We bought a 5 acre property and have the floor plan figured out but still have many other aspects to iron out before the builder can get started.

One area that we need to decide on is what materials to use for the exterior. I am leaning towards brick or rock or fake rock siding on some parts (mainly the lower part) and possibly board and batten vinyl siding or vinyl shakes type siding.

I am curious if any of you have knowledge of the fake rock and vinyl shake type siding in particular. Are there quality products available? Anything good to consider or should we steer clear?

forget vinyl. total crap......

You should be fine.

Well, that got cleared up quickly.

The “stick on” stone or fake rock is good if installed correctly. If you’re wanting vinyl for budget reasons , the shake vinyl is no better or worse than Dutch lap. It’s just more expensive.

I'd go ranch board+batton before I went with Vinyl.

If you go fake rock do it right don’t go cheap👍

You going to build in a fire prone area?

I'd go with HardiBoard or however they spell it ...............or some other type of cement product siding.

Maybe the fake brick stuff is fireproof, but if you have vinyl above it maybe that's not so good if a fire comes along.

We think about these things Out West.

Can you post a front elevation from the plans?

Hardy plank is bomb proof if done right

Another vote for hardee board

Hardi,
Hardy,
Hardee.

Dang it all, this spellin crap gets harder all the thyme

Brick, Quoined Corners.

If you do a brick ledge on your foundation, take advantage of it and run brick clear to the soffits......

Soldiered ..

you are in a Tornado area are you not , up here on the West coast where we get 60 to 90 mile an hour winds old times were stucco then horizontal cedar lap a lot of people now are going to metal roofing vertical with a locking strip .

Norm

Don't bound out vinyl like that 46 certainty stuff damn tough and it looks good and I hated vinyl back in the 90s and early 2000s here I am temperatures from freaking 60 below to 90 above every year and my stuff looks good I don't have to paint it I didn't look at it I ain't got to go back up and fasten anything because I did it myself and I know what fail means 40 miles from town needing a 40 ft lift and happen build it right the first time

I would suggest going fire resistant for the entire exterior. I predict fire insurance company’s are going to get tougher cause their losing money. I like stucco for exterior. It does not do well in very cold temps. Fake rock is good cause it’s light. It needs to be placed over poultry wire at the least with a scratch coat of mortar, with minimum 1/2 sheet plywood. Do not use vinyl windows. Go with a heavy gauge steel roof . Look into radiant floor heating if you can afford it. It’s cheaper to operate, quiet , and creates no dust in the air. Try to face most of your windows on the south. If you use trusses, go with energy trusses that have a build up at the plate line to allow for full thickness insulation at the plate line. Build a home you can live there till you die. Easy access shower with no curb so you can shower by yourself or go in with a walker. Alan

LP Smartside

It is hard to beat the look and low maintenance of a brick veneer. Pick a mortar color that matches the flash and you’ll have a great looking home. Coined corners, soldier courses, jack arches and keys will add nicely. Also, find a mason that is a real craftsman, kit a production oriented guy.

Agree though my deck surround covers the sunny/snow side on the proper 3/4 of the place in north Idaho. We painted the primed hardee board in 2005 soon after we bought the place. Zero issues.

As long as good/full head and bed joints are used, a raked joint will look outstanding. Particularly with a mortar that matches the flash in the brick, or a contrasting color to the brick itself. Again, ONLY do this if good, full head and bed joints are installed. Not doing so can result in water intrusion issues.

Thanks for the comments. Unfortunately I don't understand some of them because I don't know the lingo or jargon.

Lots of really top shelf options out there now-a-days.

EPS back vinyl. Real B&B, Hardie, Stone veneer comes in various grades.

We use a CGI guy in Spain that might do you some renderings for nominal money... give you something to look at... kinda thing.

-----------------------

Regardless... many here prefer T1-11 and 5/4 board decks.

Go visit a reputable masonry supply company. They can show you first hand anything related to brick or stone work.

I'll hook you up with WP if ya want bring a trailer...

