Continuing the complainypants theme this week, I have a new scorn worthy topic, its been ‘festering’ for some time. Knotty cedar siding is often used these days as a cladding. I don’t support it based on some real life experience. I won’t use it on a vertical wall surface particularly when facing south or west. What happens to knotty cedar siding in our climate? It splits, it shrinks, the knots fall out, it gets weathered quickly. Then it leaks and the last line of defence is the paper beneath it. It needs stained all the time or it looks shabby. Not shabby chic either, just shabby. On a condo, the board is least able to manage an eventual tear off and replacement project. Viable alternatives already exist in wood grain embossed metal or factory made non-wood products that are stain free permanently and will resist weathering. These cost more up front but much less than doing a job twice, nor do they need staining. What is the lifetime of the knotty cedar product? I guess we will find out how these recent jobs hold up. There was one instance where I did use cedar siding, and it looked great. But about 5 years later I heard from the condo board that they had received a quote to restain the siding that was higher than what I had originally paid to supply and install it! Ouch. For that price they could have torn off the cedar and redone it with stucco! I don’t have any wood siding jobs planned and prefer to use Lux siding, or competing similar products like Icon metal, sagiper, or brick. I think well installed masonry products are actually the longest lasting and can outlive the interior of the building.