The product that seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue is Cedar Impressions. They are similar in cost to regular shake siding. There are very strict installation rules regarding the temperature during installation that MUST be adhered to. They are quite nice looking. I don't do vinyl at all, but if I was to put something on my home in vinyl, it would hands down be the Cedar Impressions.

My husband resided our house with vinyl shake last summer. I'll ask him to give you specifics tomorrow - he's already asleep ;-) Meantime, here are some pictures of ours in process - maybe this will give you some info, although we not only changed from clapboard to shake but also changed color. oops - he made a liar out of me - he's up and says typically you *could* use the same j and trim but doesn't know whay you'd want to. That's a minimal expense in the scheme of things and removing the old gives you a chance to fully inspect all your junctures for any water damage. Plus, it's easy to damage them in the tear off process so why not start fresh? I have no idea what I just typed, I am just the messenger.

If the arches over the windows are the same radius and he's doing those, then (without pictures or more information) I don't see any difference.

Thank you all for your comments. I am still so torn because the trim on the siding is rotting away, especially on the back of the house that faces north. Granted, this wood is probably 25-30 years old... I am concerned that it will begin to rot again, when new wood is replaced. Our window sills are rotted and even windows are rotted. I assume this is from rain and maybe it can't dry out enough on the sides because the houses are close together? I just hate to waste a huge chunk of money on painting/staining the existing siding and have it all go to waste. It is going to be $18k to do the hazmat removal of the lead peeling paint, replace rotted wood and then put new wood siding on the addition. It's not like this is a $5000 job... Another concern is that I just found out a lot of moisture gets into the walls and seeps out of the house? Is this true? From cooking and showering? So this can cause the paint to fail prematurely if there is no vapor barrier, which there wouldn't be, since the cedar is original to the house in 1918. I also have concerns about going over cedar with vinyl for the same reason. I am concerned that mold could build up under the new vapor barrier that they would put up... I remember one siding company said it is a bad idea to not remove the old siding and this may have been why. We have had issues with mold in various places like under the front porch, but once proper ventilation was installed, it went away. I just don't want to have everything sealed up to the point that no water vapor can escape and is encapsulated in between the layers of siding, causing mold growth. I'm probably over thinking it, but we are stuck in which ever direction we choose, and neither is "cheap".