Vinyl is cheaper, never needs painting and is easy to replace panel by panel. Fiber cement holds paint for fifteen years, does not melt or warp, and looks considerably better up close.

Fiber cement costs roughly double installed and is much heavier to work with. Vinyl goes brittle with UV over twenty years and cracks rather than dents, and discontinued profiles are often unobtainable — which matters when you need one panel after a storm.

Related

• Chalky residue on painted aluminum
• Hail dents on one elevation
• Cracks in vinyl rather than dents
• Soft spots under the siding
• Asbestos-cement board on an older house
• Gaps at trim and penetrations
• Wood siding in contact with soil
• Buckling or waviness in vinyl

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Written by Jaylan Jones. I Like To Exterior Services earns a referral fee when a call connects to a contractor. See our business-model disclosure.