Siding Installation in Ottawa

Material selection matters in Ottawa is more than looks, siding serves an important role. The outside weather will expose any crack, any weakness, and any lack of insulation. Whether these are a product or its installation, they're critical to get spot on. These are the most common choices for a house in Ottawa.

Vinyl siding is a common budget choice for Ottawa homes, running $5 to $10 per square foot installed. It's very low maintenance and handles moisture well. Insulated vinyl adds a foam backing that improves thermal performance. Modern siding has material grain to give it more visual texture than vinyl applied in the 70's and 80's.

Fiber cement (Hardie board) can be $10 to $14 per square foot and is increasingly the choice for homeowners who want the look of wood without the maintenance. It's super durable and doesn't crack or warp, and holds paint for years longer than wood. Because it is made from cement which holds heat better than wood or vinyl, fiber cement cladding can reduce home heating costs significantly in winter.

Engineered wood (LP SmartSide and similar) sits between fiber cement and real wood at roughly $7 to $12 per square foot installed. It's made from wood strands bonded with resins and waxes, then treated to resist rot, moisture, and insects. The result looks like real wood with authentic grain texture but performs much more like fiber cement in our climate.

Wood siding is $10 to $30 per square foot. It suits older homes well, for example downtown Ottawa's Victorian and century-era stock where authenticity matters. However wood is incredibly versatile with many products on the market from cedar shingles to lunawood, fit for anything from heritage to modern homes. Wood siding requires more maintenance than vinyl or fiber cement, but on the right house in the right neighbourhood, nothing beats wood siding.

Brick siding runs up to $40 per square foot installed and is everywhere in Ottawa for good reason. It handles our freeze-thaw cycles beautifully, and lasts a century or more with almost no maintenance. Best of all brick offers high thermal capacity that helps regulate indoor temperatures year-round. Brick is fire resistant, pest resistant, and adds meaningful resale value on the right Ottawa home, especially in neighbourhoods where it's the expected look. New builds use brick veneer over a wood frame rather than structural brick, which keeps costs down without sacrificing the appearance.

With your exterior cladding, we walk through material options at the quote stage. Expect a full siding replacement to be a very significant expense, upwards of $30,000 for a whole house.

Ottawa's Climate Requires Getting the Details Right

The freeze-thaw cycle is the biggest enemy of exterior cladding in this city. Water that gets behind siding in the fall expands when it freezes and forces gaps wider. By spring, you have a moisture problem inside your wall.

Proper flashing around windows, doors, and penetrations is not optional in Ottawa — it's what separates a 20-year siding job from a 7-year one. We flash every opening and every corner because we've seen what happens when it's missed.

Downtown homes require additional care. Century-era construction in the Glebe and surrounding neighbourhoods uses older sheathing and framing that behaves differently than modern builds. We account for it at the assessment stage, not after the old siding is off.