Environmental Siding Concerns

Going green with siding is fairly clear cut. As of yet, there are no recycled materials that are produced in any mass quantity. Certainly there are some, and some that have been tested, but no product yet has been able to compete on the market either in the realm of demand, performance, or price.

Depending on your personal requirement for green building, vinyl and stucco are locked in a dead heat. Other than the thin wood spacers and wire mesh, the stucco compound is made of cement, water, and plaster. While vinyl siding may not be made of recycled material, it is a hard plastic that needs little maintenance and can last for years. At present, vinyl siding has not been widely reused on other homes, nor has the siding itself been pressed into other products. However, no trees need to be cut down to produce vinyl siding, it doesn't off-gas, or leak any chemical into the soil.

Metal siding is most likely the worst green choice, since it is using a nonrenewable resource. More power to you to recycle some old metal, although this process may be quite expensive. Wood is a slightly better choice, as far as material, though only because lumber is a renewable resource. However, the chemicals involved in staining, treating, and sealing wood siding are very harmful to the environment and to humans. Given that wood siding needs to be treated every 4-6 years at minimum, the long term environmental impact of wood siding can be significant.

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