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/19262471

I do a lot of exterior siding. I’m doing a house right now in vinyl. The house is an 85 year old total turd that’s out of square, level, and plumb and lots of things are misaligned. I’m using all the tricks I’ve learned for the past 25 years and it will turn out very good. Some things with vinyl can be forgiving. On a new house, I think I would stay away from it. The LP Smartside hard board, baked on enamel is some good stuff but almost the most expensive. I never liked the vinyl fake rock/brick look on a house. It looks too much like trailer skirting and has a look of trying too hard or maybe some desperation. One very good thing with typical vinyl is never having to paint it and that’s huge. Not to say it doesn’t show age, but the right colors will delay that a little.

I don’t like the seams in vinyl but the vertical, board and batten blends the seams pretty good.

I really like metal for exterior wall covering, vertical or horizontal. You kind of need to have a good design with other things like wood or real brick/block to complement or it can look like a shop. Those things with wood, brick or block can mean corners, trim, wainscoting, soffits or pop-outs. Plus changing up the covering at an entryway or other porch type areas. Stucco also has its appeal when mixed with metal.

This one and done.

Osky

Maestro! I hate that Punk Rock [bleep] with a passion. One of the coolest house exteriors I ever did was staggered colonial red brick quoins, arches and jack arches, with split faced block rendered in the same white mortar that looks like traditional yellowish lime mortar. Some large wall sections were random field stone. Might be expensive depending on locale and plan.

Vinyl is garbage unless you spend a bunch, there are some that aren't bad. LP smartside is the way to go if you can swallow the cost. The board and batten looks A LOT better with LP or similar than the vinyl stuff. I have LP siding on the house and the LP "shakes" at the peak on the garage. My wife won out on that pick between the board and batten at the peak.

In 2002, we sold out to build our home and retire.
If there was one thing I hated as a child/kid/teen, it was scraping and repainting the house! 😖

We went with metal siding. We built in 2002 and the only "painting" required is the soffit and facia! ....and it still doesn't need any touch up!
Eventually covered composite roofing with a metal roof!
We live in a metal box!

Next idea we went with was 2×6 exterior studs. Lost a tad of room inside, but able to increase insulation to R-19!

This area is known for its brown/black outs. We went with LPG for hot water, cooking and central heat. A simple generator will run our 110AC heating unit.
We heat mostly with a wood stove.

We're with ya Rufous, except that our house is 20+ years old now.
We used the best cedar lap siding we could get at the time[locally].
We're looking to replace the 'sunny' side with either fake stone or maybe Hardie board.
We're going to do something above the porch roof, left of the porch and the bedroom[far left] and leave the remainder as is[cedar].



This is the fake rock rock we used both inside and out.





This is what the rest[non-sunbaked] looks like and I refuse to tear it off.

I resided my house after a hail storm a few years ago. I went with Hardy Board. The LP product that's comparable was basicly coated particle board and that turned me off to it.

I put on LP smart siding in 2021. Last summer we had a hail storm with up to 5 inch hail. It destroyed the new roof that was also put on in 2021. And broke windows out, went right thru my neighbors new riding arena metal roof. Dented the heck out of my metal barn roof and other out buildings, but the smart siding was absolutely fine. We had vinyl and I also think it is quieter in the house verses the vinyl. I am sold on it. Never needs paint. They have caulk that matches perfect.

I hate vinyl tha stink bugs schit all over it🤬

Nice...

I plan to skin out "Baby Bear" and "Mama Bear" with wide plank WP B&B...

Then shoot the interior with closed cell foam... Lock it up tight. Then sort out the interior.

Probably a combo of boiled linseed and 0W-16 motor oil. (I have a suspicion that the bars and other critters might naw on the straight linseed). Testing now.

Fasteners are not yet solved.

