Over the past year I have been planning a major project with my 1952 bungalow. It is a post WWII home and is not in the arts and crafts style. My architect and I have designed the home to look like a 1920's to 1930's arts and crafts home. Painting the house was way too much money but I came accross a vinyl siding that Louisiana Pacific Corp. It is the Norman Rockwell siding collection. There is alot of colors for bungalow owners to choose from. It would cost $5,000 to paint my house and I would need to get it re painted every 6-8 years at a cost of $5000.00 or more. The siding cost and instilation is $5200.00 and it is maint. free for 25 years. It also comes with color guard so the color remains rich and not faded for the 25 year period. For those bungalow owners on a budget may want to consider this as a option. The web site is <br> <br>http://www.normanrockwellsiding.com/index.html

I've seen this line of siding. Its nice, for siding. I'm an elitist snob (: (: who paints his own house (and curses the whole time) but I just like the painted look versus siding. Good luck and every 6-8 years think of me sweatin' my butt off on a ladder. Seriously though, make sure the siding contractor cleans your house with a bleach mixture and fixes permanently any carpentry issues like loose soffits, corner boards rake boards etc. Anything that has a problem will only get worse if you cover it without fixing it first. I have had to do many jobs (carpenter by trade)where I am repairing serious rot because a siding guy has gone over mold and loose wood. Go with a liscensed guy who has insurance and can PROVE it. Siding contractors really vary in skill. The shitkickers will low ball you, sell you the good stuff but install a lookalike piece of garbage. Call for references. I don't mind when my customers do it. Take bids, interview contarctors. DO NOT pay anybody more than 1/3 to start the job. <br> <br>Good Luck

6-8 years is pretty pessimistic. A good paint job ought to last much longer. My last house, we painted some 14 years ago. I went by recently and it still looked new. But, we insisted the painters do all the prep they are supposed to do. If you just slap paint up there, yea, it may last just a few years. <br> <br>Tom

Wow, 14 years? I guess it depends on what you are building on, as well as the prep. We had our painters scrape and wash and prime with oil and paint with latex...everything we could think of, and it lasted about 6 years.

I guess I'm with Tom on this one, it took me six years to get around the house, but you can't tell on the edge, which side was the 1999 paint and which the 2004. Granted, I was compulsive and took old paint off before priming and topcoating, but I expect at least 15 years out of my paint job. <br> <br>-Mike

I live on the east side of Cleveland and we have some pretty extreme weather. In the summer it could get to 90 degrees and in the winter we could get -5 degrees with a <br>-25 degree wind chill. I would love to paint my house but if I have to spend $5000+ every 6-8 years then it might be worth getting the siding. I saw a local dealer that carries this stuff and it look real nice. With a professional install you don't see any seam lines and the colors are so rich there are 5-6 colors that would look great on a bungalow. I would paint the trim and brackets though. I saw some cheap siding that I could have thrown up and called it a day but I might as well spend the extra $1800.00 in price difference and get the highest quality rated product. I will also be replacing my windows with semi divided light windows through Anderson. The exterior trim will be metal and the interior will be white oak that I will stain to match the rest of the interior trim. The sping & summers are nice here but the winter is brutal. On x-mas eve I have 3 feet of snow in my back yard alone.

<br>The key to making the paint last (besides doing a good job) is keeping it clean and free of mildew. <br> <br>I prefer Hardy Plank for siding. Not sure if that's how you spell it. I think it is actually a concrete composite and it's got a great hand and looks very organic. It also "breathes" which is important. <br> <br>