Washoe Valley, Nevada

Washoe Valley siding and windows: nailing patterns and window ratings for strong daily winds

Get a written estimate See the wind numbers Call (775) 391-8487

Unincorporated Washoe County, between Reno and Carson City at about 5,000 to 5,100 feet on the valley floor. On the east shore a full Washoe Lake is open water upwind of the west walls, so how the cladding is held on and what the windows are rated to carry come before glass coatings and colour.

  • Unincorporated Washoe County
  • Lake upwind of the east shore
  • ≈5,000 to 5,100 ft
  • County special wind region
  • IECC zone 5B
A Windows and Siding Reno installer in a logo cap carries a long woodgrain soffit panel past a pickup truck
Jurisdiction Unincorporated Washoe County
County design wind speed 120 mph, unincorporated county
Upwind of the east shore Washoe Lake, about four miles by two when full
From the shop About 20 miles from 1155 Watson Way, Sparks
Direct (775) 391-8487
Lines carried Alside · Andersen · Codel · James Hardie · Jeld-Wen · LP SmartSide

What the valley records

Wind across an open lake, and the corners where siding starts to let go

A National Weather Service list of the highest wind reports, issued in Reno on 2 April 2026, shows 98 mph at a state highway sensor logged 2.3 miles northeast of the old Washoe City townsite, and 61 mph at New Washoe City. The Weather Service flags that not all of that list is official data, so read the 98 as one sensor's gust on one night.

Nevada's Department of Wildlife blames the murk in Big Washoe Lake on its shallowness and "the strong daily winds". A load that comes back every day is what works a fastener loose in its hole.

Full, the lake is open water upwind

The structural standard the building code adopts sorts sites by what lies upwind, and its most severe category is flat, unobstructed ground or water upwind for a long distance. Full, the lake runs about four miles by two; it has also gone completely dry, including in May 2015. The Washoe County Fire Plan, an undated survey written for the Nevada Fire Safe Council, records prevailing winds from the south-west and west on the valley's west side; on the east shore, a full lake lies upwind of walls facing that way. Two houses on one street can fall in different categories, so we check what is upwind of each wall before pricing how its siding is held on.

Where a wall lets go first

Siding lets go at its fastening, usually first at a corner, because the structural standard loads a wall's corner zone harder than its middle. The maker's fastener schedule tightens there, along the roof line and around openings, and our siding for high wind write-up takes it material by material.

Windows carry a structural rating, the performance grade, tested apart from U-factor (how fast heat escapes through the whole unit) and solar heat gain (how much sun heat gets through). It belongs to the tested unit, so we read it for the type and size ordered.

Jurisdiction

The county rules that settle siding and glass before colour does

Washoe Valley has no city government, so the rules are Washoe County's, through its Planning and Building Division. It first asks applicants to confirm on its Quick Maps viewer that a parcel is unincorporated, because location decides who issues a permit.

The wind table

The county's Northern Nevada amendment to IRC Table R301.2, the residential code's list of local design conditions, sets one design wind speed for all of unincorporated Washoe County: 120 mph for Risk Category II, which covers all homes. It also flags the county as a special wind region, a designation the amendment pairs with its own minimum wind speeds; no valley figure is published. The windborne debris zone, where code calls for glass rated against flying debris, is marked no, so impact glass is not a code item here.

The exempt list

The county handout Work Exempt from Building Permits lists "wood or composite siding applied over existing siding"; whether a given vinyl or fiber cement product counts is the county's call. Its window and door item is quoted on our Spanish Springs page. Exempt or not, new siding holds only as well as what it is nailed through.

The fire class

Under the 2024 wildland-urban interface code, the rules for houses that back onto brush, the county's guide sets each parcel's ignition-resistant class, a tier of ember and flame rules, from its fire hazard severity on the EZ Fire-WUI map, its defensible space (the cleared ground around the house) and hydrant distance. In Classes 1 and 2 an ordinary sealed dual or triple glazed unit meets the glass rule and frames carry none; Class 3 sets no glass rule, and some parcels get no class. Siding routes by class are on our Verdi page.

Housing stock

East of the lake, mostly 1970s and 1980s houses on lots of 1 to 10 acres

The area the Census Bureau calls Washoe Valley is essentially New Washoe City, east of the lake. Its 2020 to 2024 estimates, which carry wide margins, put the median year built at 1979, with about two thirds of homes from the 1970s and 1980s. They say nothing about the west side.

