A home with wood siding possesses a cozy and classic feel. You may want this look without using wood siding due to its costly ongoing maintenance requirements. You have two options for how to make siding look like wood. You can paint vinyl siding to look like wood or install vinyl siding made to mimic the appearance of wood.
How to Make Siding Look Like Wood With Paint
- Select paint manufactured to adhere reliably to vinyl siding. Primers and paints appropriate for this use will be labeled specifically for exterior application to vinyl.
- Choose paint with a Light Reflective Value (LRV) of at least 55%. Anything lower will be more susceptible to fading.
- Select a light brown shade for the first layer of color. Choose a darker brown shade for the top layer of color.
- Scrub existing vinyl siding clean with a mix of hot water and dish soap. Exercise caution while working on a ladder to reach high places.
- After the siding is dry, lightly sand the surface. The roughness will help the paint adhere to the surface.
- Primer is most quickly applied with a paint sprayer.
- Tape edges of door and window trim and soffits to protect if from primer spray.
- Start at the top of each wall and work your way downward.
- Sprayer will apply primer thinly. Put on two coats of primer.
- After the primer is dry, apply your first coat of light brown color.
- Use a paintbrush and work horizontally along the siding. The brush bristles add a wood-like texture.
- Allow the first layer of color to dry completely.
- Apply a second coat to ensure full coverage with the base color.
- Working with a paintbrush, stroke on the darker brown color horizontally. Use light strokes so that some of the base colors show through. This creates the effect of variations in color as you see in wooden boards.
Install New Wood Grain Vinyl Siding
How to make siding look like wood is best achieved by using siding created for that purpose. Manufacturers have developed vinyl siding that looks like wood. This gives you the best of both worlds. Vinyl siding is not prone to water or insect damage like wood, and it resists color fading better than paint. Vinyl is a plastic product known as polyvinyl chloride. Manufacturers stamp a wood grain texture into the siding with a die. The pigments used in vinyl siding are mixed directly into the polyvinyl chloride. This makes the color an integral part of the product instead of clinging to the surface. A wood grain style vinyl siding is superior to painting your existing vinyl siding. Painted vinyl siding will eventually need repainting just like wooden siding.
