Are you in the city? country? high fire area? We did stucco on our house due to high fire area. (CA mountains) Also code restrictions. Here in ND we have steel siding due to extreme weather and hail and storms.

I just posted about what I used on my red cedar siding in the Deck Sealer thread. It won't leave your siding looking like it does now (it's not a clear coat), but it looks pretty good. Here is a link that might be useful: Deck Sealer Thread

Hmmm,NOS vs latest and greatest? It's all about understanding what a product does and how it does it. There's no way anyone can understand everything the use daily. Miss vossy's heads up is worth considering when time come's to buy. On the other hand,I see what some are saying and will give examples that IMO old version is better than new version. Anything connected with left coast standards,12 valve Cummins Dodge trucks,(digging up bones here but) first few years production of low consumption toilets,E-gasoline,men's blue denim jeans and hand tools in general. Here's my favorite old vs new story because I made a bunch of money as a result. I was working for Sears Roebuck in the mid 70s when Browning Firearms opened a plant in Japan so they could compete with Remington and Winchester on priceing. When I walked into the surplus store and saw Brownings marked at half off,a tingle ran up my spine. I told the manager I wanted every one that was in the display. While writing them up and complying with legal requirments,the manager told me that others were in the stock room. I told him that I wanted to cancel the sale and instead put as many on lay-a-way as my credit union savings would cover. When I got home that night and told Miss Klementine I had spent our savings on guns,she hit the ceiling. Between the ATF contacting me,the district manager for Sears threating to fire me and Miss Klementine chewing on me,it was nip and tuck for a while. After Japanese production got up and running, Belgium Brownings soon tripled in value which gave me a value of aproximatly 7 times what I paid after employee discount off half price. Some I sold netted near 1,000% profit. Belgium built Browings are very valuable today. Miss Klementine gave ol klem a pat on the head and baked a cake when her claws receded and she returned to earth?

The new reversible order and duplicate posts is very irritating and confusing. The best answer feature is silly. Smartside is aspen wood waterboard with a paper facing. It relies on a preservative to keep it from rotting. The cut ends are very vulnerable to water so good installation is critical. The paint must be maintained like any other painted finish. Cedar shingles dipped in stain require very little maintenance and will look fantastic on this house even as they age. Don't use a second cladding with the shingles and let them wrap the corners (no corner boards). I would not consider any other cladding for this style house. The wide casements may have hardware problems unless they are well made.