Siding Replacement in Columbia, MD, Wrapped and Flashed Right

Profiles and Materials

Siding Profiles and Materials We Install Around Columbia

Vinyl, insulated vinyl and fiber cement cover most of the walls we replace across Howard County, and a handful of profiles and materials get asked for by name. Here is what each one is and where it earns its place on a Central Maryland elevation.

• Hardie plank. Hardie plank is the fiber cement lap siding made by James Hardie, and it is usually what a homeowner means when they ask for fiber cement by brand. It comes primed or with a baked-on color finish, holds that color for years in the humidity that sits over Central Maryland all summer, and does not soften or feed insects the way wood can. It is heavy and every cut has to be handled properly, so the labor runs longer than vinyl. On a front elevation that has to look right up close, that trade is often worth it.
• Shiplap. Shiplap is a board profile with a rabbeted edge, so each board laps the one below it in a flush, tight line instead of the stepped shadow of traditional lap siding. Run horizontally it gives a clean, modern face, and some homeowners use it on a gable accent or a porch ceiling. We install it in fiber cement and engineered wood rated for exterior use, so it stands up to Maryland weather rather than the interior pine version people see online.
• Board-and-batten. Board-and-batten runs vertically, with wide boards and a narrow batten strip covering every seam. It is the farmhouse look that has come back into demand, and it reads well on gable ends, dormers and additions where you want the wall to feel taller. We install it in fiber cement and in vinyl panels made for the profile, flashed at the top so water sheds off the vertical joints instead of collecting in them.
• Vertical vinyl. Vertical vinyl is standard vinyl siding hung on the vertical rather than the horizontal. It sheds water fast, which suits a wall that takes a lot of driven rain, and it is a common way to set a gable or a porch skirt apart from the horizontal runs around it. It fastens the way any vinyl does, nailed loose in the center of the slot so the panel can move as the temperature swings across a Maryland year.
• Aluminum. Aluminum was the standard on a lot of older Central Maryland homes before vinyl took over, and we still match and replace it. It will not burn or feed insects and it takes paint well, which is why some owners of mid-century houses keep it rather than change materials. Its weak point is denting from hail and impact, so on an elevation that catches storms we will walk through whether matching the aluminum or moving to insulated vinyl or fiber cement fits the house better.

If your vinyl still has sound panels and the real problem is faded color, painting is sometimes worth weighing before a full replacement. Our guide on whether vinyl siding can be painted covers when that holds up, what the prep and paint take, and the point where a new wall is the better call.

Who We Work With

Siding Replacement in Columbia: Materials, Standards and Permits

• HAAG. Lassana Diakite is a HAAG Certified Inspector, so the report is written to the standard adjusters are trained on.
• Xactimate. Insurance scopes are written in Xactimate, the estimating software your carrier already prices from.
• Howard County Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits. We are based in Columbia, and the county office that issues the permit is part of the job rather than something left with you.