On 5/9/2012 6:17 PM, gonjah wrote:
On 5/9/2012 6:09 PM, dpb wrote:
....

I've yet to see any vinyl (or fiberglass or other manmade substitute)
that really fits in a period architecture. They stick out like a sore
thumb no matter what.

There may somewhere be one that doesn't, but I've yet to see it.

....

When I was in London I noticed the white vinyl really sticks out and
looks tacky on the old rustic buildings. The vinyl ones I got for my
house are the darkest I could find, and they blend in well, but they
don't look as nice as the old aluminum ones did.

I didn't notice them enough in London to make an impression--then again,
the time in London was all spent in the historic areas that are pretty
much controlled as to what restoration must do to preserve appearances.

I did notice in the time in and around Rochester/Chatham area where have
spent quite a lot of time that in residences where weren't so controlled
they seemed to pop up in retrofits that were often glaringly out of
place, indeed. At least there didn't seem to be much of the g-awful
vinyl siding...

I intend to eliminate the Al storms used when did the retrofit on this
old farm house in favor of a traditional look when do the entry. Will
likely also take the wide steel siding back off and revert to a narrow 3
to 4" siding to bring back the look of the original as nearly as
possible. An old farm house ought to look like an old farm house,
particularly on it's 100th b-day which is just a couple years away. I'm
hoping to have it all spruced and be able to compare photo's to the ones
have when it was nearly new taken some time in the early 20s.

--