# Cedar Siding Fort Collins | Fort Collins Siding Contractors > Cedar lap and shingle siding and log siding, installed and repaired. $18,000 to $34,000 for a whole house of wood or cedar siding. URL: https://fortcollinssidingcontractors.com/wood-and-cedar-siding/ # Cedar siding in Fort Collins can be lap boards, shingles or full log siding Real wood siding can be repaired one board at a time and stained or painted any color you like. At Fort Collins Siding Contractors [/ →](/) we install cedar lap and cedar shingle siding, and log siding, and we repair existing wood siding too. Get Your FREE Estimate [#estimate →](#estimate) See the price range [#pricing →](#pricing) - Free estimates - Over 10 years in business - Licensed - Insured ![House with natural cedar lap siding in a semi-transparent stain under a bright blue sky](/images/misc/house-with-natural-cedar-lap-siding-in-a-semi-tran.webp) ## What's included in our wood and cedar siding - Cedar lap siding - Cedar shingle siding - Log siding - Stain or paint finish - Board-by-board repairs ## What kinds of wood siding do we install? Looking at cedar siding in Fort Collins and wondering which style fits your place? We install four kinds of wood siding, and each one gives a wall a very different feel. Here’s how they compare. ### Cedar lap siding Cedar lap siding, also called bevel siding, is cut thicker at the bottom than the top. Each board overlaps the one below it and casts a shadow line along the wall. Cedar is light, so it’s easy on the wall and easy to handle. It holds stain well, and it takes paint too. ### Cedar shingles Cedar shingles go up in overlapping courses, much like a roof. They suit gables, dormers, and whole walls on cottage and shingle-style houses. Left unstained, they weather to a soft gray over time. Plenty of owners love that look, and others stain them to keep the warm color. ### Log siding Log siding has a rounded face that gives a wall the look of stacked logs. It’s thick and heavy, so corners, windows, and doors need careful fitting. That fitting is where a rushed job shows. Gaps at those spots are the first places water finds. ### Tongue and groove boards Tongue and groove boards lock edge to edge. They’re often run vertically on porch walls, gables, and accents, and they’re usually painted. ![Cedar bevel siding boards with visible grain and sealed end grain at a corner board](/images/content/close-view-of-cedar-bevel-siding-boards-with-visib.webp) ## Stain or paint? Wood can be stained or painted. Semi-transparent stain soaks into the wood and lets the grain show through. Solid stain covers the grain like paint but still lets the texture show. Paint gives a full color coat on smooth or rough boards. Here’s a quick side-by-side: | Finish | What it looks like | What to know | | --- | --- | --- | | Semi-transparent stain | Grain and color variation show through | Needs refreshing more often in strong sun | | Solid stain | Even color with the wood texture showing | Covers knots and color differences between boards | | Paint | Full, even color | Cedar needs a stain-blocking primer first | ### Why cedar needs the right primer Cedar has natural oils called tannins. Without the right primer under paint, tannin bleed can show up as brown streaks on light colors. Oil-based primers have a long track record of blocking that bleed on red woods like western red cedar. Newer acrylic primers have improved, but cedar can still need two coats. Ask us which one we’d use on your boards. Back-priming helps too. That means sealing the back of each board before it goes up, which helps the boards stay flat and take finish evenly. ## Caring for wood siding here Colorado sun is strong, and the freeze-thaw swings are hard on a finish. Wood needs that finish kept up, and its ends and gaps sealed. Fort Collins freezes at night and thaws by afternoon for a good part of the year. Water that gets behind a cracked board or into an open seam can freeze and open it further. We’re also in what locals call Hail Alley, so a finish that’s already thin has less to give when a storm rolls through. Two habits keep water out of the places it goes first: - **Seal end grain on every cut.** Raw ends soak up water fastest. - **Caulk where boards meet trim.** Small gaps turn into big repairs. - **Walk the house once or twice a year.