Siding & Exterior Cladding
Siding in
High River, Alberta.
Rebuild-era cladding reaching its first maintenance point, and older High River homes where what sits behind the panel is more interesting than what is on it.
Siding in High River
What High River actually needs from a siding job.
High River’s siding splits along the same line its roofs do. An enormous share of the town was re-clad during the post-2013 rebuild, largely in vinyl, and that cladding is now around a decade old: the point where fading shows on the south and west elevations and where any panel fastened slightly too tight starts working its nails loose.
Vinyl is also the material least suited to this particular town. It loses impact tolerance below about minus twenty, and High River sits at the southern end of hail alley. A west wall taking wind-driven hail here is exactly where vinyl cracks, which is why we push engineered wood and fibre cement to most homeowners replacing rebuild-era cladding.
On the older, un-flooded streets the interest is behind the panel. Homes built before kick-out flashing was standard practice have spent decades sending roof runoff straight into the wall at every roof-to-wall junction. In a town that has already had one hard lesson about water, finding and correcting that is worth the tear-off on its own.
About High River
In June 2013 the Highwood River put almost all of High River under water. Roughly 13,450 residents and 5,308 homes were evacuated, Hampton Hills was deliberately flooded to drain the rest of the town, and Beachwood and Wallaceville were never rebuilt. The town has since spent around $400 million on reconstruction. High River also anchors the southern end of the corridor Environment Canada calls hailstorm alley, which runs from here north through Calgary into central Alberta.
Where We Work
High River neighbourhoods we cover.
Our Standard
What every High River siding job includes.
Siding is the part of the exterior people judge from the street and the part that quietly decides whether your walls stay dry. We install vinyl, engineered wood and James Hardie fibre cement, and we build what goes behind them properly: a correctly lapped water-resistive barrier, head flashing over every opening, sill pans below, and kick-out flashing wherever a roof edge runs into a wall. That last piece of metal is small, cheap, and the most commonly omitted detail in residential construction.
Full tear-off and inspection
Old cladding comes off so the sheathing can actually be seen. Rot behind siding is common and always cheaper to deal with while the wall is open.
Proper water-resistive barrier
House wrap lapped shingle-style so water runs down and out rather than into the laps, taped at seams and penetrations.
Flashing done right
Head flashing above every window and door, sill pans below, and kick-out flashing where roof meets wall. Skipping the kick-out is how walls rot invisibly for years.
Vinyl siding
Hung with fasteners centred and left slightly loose so panels move through a 60-degree annual swing without buckling or pulling their nails.
Engineered wood
Real wood texture with far better cold-weather impact resistance than vinyl, in long lengths that reduce seams across a wall.
James Hardie fibre cement
Dimensionally stable, non-combustible, excellent impact resistance, and a factory finish that holds colour for decades.
Trim, corners and details
Tight mitres, proper corner posts and clean transitions at stone, soffit and roofline. This is where a siding job either looks finished or does not.
Clearances that matter
Siding held off grade, off roof decks and off horizontal surfaces so it is not wicking water at the bottom edge.
High River Pricing
What this costs in High River.
Real 2026 ranges for the Calgary region. Your written quote gives a firm number after we have been on site, because a price without an inspection is a guess.
Vinyl
$5 – $10 / sq ft
Typical full re-side $12,000 – $22,000
Engineered wood
$9 – $15 / sq ft
Typical full re-side $20,000 – $34,000
James Hardie
$10 – $18 / sq ft
Typical full re-side $24,000 – $45,000
Front facade only
$6,000 – $18,000
Street-facing elevation, often with stone or accent work
Ranges assume roughly 2,000 to 3,000 square feet of wall and include tear-off, house wrap, trim and flashing. Storeys and scaffolding, window count, gables, and any rot found behind the old cladding all move the number. For the full regional breakdown see our Calgary roof replacement cost guide.
What moves the number in High River
High River has an unusual split. A large part of the town was rebuilt or substantially repaired after 2013, so the decks under those roofs are young, sound and quick to work on, and quotes come in clean. The older core is the opposite: original board sheathing rather than plywood, mature trees limiting where a trailer can sit, and fascia that has usually reached the end of its life. We quote sheathing and fascia per unit before we open anything so the two situations do not get priced the same way.
Permits & Local Rules
What applies in High River?
The Town of High River treats a like-for-like re-shingle or re-clad as maintenance, so no development permit is required. A permit applies where the work alters the structure, changes roof shape or height, adds floor area, or follows fire or flood damage. Properties inside the post-2013 flood mitigation areas can carry additional requirements, and we confirm the position for your specific address before starting.
FAQ
High River siding questions.
For a home with roughly 2,000 to 3,000 square feet of wall, vinyl runs about $12,000 to $22,000, engineered wood $20,000 to $34,000, and James Hardie $24,000 to $45,000, including tear-off, house wrap, trim and flashing.
Sometimes, but colour matching is the obstacle. Vinyl fades, so a new panel of the same product will not match a ten-year-old wall, and builder colours are frequently discontinued by then. If the fading is confined to one elevation, doing that whole elevation is usually the practical answer.
In this town we usually say yes if the budget allows. High River sits at the south end of hail alley and vinyl is the material that cracks under impact in the cold. Engineered wood costs more and takes hail far better; fibre cement takes it better still. It is a straightforward trade of up-front cost against how many times you expect to do this again.
For most homes, engineered wood or fibre cement. Vinyl gets brittle below about minus 20 and cracks from impacts it would shrug off in summer, which matters in hail country. James Hardie is the premium answer if you are staying long-term or the elevation takes hard weather.
We do not recommend it. Going over the old siding means nobody ever sees the sheathing or the water barrier behind it, and hidden rot is common below windows and wherever a kick-out flashing was omitted. Tear-off is the only way to know what you are building on.
Regularly. Hail damages siding as well as roofs, particularly on west and north elevations, and it is frequently part of the same insurance claim. We document it with the roof so nothing gets missed.
More in High River
Your whole exterior, one crew.
Roofing in High River
High River rebuilt almost an entire town inside three years after 2013.
Roof Repair in High River
Rebuild-era roofs reaching the age where the small things start failing, plus hail from the south end of the corridor.
Eavestrough in High River
Seamless aluminum formed at your High River address, sized for the roof feeding it, and with genuine attention to where the water ends up.
Soffit & Fascia in High River
Aluminum soffit and fascia with the attic intake genuinely calculated.
