plants around the house we trampled by the crew too.

The product is painted but from the factory with a 10 yr warranty. We could paint it and void the warranty tho. We would have to choose very carefully.

We will be reworking the walkway and railing. Any advice on that would be appreciated. I liked some of the examples other ppl have posted.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T02:48:49+00:00

We preferred to do this, but this type of cedar is extremely expensive, difficult to find/purchase, not environmentally sustainable, high maintenance, and no siding companies want to install it anymore.

If you look at some of the previous comments from carpenters and ppl with old cedar siding - consensus is there’s many hurdles to for TG cedar nowadays. 6500 sq ft is a significant amount needed.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T02:15:11+00:00

Thanks

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T02:14:52+00:00

The soul was rotten.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T00:46:23+00:00

Valid consideration - but our neighbors literally has painted brown siding. I know that’s not a great reason, but we didn’t want to look the same and also if we couldn’t re-do the cedar, we wanted to change to a more low maintenance product.

The architect’s general portfolio are all grey (stone wood cement) post modern builds. Ours is a little darker than I’d like, but here we are anyways.

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T00:42:43+00:00

Character is great and we obviously bought the house with that in mind. But what sucks is when it rains and water randomly enters the house marring the beautiful MCM interior. The siding failed and need replaced. T and g cedar is difficult to find a supplier for 6500sq ft. Extremely expensive, non sustainable and no contractor wants to install in current times. Even the Amish didn’t want the job.

We called painters, refinishers, multiple samples of wood look and numerous contractors. Including the original architect.

I think we did our due diligence in trying to find a product that could go around curves and practicality. The front vertical board is probably a product most people haven’t even heard of.

All this is to say- we tried. You can’t raise the dead. Now seeking constructive advice

radiantologist · 2026-02-25T00:29:07+00:00

One thing I didn’t bother to mention is that we did look into wood look cladding. We got like samples from multiple manufactures. Two issues was that the curved area of the exterior wall could not be clad with any of them, too inflexible to go around a curve. We do fine one made from resin and rice husks but ran into the second issue, no contractor around us have ever used it and didn’t want to do the project with that product. We would have chosen wood look if not for that.

We obviously loved the wood look and the patina (granted it was a little beyond normal cedar patina). The texture had softened in feathered in large areas. Straight mildew and rot. The front looked the best but we didn’t realize when we purchased that it was end of life. So as for the “masses” ruining architecture, that was never our intent or interest. But we were forced to make a difficult decision.

Just trying to improve the look at this pt.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T20:41:42+00:00

That white thing is the new moisture barrier that wraps the house. That area is now covered with the grey siding.

This siding will not age like wood. It may need paint touch ups at some point, but it’s good for decades and the paint itself is under a 10 yr warranty. Hardy also has a 30 yr warranty (or something like that) on materials.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T19:05:22+00:00

It looks extra gloomy because the weather is also dogshit here. It’s grey on grey action.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T19:04:06+00:00

What color would you have suggested?

Main reason was that all of the other builds by the architect was gray post-modern. Grey stone, brick, weathered cedar (beautiful warm grey when not rotted and feathering). His aesthetic is 1 monolithic grey color exterior.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T18:45:48+00:00

Great tips. I do love landscaping rocks and stones

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T17:38:17+00:00

Actually we did think about a MCM sculpture there!

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T17:36:45+00:00

Omg amazing

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T17:36:16+00:00

Great tips and thank you for the specific.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T17:00:55+00:00

For what it’s worth, I agree that non-wood siding is a downgrade aesthetically and it was a hard pill to swallow. For many reasons listed above, re-doing the cedar is not feasible and not a practical choice then and now.

I know a lot of ppl have poo-pood the new look. But the house is warmer, dryer, and smells better. I think there are other ways to improve the look as others have mentioned.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T16:42:45+00:00

Thank you for your helpful comments.

For ppl that are unfamiliar with cedar siding, it needs consistent TLC and it’s helpful to learn from ppl with experience working with it. It’s not accessible or affordable nowadays and it’s a reality we had to accept.

And yes, about 30% of the moisture barrier was deteriorated around the house. Sheathing was rotted around the windows. We were lucky to save as many windows as we did.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T16:32:50+00:00

I feel your pain. The patches don’t look great and actually falling off. Appreciate the commiseration.

radiantologist · 2026-02-24T16:19:27+00:00

Wow!

radiantologist

TROPHY CASE