5 Reasons Why New Siding Should Be Your Next Home Improvement Project
You've replaced your roof. Maybe you've remodeled your kitchen, updated a bathroom, installed new flooring, or made other improvements inside your home. You've invested time and money into making your house a better place to live. So, what's next?
Well, it might be staring you in the face every time you pull into your driveway. Your siding. Maybe it's old aluminum siding covered in dents. Maybe it's vinyl siding that's faded, cracked, warped, bubbling, or oil-canning. Maybe it's a color you liked 20 years ago but wouldn't choose today. Or perhaps the siding is still in reasonably good condition, but your house simply looks outdated compared with newer homes in your neighborhood.
For many homeowners, replacing the siding has been on the wish list for years. It's something they'll get around to eventually, after the roof, after the kitchen, after the next big expense. And because siding usually deteriorates gradually, it's easy to become accustomed to the way it looks.
But after more than 20 years replacing siding throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania, I can tell you that few home improvement projects can change the appearance of your entire house as dramatically as new siding. Here are five reasons I think siding replacement deserves a much higher spot on your home improvement list.
1. Nothing Changes the Appearance of Your House Quite Like New Siding
Think about how much of your home's exterior is actually covered by siding. On many houses, it's virtually everything except the windows, doors, roof, and foundation. Even on homes with brick or stone on the front, the sides and rear may be almost entirely covered with siding. Now imagine replacing all of that material with something completely different. A new color, a different profile, perhaps a more modern style. Suddenly, the house you've been looking at for the last 10 or 20 years looks like an entirely different property.
I've actually had customers tell me they've driven right past their own houses after we finished replacing the siding. They were so accustomed to seeing the old color that the new exterior didn't immediately register as their home. That's how dramatic the change can be. And you don't necessarily have to choose a bold or unusual color to achieve that transformation. Going from faded beige siding to a rich blue, warm gray, or another coordinated color can make an enormous difference. Even choosing a cleaner, more substantial siding profile in a similar color can improve the appearance of a house considerably.
It's also worth thinking about how siding compares with other home improvements. A remodeled kitchen is wonderful, but you generally only see it when you're inside. New siding changes what you see every time you come home, what your neighbors see, and what anyone driving down your street sees. If you've been wondering what improvement would make the biggest visual difference to your home, siding should be near the top of your list.
2. Siding Replacement Can Deliver an Excellent Return on Investment
Home improvements aren't just about making your house more attractive. They're also about making smart financial decisions, particularly when you're investing thousands of dollars. And siding replacement has a pretty impressive track record. According to the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report, published by Zonda and the Journal of Light Construction, a typical vinyl siding replacement recovered approximately 96.5% of its cost at resale on a national-average basis. The report estimated an average project cost of $17,950 and an associated resale value of $17,313.
By comparison, the same report estimated approximately 67.5% cost recovery for asphalt shingle roof replacement and about 51% for a major midrange kitchen remodel. Fiber-cement siding replacement performed even better, with an estimated 113.7% cost recovery. That last figure applies to fiber cement, not premium vinyl products such as CERTAplank, but it demonstrates how strongly exterior improvements can perform. Of course, these are national averages, not guarantees of what you'll recover on your particular home. Your local housing market, existing siding condition, product selections, and overall project cost all matter.
There's also another potential financial benefit: energy efficiency. Replacing siding creates an opportunity to improve your home's exterior insulation. Depending on the existing construction, we may be able to install an appropriate foam insulation product or another insulation system beneath the new siding. The resulting energy savings will depend on your home's existing insulation, air leakage, and other factors, but if you're already removing the old siding, it's an excellent time to consider these improvements. We've explored some of the options in our article about Low-E Housewrap vs. 3/8-Inch Foam Insulation.
3. It's the Perfect Opportunity to Update Your Trim, Shutters, and Gutters
One of the things I always encourage homeowners to consider is how their existing exterior components will look next to brand-new siding. Let's say you replace your old faded tan siding with a beautiful new blue. That's great. But what happens to the weathered brown shutters, the faded beige window capping, or the gutters that have been hanging there for 25 years? Sometimes those older components suddenly become much more noticeable because everything around them looks new.
That's why a siding replacement is such a good opportunity to look at the entire exterior. We can replace or rewrap window and door trim, update shutters, coordinate the fascia and corner trim, or install new gutters and downspouts. These improvements aren't necessarily required, but they can make the difference between a house that simply has new siding and one that looks completely renovated.
And homeowners have more choices than they sometimes realize. Trim doesn't have to be white. Shutters can be selected to complement or contrast with the siding. Gutters are available in numerous colors, including darker finishes that work beautifully with modern exterior color combinations.
We can also upgrade from standard 5-inch gutters with 2×3-inch downspouts to 6-inch gutters with 3×4-inch downspouts when the roof's drainage requirements justify the additional capacity. Of course, you don't have to replace everything. If your existing shutters, gutters, or trim are in good condition and work with the new siding, we can often leave them alone. The point is to consider these decisions before the siding goes up rather than wishing you'd addressed them afterward. Our free Online Siding Estimate Calculator even allows you to add or remove many of these upgrades and see how they affect your estimated project cost.
4. You Can Completely Change the Style of Your House With Siding Accents
Here's where siding replacement starts to get really interesting. Years ago, replacing siding usually meant selecting a color and choosing between a few traditional horizontal profiles. You might have had a choice between clapboard and Dutchlap, but the overall appearance of the house generally stayed the same. Today, homeowners have far more design possibilities.
