Siding Contractor in Marion, KS
Your local siding contractor for Marion and Marion County — siding installation, replacement, and repair, including the century-old homes near the courthouse square that were wrapped decades ago and never opened since.
Siding Installation & Repair in Marion, KS
Marion is the county seat and the oldest settlement in Marion County, founded in June 1860 as Marion Centre on the north bank of the Cottonwood River where Mud Creek comes in. It sits at the western edge of the Flint Hills, with Marion Reservoir a few miles northwest — completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1968 for flood control — and Marion County Lake southeast of town, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. Roughly 1,700 people live here, the limestone downtown is genuinely handsome, and the housing stock reflects a town that has been continuously lived in for more than 160 years.
That last part is the whole story for siding in Marion, and it is a different story than the one we tell in newer towns. Siding Pros KS spends most of its time here dealing with one specific thing: what happened to these houses in the 1970s and 1980s.
Across Marion, a large share of the older homes were wrapped rather than re-sided. The original wood clapboard stayed on the wall, aluminum or early vinyl went directly over it, and the trim, cornices, window casings, and porch detail were covered in bent coil stock. At the time it was sold as a permanent, no-maintenance fix, and for a decade or so it looked like one.
The trouble is what a wrap does to the wall as a system. The original clapboard was designed to shed water and then dry out in sun and wind. Sealed under a second skin with no drainage plane, no housewrap, and no ventilation path, it cannot dry. Water that finds its way in through a split seam, a failed caulk joint, or — most often — a window head that was never flashed has nowhere to go. It soaks into the original wood and stays there. Because the aluminum outside still looks fine, nothing tells the homeowner anything is wrong for fifteen or twenty years, until a window stops closing square, a floor near an exterior wall goes soft, or somebody finally opens the wall.
That is why we probe before we price. On a free inspection in Marion we pull a small section of siding somewhere low and out of sight, usually on the north or west elevation where water lingers longest, and we check the sheathing and framing with a moisture meter and an awl. We look hard at every window and door head, because unflashed openings under a wrap are the most common failure point we find on these houses. Whatever is there gets photographed and written into the estimate.
When we do re-side, we build the wall so it can dry. Old material comes off down to the sheathing rather than getting buried under a third layer. Rotted sheathing is replaced, not covered. Full housewrap goes on as a continuous drainage plane, every window and door gets proper head and pan flashing, and fasteners and expansion gaps are set to manufacturer spec. On a house this old that is not an upgrade — it is the difference between siding that lasts forty years and siding that quietly ruins the framing underneath it.
Marion also asks more of a wall than most Kansas towns do. The reservoir gives northwest storms several miles of open water to build across before they reach the north side of town, so wind-driven rain arrives with real force behind it and gets pushed up under laps that would be fine on a sheltered lot. The Cottonwood valley holds humidity through the summer, which slows drying on shaded elevations. And the county sits in serious hail country — the April 23, 2026 storm dropped stones from one inch to four inches across Marion County, including a four-inch report southwest of town. Plenty of those walls still have not been looked at, because the roofers came through and the siding people did not.
Choosing material accordingly matters. James Hardie fiber cement handles impact and wind-driven rain better than builder-grade vinyl and reproduces a historic clapboard reveal convincingly, which is why we recommend it on exposed elevations and on houses where appearance carries weight. A quality insulated vinyl siding is a genuine step up from what it usually replaces at a lower price point. Our siding materials comparison puts them side by side.
Siding Pros KS handles siding installation, siding replacement, and siding repair throughout Marion and the surrounding county, with written pricing, a workmanship guarantee, and full help documenting storm damage for an insurance adjuster. We are licensed, insured, and Kansas-owned, which in a town this size mostly means we are still reachable in three years when you want the one panel the mower caught put back.
If you are not sure where your walls stand, start with the signs you need new siding, or call and we will come out and look. We are in Hillsboro, McPherson, and Newton most weeks, so Marion is a normal stop rather than a special trip.
Popular siding services in Marion
Why Marion, KS Homeowners Choose a Local Siding Crew
Local, not storm-chasers
We are a Kansas crew, not an out-of-state caravan. When your Marion siding needs service down the road, we are still here to back it up.
Fast storm response
After hail or high winds hit Marion County, exposed walls can't wait. We prioritize Marion storm damage to keep water out of your home.
Insurance claim help
We document Marion storm damage with photos and detailed estimates and meet your adjuster on site so nothing gets missed.
Good to know before you call.
Do you work on older homes in Marion, or only newer builds?
Older homes are most of what we do here. Marion is the oldest settlement in Marion County and a large share of the housing stock predates 1930, which means balloon framing, original wood clapboard, and decades of layers on top of it. That work needs a crew willing to open a wall and look before quoting. Siding Pros KS handles full siding replacement on century-old homes as well as straightforward siding repair, and either way you get a written estimate before anything comes off.
My house has aluminum siding wrapped over the original wood. Is that a problem?
It can be, and in Marion it usually is by now. Wrapping was standard practice in the 1970s and 1980s: the original clapboard stayed on the wall, aluminum or early vinyl went straight over it, and the trim, cornices, and window casings were covered in bent coil stock. The problem is that the assembly has no way to dry. Moisture that gets in through a failed seam or an unflashed window head sits against the original wood instead of evaporating, and because the aluminum hides it, the rot runs for fifteen or twenty years before anyone notices soft sheathing or a window that will not stay square. If your walls were wrapped and have not been opened since, it is worth having them checked.
How do you know whether the wall underneath is still sound?
We probe it. During the free inspection we pull a small section of siding in a low-visibility spot, usually near grade on the north or west elevation where water sits longest, and we check the sheathing and framing with a moisture meter and an awl. Sound wood resists the probe; rotted wood takes it like cork. We also look hard at every window and door head, because unflashed openings under a wrap job are the most common entry point we find on Marion houses. Everything is photographed and goes into the estimate, so you are deciding from evidence rather than from a sales pitch.
Can I re-side a house in one of the older neighborhoods in Marion?
In most cases yes. Ordinary residential re-siding here is not restricted the way it would be inside a formal design-review district. The exception is a property individually listed on the National Register, one inside a listed district, or one where the owner is claiming historic rehabilitation tax credits — those carry review requirements, and the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office is the office to call before you commit to a material. We are glad to work within them. Where appearance matters and the budget allows, fiber cement in a smooth lap profile reproduces the original clapboard reveal far more convincingly than vinyl does.
Marion County was hit hard by hail on April 23, 2026. Should I have my walls checked even if the roof was fine?
Yes. That storm produced hail from one inch up to four inches across Marion County, including a four-inch report southwest of Marion itself. Almost every homeowner in the county had a roofer look at the shingles. Very few had anyone look at the siding, and hail driven at an angle on Kansas wind often does more damage to the elevation facing the storm than to the roof. Siding Pros KS inspects walls specifically, and the inspection is free. Our storm damage siding repair page explains how the claim process works, and our Hillsboro page covers the same storm from the other side of the county.
What does new siding cost on a house this size?
For a typical single-story Marion home in the 1,200 to 1,600 square foot range, vinyl replacement generally lands in the low-to-mid five figures and fiber cement runs meaningfully higher — but the real variable here is what we find under the old material. A wrapped house with sound sheathing prices close to a straightforward job. A wrapped house carrying twenty years of hidden rot does not, because the sheathing has to be replaced before anything new goes on. That is exactly why we probe before we quote instead of after. Our Kansas siding cost guide breaks the numbers down by material.
Marion siding project on your list? Let's handle it.
Free written estimates, honest timelines, and a local crew that stands behind the work.