Q. My husband and I found one we'd like to look at that has wood siding. It looks like cedar but much darker. I was just wondering what some of the things are to consider with wood siding.

A. If you mean "shingles", they're fine unless the house is in a high fire danger area. Shingles, generally made from soft wood and with airspace behind and around each shingle, tend to ignite more easily than other forms of wood siding.

Q. SmartSiding, Cement Fiber, or real wood. We are looking at replacing existing wood 4x8 panels with lap siding for a building. Siding would be above the ground by about 8 feet. Would like to use LP Smart siding. Have not heard anything bad about it.

A. Hardi panel, is in my opinion the highest quality product out there, installed correctly, it will last forever

Q. We are in the process of replacing the siding on our house with wood panels. After the contractor didn't finish the job. It rained before we had an opportunity to prime and paint the wood. So when can we prime? We live south of Houston, TX and we have begun the hurricane season.

A. Two days of no rain should be enough to dry the wood before painting.

Q. The yard along the side of my house slopes down from front to back. I would like to build a couple "step down" retaining walls so that we can put in some nice shrubs and flowers. Problem is the painted wood siding slopes down parallel to the ground and building a wall would mean resting dirt against the siding. I know this is a bad idea as it can cause rotting/water damage/mold. What can I do to protect the siding and still make the step down walls look good?

A. There is more to be concerned about than just the wood rotting. You could be opening your self up to termites and possible moisture inside your walls. If you are going to do a step down you need to do it so all of the wood is still exposed. Make the top of each step down start below the siding and then dig down. I would like to repeat this. Do not try what you are talking about all you will get is grief. You should keep all of your wood and hopefully a couple of inches of foundaton showing.

Q. There is deterioration on several parts of the wood siding as well as in the soffits. Some boards are actually missing. My husband and I are thinking of purchasing home and wanted to know if it would be more beneficial to repair the wood siding or take the rotten boards off and put up vinyl siding. Thanks for the help.

A. If you are purchasing this home, and intend to stay there for a while and preserve the structure, then by all means repair the wood. Once the house is covered with vinyl, aluminum or whatever, the condition of the original structure can deteriorate with no way to stop it. This covering is no more than a band aid, not a cure. We went pretty much through the same decison process, and decided to have the house covered, and at that time aluminum was the prefered material, along with a vapor barrier. Eight years later, after a strong wind storm we had to get the siding people back for repairs, and found the original wood siding had really gone bad, due to the lack of breathing and condensation. I would never advise this to anyone. When you see a older home that has been re-sided, beware, because it was to hide defects, or the owners were too lazy to maintain the home and looked for the easy, cheap way out.

Q. I have had two contractors tell me to remove it and one tell me to leave it. They suggested we left it so that the house did not re-settle and cause the sheetrock seams to crack. Does this frequently happen when removing the old siding?

A. How about a compromise, after reading the other answers- I would definately take off the wood that is rotting- that's for sure. If it is rot, or heaven forbid- termites!- that could be a problem that will further compound once the siding is put on. So remove all the bad. There is a plus to keeping the old, what you can of it- it will better insulate the house and will make the job cheaper and quicker. My house is old wood covered with vinyl siding. It was like this when I arrrived, and I suspect it was not removed because of laziness, but the house is rock solid ( 1/4 mile from beeach and was at ground zero for Katrina!) and stood up to that storm with little damage. So the leaving the wood and covered with vinyl thing has worked wonders for me! :) Just get rid of the bad parts first!

Q. Anyone here work with wood siding? My house is circa 1916 and I will need to replace sections with new siding. So rare now to see redwood siding ! Am I going to have trouble matching the pattern for such an old house? If so, anyone know of sources for old siding? In SF Bay Area if that helps.

A. You may have to go to a lumber mill that still does different types of moldings and mill works to get the sideing duplicated. There are places that do this.

Q. We're thinking about putting siding on our home in the future. I love the look of wood grain, cedar and cedar shakes. Can anyone recommend a great website and what products you found for your home? Our home is a L-shaped ranch that needs some kind of character. I also love the look of gray with white shutters and want something like a cape cod style.

A. Believe it or not, the cement board siding looks so realistic if installed and stained as directed that people will think its actually wood. My sister and her husband are both physicians and purchased a brick home that had the cement siding on the rear side of the house. No one guessed it wasn't the real thing! Its really beautiful. I know that Menards in our area sells it inexpensively and they have a web site www. menards.com. I don't know if they have anything in your area. Good luck!