Improving the exterior aesthetic of your home with new siding.
There is one type of home improvement that will not only help to guard your investment in your home, it will also help to beautify your neighbourhood. “You’ve invested so much money in your home, and the exterior is the shell that protects it. Whether it’s the siding, the windows or eavestroughs, it’s important,” says Sheldon Dean, general manager of Everflow Eaves and Exteriors. “Soffits and facias, for instance, help with the airflow and your attic venting so you are not dealing with the likes of ice damming or frost in your attic.” Upgrading your home’s exterior will also boost its visual appeal. “Curb appeal is usually top of everybody’s minds,” says Dean. Giving your home an exterior facelift can provide a more welcoming atmosphere for you and your guests.
This year, many homeowners are choosing to replace their windows and doors, opting for products that are both energy-efficient and attractive. Black exterior window frames are becoming increasingly popular and now claim a 20 to 30 per cent share of Everflow’s window installations, with the remainder being white. Homeowners are also opting for new choices in exterior wall cladding. Stucco and/or wood siding are now commonly being replaced with a fibre cement product known as Hardie board. This low-maintenance, fire-, rot-, insect- and the storm-resistant product is available in a variety of styles and colours.
Dean says Hardie board is available with a tremendous amount of detail and a variety of trims and different patterns. “There’s a plank pattern; a board and batten; you can also do different things in your gables and around your windows and doors with different trims,” he says. Darker shades of blues and greys are currently very popular, particularly when accented with white trim. More economical cladding options are also popular. Longboard, which is made of aluminium, and Lux Architectural Panel, made of steel, are also low-maintenance products and are often designed to look like stained wood.
Vinyl siding also claims a large share of the market. “We do a lot of vinyl siding,” says Dean. “Durability is not an issue with vinyl siding as long as it’s installed properly.” To ensure that all of its products are installed correctly, each of Everflow’s 55-plus full-time employees has an area of expertise in which they are trained to work. “We have professionals that are designated for their specific install, so our vinyl siders do the siding, our window installers do window installs and our eavestroughs do only eavestroughing. We don’t have our roofers doing siding.” Three crews are also specifically designated and trained to do siding and eavestrough repair work only, fulfilling the company’s commitment to a limited lifetime warranty on all workmanship. Installed products are covered by manufacturers’ warranties. One building product that has been in use for more than two centuries is now regaining popularity.
Metal roofing is experiencing a strong comeback, particularly when used as an accent on new homes. “We do a lot of metal roofs, and it’s one of our specialities. It’s really, really catching on right now,” says Dean. “Builders will often put regular shingles on the top of the house, and then we’ll do maybe the garage or lower porch in a metal roof. It gives it a little contrast and this really nice, modern pop to it.” The roofing materials will usually be the same colour, with black and dark brown currently the prevalent colours of choice. The main advantages of metal roofing include its life-expectancy: although the cost of metal roofing is double or triple that of asphalt shingles, it lasts at least two to three times as long. And it is lightweight but resilient. “Wind is not a factor with a metal roof because, depending on the profile that you go with, there are hidden clips and things like that. You don’t have the blow-offs that you could have with regular cap shingles,” says Dean. Metal roofing is also a recyclable product.
Everflow installs exterior products throughout Southern Saskatchewan and was recently recognized for an acreage home renovation near the village of Mclean. The project received the 2018 Regina & Region Home Builders’ Association (RRHBA) Master Award for Exterior Renovation of the Year, which “recognizes the best, based on construction technology, design effectiveness, overall appeal and planning.” The project included the installation of new soffits with LED lighting, additional venting for the attic, eavestroughing, fascia and engineered wood siding with matching shakes in the gables. In its presentation to the RRHBA, the company said, “The outcome of this project was amazing and fully met expectations. The client had a vision, and the product selections tied in perfectly with the design and surroundings.”
By Wendy Livingstone
Regina Leader-Post
26 Apr 2019