Re: cheap materials... I was referring primarily to new construction, the stuff w/o "bones."  Nothing wrong with the old stuff, except that too much of it has been torn down.  Although I have heard comments from Chicagoans that Clevleand's older housing tends a little too often toward wood.  But as you said, a lot of our nicer stock is gone.

 

But when you hear me talk about cheap materials, as above, I mean the tendency for everything we build here these days to be finished off with vinyl siding, corrugated aluminum, and vast expanses of some featureless unidentified polymer that looks like construction paper and starts peeling off after a couple years.  Look at pictures of new construction in other cities and it tends to feature brick and stone, which in my opinion looks 100x classier. 

Re: cheap materials... I was referring primarily to new construction, the stuff w/o "bones." Nothing wrong with the old stuff, except that too much of it has been torn down. Although I have heard comments from Chicagoans that Clevleand's older housing tends a little too often toward wood. But as you said, a lot of our nicer stock is gone.

 

But when you hear me talk about cheap materials, as above, I mean the tendency for everything we build here these days to be finished off with vinyl siding, corrugated aluminum, and vast expanses of some featureless unidentified polymer that looks like construction paper and starts peeling off after a couple years. Look at pictures of new construction in other cities and it tends to feature brick and stone, which in my opinion looks 100x classier.

 

If Coral was inclined towards siding, they should've at least used the composite stuff - it doesn't blow off nearly as easily as vinyl or aluminum.

Re: cheap materials... I was referring primarily to new construction, the stuff w/o "bones." Nothing wrong with the old stuff, except that too much of it has been torn down. Although I have heard comments from Chicagoans that Clevleand's older housing tends a little too often toward wood. But as you said, a lot of our nicer stock is gone.

 

But when you hear me talk about cheap materials, as above, I mean the tendency for everything we build here these days to be finished off with vinyl siding, corrugated aluminum, and vast expanses of some featureless unidentified polymer that looks like construction paper and starts peeling off after a couple years. Look at pictures of new construction in other cities and it tends to feature brick and stone, which in my opinion looks 100x classier.

 

I agree with you.  It seems everything done in Cleveland for a while now, has been built to be affordable "cheap".   

Another reason we are passing on new construction there. 

The cost of brick is suprisingly high when you price it out.  That said, if I ever built my own home, it would be out of brick or stone regardless of the substantial increase in cost.

I agree with Doc Broc. The cementboard/ composite siding is worlds better than vinyl/ steel (try to find aluminum siding today) siding in the wind, especially when you face nail it. it is just too easy for the wind to get between the vinyl siding and the sheathing and tear it off.

 

When I first read Clueless's piece above my first thought was that wood siding/composite just holds up better in the wind. There are a large number of wood sided houses in Lakewood right on the lake. I used the cementboard to reside an addition on my house and by the time you are done caulking and painting there are barely any cracks for the wind to get it and pry the siding off.

I would be very weary of owning a house with wood siding here in Cleveland, not that I don't like the look.  But you have to paint it every 5 or so years to keep it looking nice due to weather conditions.

I would be very weary of owning a house with wood siding here in Cleveland, not that I don't like the look. But you have to paint it every 5 or so years to keep it looking nice due to weather conditions.

 

That is also another beautiful thing about the cement board siding, it only needs painted every 10 to 15 years.

I would be very weary of owning a house with wood siding here in Cleveland, not that I don't like the look.  But you have to paint it every 5 or so years to keep it looking nice due to weather conditions.

 

 

That is also another beautiful thing about the cement board siding, it only needs painted every 10 to 15 years.

 

My parents and aunt and uncle both got some form of concrete/color-lock composite siding when it came into widespread use over ten years ago, and besides needing the occasional power-washing, it still looks brand new.

 

But when you hear me talk about cheap materials, as above, I mean the tendency for everything we build here these days to be finished off with vinyl siding, corrugated aluminum, and vast expanses of some featureless unidentified polymer that looks like construction paper and starts peeling off after a couple years.  Look at pictures of new construction in other cities and it tends to feature brick and stone, which in my opinion looks 100x classier. 

 

Some of this may be the quality of our local architects and builders, but I'd guess a lot of it has to do with local housing prices.  People complain that new construction, right downtown costing $250K is "expensive."  Not sure what you can expect material-wise when there is that much pressure to keep prices low.  Clearly not the problem in Euclid though if these things were selling for more than half million.

 

But if you look at the new "urban" construction with higher price points, the story generally seems to be a little better.  You won't confuse these with something built in the 1920s, but this stuff's not so bad:

 

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.489766,-81.587284&spn=0,359.993461&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.48971,-81.587365&panoid=IkPBzNzDxPyDomEZEsujcg&cbp=12,159.08,,0,-8.73

 

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.48795,-81.712039&spn=0,359.993461&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.48798,-81.711936&panoid=fhZ4pMPmZ57lmZdMZagREg&cbp=12,158.1,,0,-9.25

 

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.507838,-81.593528&spn=0,359.986922&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.508681,-81.595151&panoid=Iqhpw2g6-0OqorlvuJTdPg&cbp=12,212.62,,0,-6.15

 

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.464558,-81.540248&spn=0,359.986922&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.464562,-81.540017&panoid=TxemiSN6jbIS-b5f2ERocw&cbp=12,358.38,,0,-7.99

 

 

 

 

well said.  developers talk about the challenge of meeting "cleveland price points" all the time.

Prepainted hardy board? 

 

Hardy board is great, but it costs too much to stay competitive in Cleveland's housing market.

Prepainted hardy board?

 

Hardy board is great, but it costs too much to stay competitive in Cleveland's housing market.

 

My house has a bunch of hardi-plank on it, but I guess some people think it was too expensive.......

I'm sure it works in certain submarkets or segments, but it will probably always be a niche material.  That's probably true anywhere, but especially so in a cheaper market like Cleveland, where a small increase in construction cost can throw a house's price farther out of whack with the rest of the market than it would in say, Boston or San Francisco.

You know what holds up really well in the elements?  Brick.

You know what holds up really well in the elements? Brick.

 

And wood windows - not vinyl.  Drives me bananas when people build giant houses with sh!tty windows.

Three words:

 

Vinyl Sided Chimney

 

 

 

well said. developers talk about the challenge of meeting "cleveland price points" all the time.

 

I think that one of the biggest indicators of this is the insured rebuild price vs the market price of older homes in stable markets such as Lakewood.

 

 

well said. developers talk about the challenge of meeting "cleveland price points" all the time.

 

I think that one of the biggest indicators of this is the insured rebuild price vs the market price of older homes in stable markets such as Lakewood.

 

 

 

How much do they differ?

I would have to look it up but I think my rebuild would be about 1/3 larger than the market price.