OK, I'll bite; what's a "vinyl house"?

I am going to assume you mean a house with vinyl siding. Yes we are here. Here's one photo as requested:

If you want to see more check out my photobucket account. Most of it is dated. I've been building this house for two years now...

Here is a link that might be useful: Klabio's House photos

Klabio, than you so much for the pictures. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only considering vinyl siding. What brand did you use? Any suggestions on width, grain, etc. Is your home grey? The house I am building is a country home like yours. Your land is FANTASTIC...it looks very much like southwest Virginia. I love your bathroom window, that was another question I had posted...where did you get your windows over the entrance and in the bathroom? THANKS! I am so excited!

vinyl? Yes...I have built and lived in 3 of them. The first was the cheap-o stuff they sell at lowes...it was JUNK. We switched to Certainteed Monogram for the last house and is that stuff ever nice! It is hurricane rated and the colors do not fade. The current house we used granite gray in the same brand. We are owner/builder and paying as we go, so it is taking a long time. I think we started around 5 years ago. Anyway, this summer I decided I did not like where a window was. So we removed it, framed up the hole and got some new siding that had been stored under the house in the box. It was a PERFECT match to the siding that has been exposed to full sun for 5 years. I was amazed!!

We didn't build our home but for the past fifteen years have lived in a brick front, vinyl sided home.

Last May we suffered a considerable amount of hail damage resulting in an insurance claim for new siding, roof, windows, etc. We were unhappy with the current selection of vinyl available. Finally we found a product called Royal Building Products out of Canada that we are going with. It is several "mils" thicker than any vinyl made in the United States. My insurance has to upgrade me to this type of vinyl because the stuff I had on my home is better than the stuff made in America today.

You will hear great things about Hardy and Certinteed, but they are extremely expensive. One of my neighbors had Hardy and didn't need replacement. But heck, my insurance man is paying for the replacement so I'm glad I didn't have to set out that additional money to begin with.

Back to the Royal Building Products; we chose it for its strength. We could not bend the sample into a tube shape which we could do with every other sample we got before this line. There is no need to go with a "grain" type product. The manufacturers put the phoney grain lines in to hide imperfections in their product. If you stand five feet back from any grained product you cannot see the grain lines anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: Royal Building Products

Thanks ccoombs1! I will research the Certainteed Monogram. Like you, I do not like the old stuff. I really think as much as I love cement, vinyl is the right choice for this build. Good luck on yours, I hope you will share pictures as you go.

sallen2008-

The color of my house is Clay. It does look gray in the picture, but not in real life. I gave you my manufacturer on one of your other threads. My siding called is "Craneboard 6," which has a six inch exposed lap. The product looks very nice in person and it adds insulation value. (http://www.exteriorportfolio.com/EP/Products/CraneBoard/index.aspx)

The bathroom window came from Texas Custom Doors (www.texascustomdoors.com). It is made by GlassCraft. I got the obscure version and it lets in a lot of light but no prying eyes. They made the round version custom based on the design of the bathroom window. I had the frame made locally. It is my understanding from Katy at Texas Custom Doors that GlassCraft will no longer do a custom round window. My front door came from them as well. They were very nice to work with and affordable.

A nearby town had a violent hail storm a couple weeks back. Sort of thing we hadn't seen in living memory, but probably not rare in the grand scheme.

Broke car and house windows, but didn't do a lot of damage to the auto bodies, as you hear about sometimes.

But it turned the vinyl siding to swiss cheese. Some of the wood sided houses will need new paint, but the vinyl is a write off.

Perhaps some of the better stuff survived, I couldn't say for certain.

Fortunately the siding I used is covered by a transferable life of the home warranty that covers wind and hail damage. Labor and materials included to the extent they exceed your insurance payout.

No fire rating like fiber cement... a reasonable risk where I live.

Here is a link that might be useful: Crane Warranty

My DH is an architect/contractor and we are going to use Crane Board (there are several like it on the market) on our next house. It has a foam backing that not only protects from hail damage, but also gives additional insulation.

nessie.....not exactly sure where you are(Canada?), hardie here(NC) costs $2/sf materials and labor. It is primed at the factory. Does need to be painted after installed by a painter. Vinyl is usually about half that and of course it wouldn't need to be painted.

No, I don't live in Canada. I just plan on buying a product made in Canada because it is several mils thicker than anything vinyl siding made in the US at this time. My insurance company allows us to upgrade because my old vinyl siding was also thicker than the ones that are currently made. It didn't turn to Swiss Cheese but it did dent. It was 22 years old and some of the newer homes turned to Swiss Cheese. So I don't want one of these newer products, I want the product made in Canada that is thicker.

Just a note...while vinyl may cost less initially, your home insurance will be much higher, especially in a rural area (it also doesn't hold up as well in say Texas where the sun is much harsher). Hardie board is considered in the same class as stone and brick for fire proofing. Make a call to your insurance agent.