The trend is a continuing one, but it’s expanded in recent years, notes Jonathan Wierengo, vice president of marketing at The Tapco Group. “A decade ago, different colors started to be added as accents and contrast to the main neutral color. Now customers are happy to use colors to complement each other in large areas of the home. They’re using color in many new ways, even with different colors on the second story of the home, separated from the first by trim.”
Brian Kirn, senior marketing manager at CertainTeed, agrees. “It used to be that we’d see lap siding on all four sides of the home, but now there are two or three styles being used, even if vinyl is still used everywhere—and it often isn’t. It’s now by far the norm to mix it up and provide accents of some type.”
A key reason is the use of manufacturers’ online visualization software. “Homeowners are using these tools to mix and match,” explains Steve Tybor, VP and business unit manager for Heartland Siding at ProVia. “Seeing the results encourages them to try new combinations. They used to hope that their choices would look as good as they expected, but now they can see how it looks on their own home prior to signing a contract.”
Royal Building Products’ design software allows homeowners to upload their own photo and receive high-resolution images and sample pieces when they’ve made a choice. “It’s been a highly successful program and encourages more experimentation,” says Steve Booz, vice president of new product development.
Made from an engineered-wood substrate with SFI-certified forest-management systems, LP SmartSide siding from LP Building Products is manufactured with the proprietary SmartGuard process which is said to help resist decay, fungi and termites. It comes with a transferable limited warranty of five years for labor and replacement and 50 years prorated for the substrate. |