One of my favorite approaches is incorporating vertical board and batten siding or vinyl shake as an accent feature. You don't have to cover the entire house with these products to make a dramatic difference. Sometimes a single gable, a section around the front entrance, or an architectural feature on the front elevation is enough to give the house an entirely different personality.
For example, imagine a traditional colonial with horizontal siding on the main walls and vertical board and batten in the front gables. Or a home with a contrasting shake accent above the garage. These relatively small areas can add depth and architectural interest that the house may never have had before. You can also mix colors. A darker horizontal siding paired with a lighter vertical accent can look fantastic. Or you might choose the same color for both products and let the different profiles create the contrast.
I've seen homeowners get excited about siding replacement once they realize they're not limited to simply replacing what's already there. They can actually change the character of the house. For more ideas, take a look at our article Creative Ways to Use Vertical or Shake Vinyl Siding as an Accent Feature. The important thing is to design the exterior as a whole, with siding profiles, colors, shutters, trim, and roofing that complement one another rather than looking like separate decisions made at different times.
5. CERTAplank Exists. And Maybe It's Time to Rethink Traditional Vinyl Siding.
Folks, I'm telling you, we have a 4-inch Dutchlap siding epidemic. And I'll admit it. I was part of the problem. For years, 4-inch Dutchlap was one of the most common siding profiles we installed. It was popular, affordable, attractive compared with a lot of the older siding it replaced, and homeowners generally loved it. And to be clear, there's nothing inherently wrong with Dutchlap siding. CertainTeed still makes some very good traditional vinyl siding products, and I continue to like its true 4-inch Dutchlap profile.
But look around at newer homes, upscale exterior renovations, and some of the more interesting siding designs being used today. You'll see wider, flatter horizontal profiles, vertical board and batten, contrasting materials, and siding that looks much closer to real wood. The traditional double-course vinyl siding look that became so common over the last several decades isn't necessarily the most attractive option anymore. And that brings me to CertainTeed CERTAplank.
CERTAplank is one of the more interesting vinyl siding products I've seen in recent years. Instead of the familiar double-course profile, it has a full 7-inch single-course exposure with a much flatter, wider appearance. It's designed to resemble individual wood siding planks rather than conventional vinyl siding. But the appearance isn't the only thing that makes it different. T
raditional vinyl siding has improved considerably over the years. Premium products are generally thicker than economical grades, and modern color technology has made fading much less of a concern. CertainTeed, for example, offers PermaColor lifetime fade protection under its applicable limited warranty terms.
Still, conventional vinyl siding only has so much rigidity. It's a relatively thin material, and while it's designed to perform well when properly installed, it doesn't have the same substantial feel as a reinforced siding product. CERTAplank addresses that with an integrated foam backing that makes the panel considerably more rigid. The added support helps create a flatter, more substantial appearance, and the wider profile gives it a look that's much closer to traditional wood siding.
That doesn't mean CERTAplank is indestructible or that it eliminates every limitation associated with vinyl siding. It still needs to be installed correctly, with proper attention to expansion, fastening, flashing, and the wall assembly. But it's a meaningful departure from the traditional vinyl siding products that have dominated residential exteriors for decades.
And here's my question: If you're going to spend the money to replace your siding, why automatically choose something that looks almost exactly like the siding you've been looking at for the last 25 years? Maybe traditional Dutchlap is still the right choice for your house. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think homeowners owe it to themselves to look at the newer options before making that decision.
You Don't Have to Choose the Most Expensive Siding to Make a Huge Improvement
After reading about all these possibilities, you might be thinking that replacing your siding is going to turn into a much bigger project than you originally planned. It doesn't have to. Some homeowners simply need an affordable, properly installed siding replacement. Others want a thicker premium vinyl product, updated trim, and perhaps a small accent feature. And some want to go all the way with CERTAplank, composite trim, new shutters, and a completely different exterior appearance. All three approaches can make sense, and we've broken down those choices in our article Good, Better, Best: 3 Levels of Vinyl Siding Replacement Explained.
The most important thing is understanding what's available and deciding where you want to spend your money. That's exactly why we created our Online Siding Estimate Calculator. Instead of making an appointment just to find out how much different siding products and upgrades might cost, Maryland and Pennsylvania homeowners can explore the options themselves.
You can compare siding grades, browse hundreds of color combinations, choose insulation upgrades, add shutters or gutters, experiment with accent features, and see how those selections affect your estimated price. It's a convenient way to find out whether the exterior you've been imagining fits your budget.
So, What's Your Next Home Improvement Project?
You've replaced the roof. You've updated the kitchen. Maybe you've remodeled the bathrooms, replaced the flooring, or made all sorts of other improvements over the years. But every time you pull into your driveway, you're still looking at the same old siding. Maybe it's faded. Maybe it's dented. Maybe it's showing its age. Or maybe there's absolutely nothing wrong with it other than the fact that you're tired of looking at it.
Whatever the reason, I think replacing your siding deserves serious consideration. Few improvements can change the appearance of your home so completely, and today's siding products offer more possibilities than ever before. Your next home improvement project might be the one you've been looking at every day for years.
If you live within our service area, call us today at (877) 846-9566 to schedule your free in-person siding consultation. You can also schedule online or get your custom siding quote with our free online Siding Estimate Calculator.