** Look for cracks, loose boards, and open joints before the cold sets in. A well-kept cedar wall can last decades here. A little attention each year is what gets it there. ## Repairing wood siding One of the best things about real wood is that it can be fixed one board at a time. We cut out a split or soft board and check the sheathing behind it. Then we prime, fit, and finish a new board to match. Our siding repair [/siding-repair/ →](/siding-repair/) page covers smaller repairs like this. If you want a wood look in a board made from wood strands and resin, see engineered wood siding [/engineered-wood-siding/ →](/engineered-wood-siding/) . Full re-sides in wood are done as part of a siding replacement [/siding-replacement/ →](/siding-replacement/) , with the old siding off and the wall wrapped first. If you’re weighing cedar siding in Fort Collins for your home or business, reach out. We’ll look at your walls and talk through what makes sense. ## What does wood or cedar siding cost? This range covers a whole house of wood or cedar siding, roughly 1,250 to 2,000 square feet of wall, with tear-off and new trim included. ### Wood or cedar, whole house $18,000 to $34,000 - Where the wildfire code applies, wildfire-rated materials cost more. Get Your FREE Estimate [#estimate →](#estimate) ## How our wood and cedar siding works Every job follows the same order, from the estimate form to clean-up. 1. 01 ### Step 1: Send the estimate form Tell us if this is new wood siding, log siding or a repair, and whether you want stain or paint. 2. 02 ### Step 2: We look at the house We check the walls and any wood siding already on them, board by board where it matters. 3. 03 ### Step 3: You get a written estimate It covers the wood, the finish, tear-off and trim, and notes where the wildfire code applies. 4. 04 ### Step 4: Install, finish and clean up Boards are back-primed or sealed, ends are sealed, the siding goes up over a wrapped wall, and the finish goes on. ## Wood siding and the wildfire code In the parts of Fort Collins the state maps as wildfire interface, re-siding a quarter or more of the walls brings in the wildfire code. Since January 1, 2026, Larimer County's building code treats all of unincorporated Larimer County, Laporte included, as wildland-urban interface, and re-siding a quarter or more of the walls there means fire-resistant siding on the whole house. Where the wildfire code applies, wildfire-rated materials cost more than the range above. ## What wood and cedar work looks like up close Example photos of the problems and details described on this page. Click any image to see it larger. Cedar shingles on a gable Log siding with a rounded face Painted tongue and groove boards Weathered cedar next to a fresh coat of stain ## Wood and Cedar Siding questions ### Is it better to have wood or vinyl siding? Wood is better if you want real grain, a stain or paint color you can change, and boards that can be repaired one at a time; vinyl is better if you want a lower price and no painting. Cedar needs its finish kept up in strong sun and freeze-thaw weather, and vinyl can crack when it's hit in the cold. Inside Fort Collins city limits, new vinyl also needs a permit and a fire-rated wall behind it. ### Is true log siding expensive? Yes, true log siding is one of the more costly ways to side a house, because the logs are thick and heavy and take careful fitting around windows, doors and corners. We price it on the free estimate after seeing the house. ## Related siding services ![Two-story house partway through a re-side, with new lap siding on one wall and old siding on the next](/images/misc/two-story-frame-house-in-fort-collins-partly-re-si.webp) ### Siding Replacement Old siding off, the wall behind it checked and wrapped, new siding on. Learn about replacement [Siding Replacement →](/siding-replacement/) ![Cracked vinyl lap siding panel next to a downspout on a frame house in bright daylight](/images/misc/close-view-of-a-cracked-tan-vinyl-lap-siding-panel.webp) ### Siding Repair Cracked, loose, dented or missing pieces replaced and blended into the siding that's still sound. Learn about repair [Siding Repair →](/siding-repair/) ![Two-story home with engineered wood lap siding painted warm gray and white trim](/images/misc/newer-two-story-fort-collins-home-with-engineered-.webp) ### Engineered Wood Siding Wood-look lap and panel siding made from wood strands and resin. Learn about engineered wood [Engineered Wood Siding →](/engineered-wood-siding/) ## Get Your FREE Estimate Tell us about the house and what you're seeing. We'll look at it and send a written estimate for your wood and cedar siding. - Free estimates - Over 10 years in business - Licensed - Insured We take estimate requests through this form only. Add the street address so we can find the house, and a few words about what you see. Thanks, we got your request. We'll reply by email with the next steps for your free estimate.