Do you have a builder? He should use his supplier to get you estimates of certainteed vs.wood products. They will need the plans of your home to do this.

Typically Certainteed's Cedar Impressions vinyl siding runs around the same cost as Western Red Cedar shingles for the material only. The cedar shingles become substantially more expensive because of the labor involved. In the case of this house we specified Cedar Impressions vinyl siding, but it had nothing to do with budget at all. The exterior walls are 2 x 6 wall construction with solid spray foam insulation in the wall cavity, plus an extra 1" of rigid insulation on the exterior face of the wall. Because of this detail we could not install the Western Red Cedar siding because of issues having to do with fastening, especially being so close to the ocean and dealing with wind conditions. We decided to go with the vinyl siding because we were able to fasten it through the 1" layer of foam and the sheathing. It also worked well because we had a curve to contend with. Ths particular detail actually became extremely expensive because of the additional blocking and copper flashing and waterproofing that needed to be done around every window and door opening.

thanks for your feedback..Do you feel you have the same look? Would you suggest me looking into a hardy plank shingle?? I appreciate your feedback..

As a purist, I really think there is nothing quite like real wood. However, as a realist and someone that needs clients to earn a living, I think from a short distance it looks very close to real wood. It's all in how the details are executed as well, ie, window trims, sills, corner details, etc. I also happen to really like the James Hardie products, but we could not achieve the curve that we wanted to. Hardie is a wonderful material, especially with it's resilience to insects, water damage, and fire retardance. Feel free to call my office during the day and we can discuss in more detail if you want.

Nice job!

Richard
I am building a home in Spring Lake- The lot I bought came with a set of plans that calls for Cedar-Impressions. The house has a swale or sometimes called a flare out of 8". I'm concerned that the vinal corners will not be able to bend to make the flare. Do you or anyone you know have experience with this question?

We were faced with some similar issues. The house pictured above was originally designed to be western red cedar, but the client wanted us to add a layer of rigid insulation to the exterior face of the wall. In orde to do this we had to use an alternate material such as Cedar Impressions. Overall the product looks great, but it does have it's limitations. We actually had a flair out at the bottom skirt board as well, but had to eliminate it because of the vinyl siding. You may be able to pull off a small flair. My suggestion is to have the contractor build a mockup wall panel on site and see how far it will bend. By the way, the house pictured above is also in Spring Lake, at 111 Warren Ave.

I wish I had your contact before I began to build- the architect who drew up the original plans was so difficult to work with and tried to rip us off... Your work is beautiful and I really appreciate your taking the time to respond!

Thanks Very much. We may take you up on that offer if we run into any issues along the way.

What color of cedar impressions did you end up going with?

Off hand I don't recall exactly which color it was, but I do know that it is now discontinued.
They make so many varieties of gray that are pretty similar though.

The shingles look great, do you recall if they are they the 5" or 7" shingles? Perfection or rough-split? Thanks!

7" perfection

Thanks. Is the window and door trim PVC? Looks like you've minimized the use of jchannels.. How did you address the meeting of the siding with the trim so well?

Hi Richard,

Your work looks great. I like the idea of a siding product that is easy to maintain, lasts a long time and doesn't wave or bubble. Do you know if the cedar impressions comes in a regular straight siding? I know the Hardie siding comes in many styles and we were considering that product. I prefer that to a shake style.

Can you comment on both?

yes, Certainteed does make a variety of horizontal siding products as well. Take a look at their website www.certainteed.com. Personally, for horizontal siding we like the James Hardie products very much and we've used them on several projects.

Richard, Is it possible to achieve a flare out or swale with CertainTeed Cedar Impressions. I like the look of it & wanted to know if this is possible only with real cedar shingles. Thank you

That's a good question. There are definitely certain things that you can do with real cedar shingles that you can't do with synthetics. We have not tried to flare out a vinyl shingle, but I would suggest maybe having your contractor do a mock-up so you can see beforehand if it works.

I have a question we are rebuilding after a fire, what visually is the difference in a 7in vs a 9 in in the cedar impressions

Its the exposure of the shingle, 7" vs. 9". Typically when we design with real cedar shingles we like to use a 5" exposure, so my preference is usually the 7" Cedar Impressions rather than 9", but its really just personal preference.

Richard, I'm looking to install new siding on my house and am thinking of going with Hardie Board. What are the benifits? I have also been told to look at Cedar Impressions by Cert. What's your preference?