Best Environmentally Friendly Siding

Replacing your siding with an eco friendly option is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint and stand up for greener construction tactics.

Best environmentally friendly siding.

Wood siding is made from a number of types of trees including cypress cedar redwood douglas fir pine and cedar. Explore the best exterior siding options for your house as well as their costs per square foot. Get the pros and cons of each siding option as well as the return on investment for the each siding type. The iconic american house is sided with clapboard also called bevel siding lap siding or weather board typically made from tough insect repellant cedar pine spruce redwood cypress or douglas fir.

This data is given by nist the national institute of standards and technology. Fiber cement siding aluminum stone brick or wood may all be reused in other homes and kept out of landfills if gently dismantled in a process known as soft demo. After all there are very few siding materials as eco friendly as steel for a number of reasons. Plus steel siding is made with 25 recycled content.

Repurposing recycled steel requires more manufacturing power than wood or other materials which is a concern for some homeowners. Estimate the cost of cheap siding such as vinyl or aluminum siding as well as premium siding options such as hardie plank engineered wood fiber cement stucco and natural wood siding. Metal siding specifically steel comes from recycled sources like junked cars and scrapped building materials. Ask for lumber that s certified by the forest stewardship council fsc.

This is a building certification that gives points for building sustainable eco friendly and environmentally safe construction. Below is a chart that compares a handful of siding options by their environmental performance of the life cycle. The manufacturing process of steel siding has less of a negative impact compared to many building materials as steel siding is made with very few chemicals. That s kind of the gold standard malin says.

Sustainable siding options increase a home s efficiency and limit the emissions created in the production and installation of the product. Nist ranks cedar siding as one of the highest in eco friendly siding options beating out vinyl brick stucco and aluminum. Steel is easily recyclable making it a viable option for environmentally friendly siding.