Siding decision guides

The decision usually turns on one question: is the cause impact or water? Impact damage is local and repairable. Water damage means the wall assembly is failing, and patching the visible symptom leaves the mechanism running. If you see interior stains, soft sheathing, or repeated leaks at the same detail, price the replacement.

The second input is time in the house. At roughly $8,000 to $30,000 for a full job (This Old House, 2026), selling within a couple of years usually favors targeted repair plus honest disclosure over a full replacement. Staying fifteen years flips it — you will pay for the replacement eventually, and paying once is cheaper than paying for repairs and then replacement.

The third input is opportunity cost. A tear-off is the only cheap moment to add exterior insulative sheathing, fix flashing, and replace windows. If two or three of those are already on your list, bundling them changes the math substantially in favor of replacing now.

How to choose

Repair

A few cracked or holed panels, no interior symptoms, siding well inside its service life, matching stock available.

Replace

Water symptoms, soft sheathing, widespread failure, or material at end of listed life. Also when you're already doing windows or adding wall insulation.

Wait

Cosmetic fading only and a short remaining ownership horizon. Spend the money on gutters, flashing, and drainage instead — those prevent damage.

Bundle when you can

Windows, exterior insulation, and flashing corrections are all far cheaper during a tear-off than as standalone jobs later.

Don't re-side over a suspected leak

Covering a wet wall is the single most expensive mistake in this category. If in doubt, open it.