There are three things about historic buildings that can reduce me to tears: demolition, bad window replacements, and vinyl siding. As I tout myself as a “practical preservationist,” I know that changes in exterior siding on buildings has a long history. Aluminum and vinyl siding make it possible for many people to remain in some historic buildings with decreased maintenance. Perhaps there are some cases where vinyl siding contributes to a building not being demolished. But I hate vinyl siding. (Ever seen the 2002 documentary Blue Vinyl? It is anxiety-provoking to say the least!)* And before anyone is tempted to send me hate mail, I live in a house with vinyl siding – and along with my family, our house with vinyl siding is home to entire armies of Asian Lady Beetles, house flies, and stink bugs.
An ad from the May 15, 1968 edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Our 1901 farmhouse was, of course, originally clad in wooden weatherboards – and they are still there underneath the abhorrent vinyl siding that was likely applied almost 50 years ago. Alas and alack – that original wood siding is alligatored with paint, most all of it lead based. Since my husband and I are not growing money trees on our farm, we don’t have the funds to remove the siding and either abate the lead or re-side the house…so we live with the vinyl.
Despite claims that vinyl is virtually indestructible…it’s not.
When winter comes and I don my layers of clothing, the stink bugs rejoice and scurry underneath the vinyl siding. There’s plenty of room for all of them and their extended families – vinyl is hung loosely, and there are many, many gaps. (Don’t believe me? Ask Tom Silva of This Old House.)
I imagine the stink bug clans, sitting on their couches, drinking mulled wine, discussing their campaign for driving me crazy in the spring, and settling down for their cozy winter naps.
Nasty, nasty stink bugs.
This stink bug looks more attractive than it really is thanks to the fabric background.
When the sun shines and the days warm up – especially since we don’t seem to have winter anymore in Kentucky – my big, beautiful historic windows (and I will repeat ad nauseum how glad I am that it was only vinyl siding that was foisted upon our house, and not vinyl windows) swarm with confused bugs seeking to get outside. It’s like the Amityville Horror on the south facing side of the house. Thankfully, I have a dustbuster with a long extension and I take great delight in sending all of those bugs to their destruction.
When I dump out the tool of their death, I do so outside into a five-gallon bucket filled with water. Just in case they are still alive and buzzing.
They leave stains everywhere. Nasty, nasty beetles. We don’t call them lady bugs because these are noxious invaders.
If the buzzing isn’t enough to drive you to madness, how about vinyl siding that looks like it is bleeding? That’s the Asian Lady Beetles. Their stains roll down the siding and mock me, my stature, and my lack of scaffolding to scrub the stains away. (Power washing isn’t really a good idea – again, you can check with Tom Silva.)
The vinyl industry excels in sales. Ad from the November 14, 1971 edition of the Courier-Journal.
My two previous houses were in town, and one was brick veneer, and the other retained its original wood siding. Granted, we have more critters of all kinds due to living on a farm, and I grew up with flies finding their way inside during the winter – but never, ever like what I endure today. (My childhood home is…brick.)
I don’t really want to spend time painting wood siding. But all buildings require maintenance, and I would rather have wood siding that is properly prepped and well-painted then to share my time with all of these flying creatures. (Ever been dive-bombed by a stink bug as you read in bed at night? It’s a treat.) One day, we’ll get rid of the vinyl siding, and hopefully decrease the population of our home by a few thousand.
*Vinyl siding has a host of other problems, not the least being that lots of folks apply it quickly and poorly, ripping off exterior features and camouflaging the lines of historic buildings. It is applied as a “problem solver” but often hides bigger and more insidious problems that siding that needs to be painted.
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Dad put really ugly siding on our house. We were delighted when David removed it. Yes, it is a job to continue to repaint but the house is beautiful. David did so many beautiful things to the old farmhouse. Mom did persuade Dad to let her put a door in the living room so hopefully it would go to a porch or patio — David had a patio and then a Florida room.
One terrible result of vinyl siding is that it conceals when there is deterioration of important parts of a building. I’ve seen many instances of rotted rafter tails, soffits, brackets and other defining elements of a house, all of which would have been repaired long before their failure if they could have been seen. But, concealed behind the false skin they continued to decline without evidence until they dropped enough to deform or destroy the “protective” vinyl.
In addition to the drawbacks you named, vinyl siding gives off poisonous gases when it burns. Firefighters hate it.
Janie. You are 100% correct. My wife and I feel your pain with these bugs. They are everywhere. Maybe someone has an answer on how to prevent them from getting into the house. I don’t. We spray and our exterminator does as well. Most of the time they are dead or will die inside the house. It’s still bad. They are the only thing that gets inside. Maybe someone has an answer. Look forward to your post. The old gas station has been a blessing. People love that we didn’t tear it down. Take care! Scott and Tammy
I could write a novel on bugs. Growing up in Bowling Green in a brick house like a fortress, no bugs….wow what a difference to go nine miles down the road to the clapboard sided farmhouse after a two year gut-remodel. Every original window had been taken out, laid on a table and slowly restored. Built in two different times–the old part was there when the farm was purchased…1834 and the new part was added on the front in the late 1800’s. None of the windows had cords or weights, just sashes that would raise up but had to be propped. No locks either. Imagine our surprise when we would show up in the Fall (we lived full time four hours away) and the south side windows were covered with ladybugs. Then you would see large flies. Up on the ceiling, then dropping down to buzz you, wasps. Our contractor lived close by, he said to call the exterminator. That man also lived in an old house. He said all these things hatched in the two old attics and now were working to exit the house when we turned the heat up from 55 to 72. We started with a dustpan and long handled brush. Pretty soon we went to a super strong Dyson. In the fall the contractor who walked the house every few days would call and say, “The crickets are back.” Another thing to suck up in the Dyson and empty out in the yard. We had the exterminator come twice a year and were getting ready to move to three times a year when after 20 plus years of monthly weekends we sold the whole thing. We had also gotten interior storm windows, Allied Windows in Cincinnati in two big stages. The better we sealed out the wind, the harder it was for the bugs to escape. It truly never got better.
This is a wild notion but if you can stand the idea, I would recommend removing all the vinyl and installing Hardieplank siding. It’s even recommended by the National Parks people. We did that to our 1929 house here in Indianapolis which had been abused over the years before we got it. It was all chunky looking and no matter the scraping and good quality paint jobs, they would not last more than about four years. One painter leveled with us, as old as the house was and so many coats, it gets simply too heavy with old coats to accept and maintain more. He recommended removing the clapboards and putting down new. Neighbors were doing that with Hardie planks. We did the same. Had it painted….good paint and it was still in good shape after 10 years when we did a 18 month remodel and small addition and the whole thing got a second coat. It’s a drastic move but it’s sensible if you can wrap your mind around it.