Are clapperboard houses in the USA hard and expensive to maintain?

That house is an absolute cluster fuck.

“Clapperboard?” Never heard it called that. R1 is also correct.

What would be “expensive to maintain” about a house with wooden siding?

They require more upkeep than brick houses. They're far more expensive to paint since brick houses only need to have the moldings painted. That's why lots of people have had what little wood they have exposed on their brick homes covered in vinyl siding. Plus wood houses are more susceptible to termites.

Sorry, clapboard.

[quote]Plus wood houses are more susceptible to termites.

Oh, horrid!

and what a nightmare!

>>Clapperboard

Oh, dear!

Wrap it in vinyl and be done with it! Anything to cover that hideous robin egg blue or whatever color that is.

20th century houses in New England tend to be uglier than anywhere else in the US. They love austere, old, dull and drab in that region. Tons of aluminum or vinyl siding.

Wood bees and termites adore clapboard homes, OP.

I prefer cedar-shingle, which is prominent here on the Cape. Most of New England homes are wood, mostly clapboard or cedar, the reason being that brick houses don't "breath" properly in winter weather, at least in free-standing single-family homes. Termites can be avoided by having a stone or concrete foundation. New England homes, like upstate New York and in the upper Midwest, tend to have steeper slopes than one finds in the south and west.

OP has made me realize that, although clapboard houses are pretty standard where I live (Ohio), they're not standard in many places (Iike England). My house now has vinyl siding over the original wood: not particularly attractive, but a lot less maintenance than the original wood, which needed scraping and painting every few years.

My house has steel siding, which has become discolored. I can’t get it clean.

Has anyone heard of painting metal siding? I e looked it up and it is indeed down, but it seems very odd to me.

I’m not sure about New England, but in Minnesota we’ve been spared the termite problem Len. Encause they don’t survive the cold winters.

But climate change has been altering normal ranges of various animals, including deer ticks, which cause lime disease, and are now becoming so prevalent that they’re turning up regularly in people’s back yards, mine included.

I am wondering if termites will be the next insect issue.

[quote]OP has made me realize that, although clapboard houses are pretty standard where I live (Ohio), they're not standard in many places (Iike England)

Yes, you're right.

Clapboard siding houses are not hard to maintain as long as you paint them with a good paint. If the house is medium to small, you can easily paint one side a year yourself. Otherwise, have the house painted with a good quality paint and plan on doing it every 5-8 years. It is just one of those things that you do routinely as a house owner, such as empty the septic, maintain the boiler, clean the chimneys, grade the driveway, etc.

Good quality cedar clapboard covered with modern opaque stains are not as hard to maintain as painted ones. The stain may need to be redone every 10 years or so but the boards don't have to be scraped down to the bare wood, just washed and lightly sanded.

Owned a house like this for 20 years in New England and restained it once. The wood trim however was another story. It needed to be done every 5 years, scraped down to the bare wood.