How Much Does Steel Siding Cost?
Last Updated: January 25, 2022
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In recent years steel siding has emerged as a popular wood alternative due to its strength, durability, and low-maintenance. While it has yet to capture as large a market share as vinyl, steel is actually superior to vinyl in many regards. Continue reading this buying guide to learn more about the benefits of steel siding and steel siding costs.
Reasons to Install Steel Siding #
The reasons why more and more people are giving steel serious consideration for their next siding project include the following:
- Strength: Steel is practically synonymous with strength and rigidity. As a siding material, steel can absorb most impacts without sustaining serious damage. Hail, falling tree branches, bumps from lawnmowers or weed-whackers, and off-course golf balls or baseballs, any of which could shred vinyl siding, may, at worst, cause a dent in steel siding.
- Durability: Not only is steel siding impact resistant, but it holds up extremely well under extreme temperatures and is additionally won't suffer damage from insects, dry rot, or mold. Furthermore, seamless steel siding, made of panels cut to fit the side of your home exactly, prevents moisture penetration.
- Low-Maintenance: Aside from smoothing out the occasional dent or scratch, steel siding requires very little maintenance. While older types of steel siding needed an occasional coat of paint to guard against corrosion, the newest types of steel siding, which contain a special baked on coating, are virtually rust-proof. In general, spraying your steel siding with a garden hose is all that's required to keep it looking great.
- Environmentally Friendly: Most people don't regard steel as a "green" building product, but when you consider that steel siding is 100% recyclable and doesn't emit any harmful fumes (like vinyl can), the distinction makes sense.
- Choice: The wide range of steel siding colors, styles, and textures (including those that resemble real wood grain) provides potential buyers with many options.
Steel Siding Average Cost #
The actual cost of steel siding depends on a number of factors, including materials, local costs, the difficulty of the installation (i.e. a tall home and/or one that requires steel siding panels to be cut into many smaller pieces), and other factors. The prices below are therefore only meant to serve as a general overview.
- Expect to pay somewhere around $4 to $8 per square foot installed for steel siding. On an average-sized home, the total average cost might be $6,000 to $8,000, though in some cases might be as much as $10,000 to $12,000 or more.
- Although the cost for seamless steel siding can be slightly on the high side, this is typically offset by the relatively low cost of steel siding installation, which only requires basic hand tools. And if the steel can be applied directly over the old siding, the result will be even lower installation costs. If not, plan on paying roughly $1 per square foot to remove the old siding.