The same fire plan's east-side survey put most lots at 1 to 10 acres, spacing that leaves less shelter from neighbouring roofs than a town lot. It found no fire hydrants on the east side at the time, and hydrant distance is one of the inputs the county now uses to set a parcel's fire class.

In January 2012 the Washoe Drive Fire destroyed 29 homes, by the count authorities gave CNN, so a parcel's fire class gets looked up before cladding is priced.

How cladding from those decades tends to fail is on our Reno page; a house re-sided since then will differ, so we lift a row at the measure visit rather than guess from the build year.

Close view of white woodgrain textured vertical siding with evenly spaced grooves and a soft branch shadow across it
Textured vertical panel, up close. On an east-side re-side the line can change from one wall to the next.

Product selection

Six lines, read against a windward wall and a sheltered one

Where each line fits on a Washoe Valley house, and what we settle for it on a wall facing the lake or the prevailing wind. Ratings and warranty terms come from the data sheet for the exact product quoted.
Line What we order Where it fits here On a windward wall
James Hardie Fiber cement lap, panel, trim Sun-loaded south and west walls, and walls in fire Class 1 or 2 Face nailed (a visible nail near the board's lower edge, driven into framing) where the maker requires it for the load at that wall's exposure
LP SmartSide Engineered wood lap, panel, trim A long wall, where fewer butt seams (joints between two board ends) leave wind-driven water fewer ways in Nailed into framing with every cut made on site sealed; on a Class 1 or 2 wall, a passing fire test or a Type X (fire-rated gypsum) backing is confirmed first
Alside Vinyl siding and windows Sheltered elevations, budget-led re-sides Hung loose on the nail, with its corner and edge trim nailed closer than the panels
Jeld-Wen Windows and doors, several materials 1970s and 1980s openings off today's stock sizes Performance grade checked for the off-size unit actually made
Andersen Windows and patio doors Rooms facing the lake or the range, where an upper series' narrower frame means more glass Performance grade read for the exact series, type and size on that wall
Codel Steel and fiberglass door systems An entry door on the lake or west side, as slab and frame together The sill pan under the threshold inspected at the measure visit

The trade-offs of each line, and how two can share a house, are on the brands page; the install is on the siding replacement and replacement window pages.

How it works

A Washoe Valley estimate, from the parcel map to the windward wall

The shop is at 1155 Watson Way in Sparks, about 20 miles and half an hour from New Washoe City by US-395 Alternate. On a measure visit here we bring samples and the data sheets for the lines in question.

  • Jurisdiction and fire class checked for the parcel first
  • Each elevation logged by what lies upwind: lake, open acreage or slope
  • One row of siding lifted to check the sheathing (the board layer beneath), house wrap and stud spacing
  • Structural and energy figures read for the exact size quoted

You get back a written scope naming the line, series, profile and colour, wall by wall.

Neighbouring pages

North and south of the valley, and over the range

Each of these towns has its own page, written about what its own walls face.

See the full service area

Ratings and materials

What Washoe Valley owners ask about wind ratings and cladding

Not under the county's table, which marks the windborne debris zone as no. What matters instead is the window's performance grade, its structural rating, read for the exact type and size ordered. In fire Class 1 or 2 the glass must also be tempered (heat-treated to break into small pieces), a sealed dual or triple glazed unit, glass block, or rated to resist fire for 20 minutes.

Usually the west and south-west ones, which face the lake and the prevailing wind the county fire plan records. The structural standard the code adopts rates flat, unobstructed water upwind for a long distance as its most severe exposure, and lots of 1 to 10 acres leave less shelter than a town lot. We log what lies upwind of each wall and price its fastening to match.

The county's exempt list includes wood or composite siding applied over existing siding, so the permit side may allow it; for vinyl or fiber cement, confirm with the county first. The wall may not: new fasteners need sound material behind the old layer, and where that layer has gone soft, it comes off first.

A multipoint lock, which draws the slab against its weatherstrip at three points rather than only at the latch, and a threshold whose adjustable cap can be raised to close the gap under the door. The sweep, the seal strip on the door bottom, stops air; water on the floor inside points to the sill pan, the tray under the threshold, which we inspect at the measure visit.

Sources

Where the figures on this page come from

Next step

Washoe Valley measure visits start with the windward wall

Send the street and a cross street, roughly when the house was built, which side of the lake it is on and which wall the wind hits hardest. We look up the parcel first, then measure every opening on the visit.

Prefer to talk? The shop line is (775) 391-8487, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

  • Parcel checked before the cladding is priced
  • Each wall priced for what it faces

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