I'm a Residential Designer, been doing this for 53 years, over 1600 custom homes. Everything thing from 800 sq. ft. Hunting Cabins to 10k sq. ft lake front homes. Back in the 70's and 80's construction was a lot different than today. Vinyl was pretty new,, alum siding was popular, and real wood siding was Cedar..
The homes I design today I'd say are mostly high end vinyl, or LP. Lot of stone accent, but it's called "thin cut", real stone set in grout w/
grouted joints, but about 3//4" thick, Many options from field stone to ledge rock, offered in numerous colors. They also make "thin cut" brick, again real brick, but does not require a brick ledge in the foundation, (widely used on fireplaces")
Hardie Plank was popular for a time, but a RPITA to hang. It's a cement base material that's hard to cut and requires all butt joints to be calked. also if not applied correct and gets wet it will tune into mush. LP siding is used on the more expensive projects, Nice thing about LP siding is it also come in 4x8 or 4x12 sheets and is widely used for B&B applications. It come pre-primed in the color you choose so usually only requires one coat of paint. No siding is perfect, I built my home 35 years ago with vinyl siding, two years ago had it replace with new vinyl mainly for a change of color vs. age. Good vinyl will last 35-40 years, LP can last longer but will have to be painted a few time .
Corrugated steel is being used somewhat, but I think it makes the project look cheap, more industrial than residential.

With acreage, chances are that the fire protection rating of the area is a higher NB class #, meaning more money for insurance, every single year. Go brick, both floors to at least 60% of the exterior wall surface all the way around, to reduce the annual insurance premium and the cost to maintain. Plus with acreage I would do a 1 story, not a multiple story, eliminating the stairs for later, aka aging. Additional cost of the roof is made up for by loosing the second floor, make ceilings 10', exterior walls 100% brick, roof heavy gauge metal, standing seam. Use the finished cement board, fire proof, for trim. Just spray off, no painting.

Nice view.

Lots to think about here.

Our fake rock

We get along well with vinyl.

Nice!

That is a whole lot mo betta than what I had when I was your age.

Vinyl board and batten & vinyl shakes. 1200 sq ft cabin. Hardie board and batten would have been $15k more

The barn metal guys are now starting to crimp metal in board and batten around here. I like that option.

The exterior doors are fiberglass and will be gel stained to match the wood on the back. There will also be a stained wood 8x8 on the front porch corner

👍👍👍

If you build a wood frame house down here, you won't have much left in thirty years. Lol.

Hardin284, the house picture you posted brings up another matter. Carpenter Bees! I like the look of wood but the home we had in Michigan was significantly damaged by those bastards. Do any of you have any idea how to prevent them from destroying the wood on the exterior of a home?

Carpenter bee traps and I think there is something you can spray on the wood that helps. They do suck. They can bore a 3/8” hole in no time

Carpenter bee traps and I think there is something you can spray on the wood that helps. They do suck. They can bore a 3/8” hole in no time

The neighbors’ ?

WOW...

My nipples hurt... because dey be so hard.

Oh wow

A mix of brick an stone looks good, purely a personal choice, most brick manufacturers make thin brick either cut down full size or cast in thinner profile. There are a number of "fake stone" manufacturers out there, i would not got with any vinyl stone prefer cement type cast stone more durable; look at Culture Stone, El Dorado to name a few they have a wide selection of stone types.
You can do a mix of these both are applied over lath with a scratch coat, thin brick typically needs a brown coat to create a more level base.
I'd recommend you explore using an AWRB ( air water resistive barrier)on you sheathing to prevent potential damage from incidental water intrusion. You'll want one that is self sealing the holes from fasteners for trim and lath, NOT TYVEK or ZIPWALL!!!. Take a look at mag oxide (Multi Panel) sheathing a bit more expensive but non combustible and vermin proof. Dupont makes a product called ArmorWall very nice option giving you CI ( continuous insulation) again a bit more money, CI is most efficient way to insulate your home.
Whatever you choose be sure you contractor is reputable use high quality awrb and installs flashings to manufacturers recommations.
Like everything else buy once cry once.
Be glad to answer to any questions you might have, I work more on commercial side but residential is pretty much the same in principal.

Thanks again everyone for your comments. I will look into these various products and talk with the contractor.