subject: Vinyl Siding, Do You Know the Correct Way to Hang It? [print this page] Vinyl Siding, Do You Know the Correct Way to Hang It?
First I want to point out the fact that vinyl siding has no ability to shed or keep water out so it is imperative to use a good exterior house wrap like Tyvek Home Wrap before proceeding with your siding installation. Make sure and seal all openings through the house wrap and be sure to follow manufactures recommended practices especially for sealing around door, window and wall mounted vent openings as these are the most common leak source locations.
Next I want to cover the concept of "Hanging" your new siding. If you have ever noticed a vinyl siding job that appears wavy in the summer you probably thought "Cheap Siding". If so you were wrong. Siding problems are often blamed on product defects or poor quality when it is more often than not improper installation. When properly hanging your new siding and trims remember three things. First you should never drive the nail in tight against the siding. Second make sure the head of your nail is flat or parallel to the siding, if it hits on an angle it might bind the siding and not allow it to float. Third make sure you are nailing in the center of each slot. Since you should already be placing nails so they drive into studs you may find yourself not aliening with the center of the nailing slot. They offer a slot cutting tool at every home center. Buy one, you can thank me later. If you follow these tips on every section you should be able to grab any piece of siding and slide it side to side. This movement assures your siding will not bind between two points and flex out when it expands on a warm day.
Start the siding process by installing all trim products first to assure proper gapping where siding meets trim. You will hang all trims in the same fashion with one exception. It is common practice to nail one end solid so the trims do not float around. So as an example when installing an outside corner, start by nailing both sides at the top solid in place so the trim will not move away from your finished soffits. Then proceed to fasten the rest of the corner by the hanging nail method the rest of the way down so the corner can move on a hot day. Follow this practice with all other trims being sure to anchor them at the end best suited to not moving. The exception to this process is in the area of undersill trim. This is the finish strip installed at the top of any horizontal course to finish the siding up to your soffit. Since this trim may run longer that the length of a single piece we want to keep all ends loose so the pieces can all expand together on a hot day. Complete this process by installing any accessory blocks you will use for items such as water faucets, light fixtures, or outdoor receptacles.
You should now be ready to start hanging siding. I have not covered the topic of leveling your starter or bottom course here because my focus is on often overlooked installation mistakes and I am relying on you to already understand the need to start with a level run. That said, determine a starting point and assess which direction you will most often be looking at the siding from on a given wall. Once you have determined this start with your first piece of siding at the opposite end. This way your laps will be facing the least viewed end thus not showing open joint gaps from the more public view. This is another common installation error. Make sure you are setting the manufacturers recommended gap between end of siding and trim based on the ambient temperature at the time of installation. This will take into account the expansion that occurs when vinyl siding warms up in the hot sun.
If you follow all these guidelines as well as all of the manufacturers recommended installation guidelines you can be assured of a project you will be proud of for years to come. It will not matter whether you bought a thinner product or the heaviest product on the market, proper installation makes the job.
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