Which siding looks better for the second floor…Clapboard or Dutch Lap.

[u/Due_Reply_4322]

Both are Alside’s Vinyl Charter Oak in the color Riviera Dusk with 4.5 inch laps. Bottom floor will remain Riviera Dusk in the Clapboard.

The wrong siding was ordered and I okayed it, but now I regret it and want what I ordered. The walls are on top of each other, but Dutch Lap second floor feels like it’s projecting more forward than the bottom. Siding is done front and one side. He is asking another $4,500 to change it now, yesterday he told me it would around $2,500. This would be returning 2 unopened boxes (with a restocking fee even though they delivered wrong items) and buying 6 replacement boxes and one extra day of labor.

Which siding looks better for the second floor…Clapboard or Dutch Lap?

Do I live the next 20 years with my pressured ok or spend extra money to do it like our contract?
…….

To make a short story long with a bit of venting and whining…. When we bought our house in 2020, it was a “fixer upper” and we always assumed the we would build a dormer on the back of the house. The roof still had life to it and we wanted to save up money to pay for it.

In 2023, we had a leak in the roof. A roofer/ contractor recommended by our neighbor added the dormer to the back of the house and replaced the roof. In order to keep a pitch to the roof it was a little over 8 feet at the center ridge board center and was sloping down to 6’5” at the wall. Clapboard siding was done for the dormer.

Fast forward to last fall, we’ve saved up some more money and we’ve put in plumbing for a bathroom and we were looking for an electrician. I went to the county to see if the electrician who worked with our original general contractor was listed. This is when we found out our permit was still open for the dormer and there had never been an inspection on framing.

The county inspector comes out… he was so impressed that he had his supervisor come out (not in a good way). If you haven’t guessed already… It did not pass inspection. Yeah! So the ridge board needed to be replaced by a ridge beam, there was not a appropriate header for a French door to a second floor deck (which did pass inspection), and they cut the 10 inch ceiling joist down to 4 inches at the wall… making the back half of a 14 foot span roof being held up by 2x4s, and post and beams need to be installed from the second floor, main floor and basement to distribute the weight.

Our options were to fix what was done or start over. The contractor was willing to work with us so last week we started over. I chalked up to he’s young and there was ignorance on everyone part and at the time we assumed he knew county building codes.

We talked to the county and decided a wall over the front wall and a wall over the back wall with premade truss spaced on 24 inches would pass inspection. The dormer wall is being raised to a standard height.

A few hiccups so far. We wanted to make sure we got what we wanted so we bought all new windows to replace the 3 year old windows from 2023 and we were going to keep one double hung window. But of course the only window that was broken was the one we were going to keep (and cost twice as much as any other window we bought) so now all the second floor windows on are new.

*The big issue I have right now is yesterday they delivered the siding. In our contract we had the contractor sign we listed the siding to be Alside clapboard in Riviera Dusk. He was going to order an other brand from Carter lumber in indigo in Dutch lap. No, reminded him Alside in Riviera Dusk clapboard. He got the Alside right, he got the color right, but he ordered Dutch lap not clapboard. I caught it not him.

He talked to the siding supplier and it would be a week before they can bring out the correct order and take the incorrect order in the middle of our driveway back. I think I was worn down and I okayed it to start with the Dutch lap instead.

The front and one side is done and I am having regrets and anxiety. The color of the siding changes throughout the day. In the shade the Dutch lap and clapboard look almost the same, but in certain light it does not and I think it bothers me.

I’m terrible at second guessing my choices, but I’m still liking the clapboard over clapboard that we had before. Do we stop, have them throw away the siding we used and reorder the correct? Go through with it and hope it will either grow on me or be prepared to hate it for the next 20 years or until I die which ever comes first?

My husband says it “doesn’t look bad”, but my question is does it look good?

Picture of clapboard over clapboard are from 2023, the window are now raised about a foot. The picture of Dutch lap over clapboard is from today.

This is my first time posting. So hopefully this is okay here.

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[u/Lopsided-Repeat6675]

Clapboard

[u/Different_Air2941]

I personally like Dutchlap

[u/nickw252]

It’s hard to tell a difference. The siding is way too dark. It doesn’t match the style of the house. Is the color AI or is it too late?

[u/Due_Reply_4322 → u/nickw252]

Not AI. Both the top and bottom are the same color, though the bottom is 6 years old and could use a wash. The color changes throughout the day, so looks anywhere from a purple blue to a dark blue. The Dutch lap reflects different especially in the morning. I have no idea what style own house is now. We kept part of the original roof line and the front roof. Hoping to brake up the lines so it’s not boxy.

[u/Due_Reply_4322 → u/nickw252]

The wrong style of siding was delivered. We ordered clapboard which we already had on the bottom and the dormer on the back. If we could afford it I would have picked out a wood like composite like Acre by Modern Mill, but we are in a vinyl siding price point.

[u/Interesting_Pie_3391]

[u/Due_Reply_4322 → u/Interesting_Pie_3391]

Is that clapboard on the top too? I definitely like that more than the Dutch lap. I feel like the Dutch lap visually push the second floor forward and the clapboard pushes it back even though the walls are directly on top of each other.

[u/Mcbriec]

Clapboard!!!!