Vinyl siding
Vinyl siding
Read more
Siding in Frederick & Central MD
Insulated siding
Insulated siding is sold on the energy bill and earns its money on the wall. The foam does add R-2 to R-3 — and it also makes a panel that lies flat, sounds solid and shrugs off a hailstone.
Licensed & insuredFree written estimatesFrederick-based crewClean-site guarantee
Quick answer
Is insulated siding worth the extra cost in Maryland?
For the energy saving alone, usually not on its own terms — R-2 to R-3 over an existing insulated wall gives a single-digit percentage improvement in heating and cooling load, and at a $2 to $4 per square foot premium the simple payback runs well past a decade. What makes it worth it is the panel: rigid, impact-resistant, quieter, and still flat in year fifteen. If you are already replacing the siding and intend to stay, that combination is the argument. If you are selling in two years, standard vinyl is the better buy and we will tell you so.
The work
What insulated siding actually involves.
Insulated vinyl is a standard panel with a contoured block of expanded polystyrene bonded to the back, shaped to fill the void behind the profile. Two things follow. The obvious one is thermal: you get somewhere between R-2 and R-3 of continuous insulation across the whole wall, including over the studs, where ordinary cavity insulation does nothing. The less obvious one is mechanical, and it is the reason we recommend it more often than the energy numbers alone would justify.
A panel with foam behind it is supported along its entire length. It does not flex under a hand, it does not oil-can in a July afternoon the way a hollow panel will, and the shadow lines stay crisp because the profile cannot deform. It also takes an impact without cracking, which matters in a county that gets hail most summers. The wall sounds different when you knock on it, and after fifteen years it still looks like a wall rather than a wrapper.
We will be straight about the energy claim, because it is routinely oversold. R-2 to R-3 of continuous insulation on a wall that already has R-13 in the cavity is a real improvement — continuous insulation beats cavity insulation per unit of R-value, because it interrupts the thermal bridge through every stud — but it is not going to halve a heating bill. On a Frederick County house the honest expectation is a measurable single-digit percentage off the heating and cooling load, plus a wall that is noticeably quieter.
R-2 to R-3 continuous, over the studs too
Rigid panel, no oil-canning in July
Payback quoted honestly, not oversold
What insulated siding costs in Maryland
Priced on wall area, installed, including tear-off. The premium over standard vinyl is typically $2 to $4 per square foot, and the trim build-out is part of the quote rather than an extra.
- Insulated vinyl, installed
- $6 – $12 per sq ft
- Premium over standard vinyl
- $2 – $4 per sq ft
- Typical 2,000 sq ft house
- $18,000 – $31,000
- Trim build-out at openings, per opening
- $55 – $140
- Rigid foam added under standard vinyl
- $1.10 – $2.30 per sq ft
Ranges, not quotes. Real numbers come from a walkthrough — access, condition, height and finish level move a price more than square footage does. Estimates are free and in writing.
Get your numberFull insulated siding cost guide for MarylandPrefer to just talk?
Call and describe the job. You’ll get a straight answer on whether it’s something we do and roughly what it runs.
(301) 524-1729
Self-performed
Insulated siding
What’s included
Everything the insulated siding scope actually covers.
Written into the estimate, not assumed. If something on your job is not on this list, it gets priced and named before anyone starts.
Contoured foam, not flat board
01The backing is shaped to the panel profile so it supports the face along its whole length. Flat foam behind a profiled panel leaves the same voids and most of the same flex.
Trim adjusted for the thickness
02Insulated panels stand further off the wall than hollow ones, so corner posts, J-channel and window returns get built out to suit. Skipping this is what makes an insulated job look thick and clumsy at the openings.
The same fastening discipline
03Still nailed in the centre of the slot with play left, still locked to the course below. Foam backing does not remove the need for the panel to move, and a tight-nailed insulated panel will still buckle.
Drainage kept working
04Insulated panels are drainable by design, with channels moulded in. We keep the weeps and channels clear and we do not seal the bottom edge, for the same reason as any other lap cladding.
The energy case in writing
05What the R-value actually is, what it sits on top of in your wall, and what that is worth against your current bills. If the answer is that standard vinyl is the better buy for your house, we will say that.
On the job
Siding work across Frederick & Central MD.
What the trade looks like at each stage. Photos of our own recent jobs come out at the walkthrough, on the actual house.
Straight answers
Insulated siding questions
Not covered here? Call and ask — you’ll get a real answer, not a “depends on the job”.
Between R-2 and R-3 for the common contoured-foam products, applied continuously across the whole wall. The continuity is the part worth understanding: a standard wall loses heat through every stud, which is a thermal bridge that cavity insulation cannot address, and continuous exterior insulation is the only thing that interrupts it. So R-2.5 of continuous foam does more than the number suggests — but it is still R-2.5, and anyone quoting you R-8 for siding is adding up the panel, the air film and the existing wall.
We take the old cladding off, same as any re-side. Insulated panels are thicker and stiffer than hollow ones, so they need a flat, sound substrate even more than standard vinyl does, and layering them over old siding pushes the whole assembly out past where the trim and window returns can sensibly follow. It also hides the sheathing, which is the thing we most want to see.
Not when the product is installed as designed. Insulated panels are made drainable, with channels moulded into the foam so water that gets behind the face can run down and out, and they go over a proper weather-resistive barrier with the flashing tied into it. Problems come from sealing the bottom edge, skipping the wrap, or treating the foam as the water barrier — all of which are installation faults rather than properties of the material.
Same crew, same visit
The rest of the siding work.
Most siding jobs are two or three of these at once, which is why they are priced and scheduled together rather than as separate call-outs.
From the field
Read up before you book.
Longer answers than a quote page has room for — how the work fails, what putting it right actually involves, and when waiting is the honest call.
Sources worth your time
Check us, and check the work
None of these are ours. They are the offices and standards bodies that set the rules we work to, so you can verify what we say rather than take it.
ENERGY STAR sealing and insulating
The attic air-sealing and insulation guidance that actually stops ice dams forming.
OpenNational Association of Home Builders
Where the residential-construction standards and material research behind these decisions are published.
OpenMaryland Home Improvement Commission
Check any Maryland contractor's licence before you sign. Ours is on file with the Commission.
Open
Talk to the people doing the work
Get a straight number for the whole job.
Tell us what needs doing. We’ll walk it with you, sequence every trade it touches, put the price in writing, and leave you to decide.
Get a quote
Let’s price your project.
Two short steps. No obligation, no pressure — just a clear number and a straight answer about what the job involves.
Tick as many as you like. Most jobs are two or three of them at once, and I sort out the detail when I come and look. Nobody gets turned away for choosing the wrong box.
