Opaque stain should act very much like paint and better block the effects of UV light exposure possibly reducing the need for maintenance to an acceptable level. Also, I would hate to see this house with commonplace imitative siding.

The woodpeckers are looking for worms & insects. Maybe you have a bug problem you are not aware of?

The woodpeckers think the vertical siding is a tree. All the homes with vertical siding in our neighborhood repel them with fluttering mylar strips or glaring owls (shh, they're fake, but don't tell the woodpeckers).

I agree with Renovator8, that cedar is just too pretty to remove. Mylar isn't so attractive; maybe you can mount an owl?

Awww... lets try to keep the cedar - I looked at the pic before reading your post and it struck me as a very appealing house w/ the natural wood and stone and the trees behind.

This I'll phrase more as a question - are other siding types really as maintenance free as people like to think? Maybe part of your cost-benefit analysis could be comparing cost of new siding installation vs. hiring someone to maintain the cedar for the next X number of years (however long you expect to remain in the house.)

I would cross vinyl off the list - whether high end or not, youre still very limited in color choices. When you say yellow and white, theres a way that could be good (a pleasing amber-gold with creamy-beigy trim that blends with the trees/wood/natural landscape) and a way that's not so good (icky candy-like pastel yellow and stark white that sticks out like a sore thumb.) My neighbor put on vinyl that looks more like the latter - definitely not an improvement!

Your house is beautiful and the cedar siding most attractive. For what it is worth my daughter and I have vinyl sided houses. We get yellow jackets who find any little opening to build a nest. Or hornets who build under the eaves or my awnings. The carpenter bees drill through our wood sheds, and any wood on the carports or garage doors. I think no matter the siding, when you live close to nature, you will have problems with insects and critters. I vote to keep your cedar siding with all it's beauty.

It's been a while since I posted my original house pic in the first post of this thread. I have decided to replace the siding and here is my first take at a redesign. It's still a little crude at this point but it gets the point across. Siding is Hardie plank in Monterey Taupe. Lots of white trim. Also some stone to cover foundation. Stone on right in pic will also cover foundation on left. Any thoughts?

The home transforms from a sassy natural modern vibe to godawful builder generic. The white trim is harsh and competely inappropriate to the home. The horizontal siding takes it to generic kinda ugly ranch with stone kneesocks. It's a HUGE step in the competely wrong style direction!

You need to source board and batten in cement fiber. Secondary to board and batten could be shakes, ala Nichia. That would keep the textural tone on tone interest that is so appealing about the original. Skip the trim. Skip the stone.

Thanks so much for your quick response and great thoughts. We are having a tough time trying to decide on which direction to go with this house. We built it 30 years ago when contemporaries were somewhat still in style. Currently they have fallen out of style (at least in the northeast) to the point where they are difficult to sell. We are looking to update the look and move it over to maintenance free for the next 10 to 12 years we will be here. Our first thought was one of the fiber cement products in vertical siding. Problem with that is we spend a lot of money and end up with the exact same looking house just now maintenance free. A pic of Hardie Board and Batten is attached. We also explored the fiber cement shingle products. I will try and dig up a pic of that. At this point we are thinking the builder generic style with the white trim is our best option. Actually the white trim isn't quite as harsh as it looks in the pics.

Hardie Board and Batten

This post was edited by mnovak99 on Sun, Apr 27, 14 at 14:53

here is a pic with hardie shingle:

I agree-the white is too stark against the dark color. The Hardie board and battan looks good, though. Not crazy about the last pic.

The stark white is my fault. I am hacking around with a graphics package and I left the white color as paper white. In reality the actual white trim used on a house is slightly more ivory. Azek trim boards in white with Hardie board in Monterey Taupe is the most popular color combination I see being used today.

Here is another go at it following some previous suggestions. Stone is now gone, one white corner is removed and the white is toned down a bit. Plan for the stone was to hide some of the exposed foundation on the left side but I will just add another horizontal board or two on the bottom to do that.

This post was edited by mnovak99 on Wed, Apr 30, 14 at 19:09

For those that have asked a pic of the completed house is below. I ended up using a product called Everlast siding which I believe is a better alternative to the Hardie board I was considering.

Hello, We are currently looking at everlast siding. Are you still happy with the product? Thanks!

Diana-

Did you decide on Everlast? If so, please share a photo. Thank you.

Would love to hear feedback from the original post. How’s the Everlasting holding up and looking? Considering it ourselves.

Chiming in for feedback on the Everlast! Please post your opinions! Thanks!

Would also like feedback on the installation how did it go, Mnovak99?

Hoping on here as well as I’m interested in how you like Everlast. I’m currently considering as well. Thanks!

Hopping not hoping lol