Only basic hand tools are necessary for installation.
Vinyl siding is popular because it is maintenance-free and easy for almost anyone to install. Installation is relatively simple. The challenge is in planning your layout well and placing the correct trim for each area of your building’s exterior. Both siding and any tools needed are easily obtained at your local home improvement center. Larger suppliers carry even more materials. When choosing vinyl siding, the thickness (gauge) of the vinyl determines both its cost and strength. Premium siding can be purchased up to .055 inches thick. Most siding will range from .040 to .045 inches thick. It is best to purchase the highest gauge you can afford for the best overall protection. During construction, vinyl siding is placed directly over the wall’s sheathing. For an existing structure, vinyl can be placed over the existing siding if it is made of solid wood. If a home has aluminum or older vinyl siding, you must remove them first. It is possible to place vinyl siding over wood siding or stucco, but you will have to use vertical furring strips first upon which you can lay your vinyl.Vinyl siding can be cut to desired length with simple hand tools. Large bladed tin snips work well. Today, vinyl is designed to expand and contract depending on temperatures. For this reason, it cannot be secured too snugly. It must be able to move a bit. In essence, you are not so much attaching the siding, but rather, hanging it. If after hanging a strip of vinyl siding, the vinyl slides back and forth, you’ve hung it correctly. It helps not to drive the nail all the way in. Experts say that you should drive the nail at least ¾” into solid wood studs, while leaving 1/32” between the nail head and the vinyl siding. As long as the vinyl can move, all should be well.
Instructions
Put on Vinyl Siding
1. Siding sections are 12 feet long and 10 to 12 inches wide. The lower edge hooks onto a lock that is molded into the top of the piece underneath it. For the first bottom row of siding on a wall, begin by attaching the starter strip that came with the package. The bottom of the first vinyl section will lock into this strip.
2. Proceed up the wall, connecting each length of siding by locking it into the piece below it, then nailing it loosely into place, driving the nail into the wood studs or the sheathing. Adjust the lengths as needed by cutting them to allow for windows, doors, adjacent walls, etc.
3. Where the vinyl siding connects to a door, window, or wall will need the appropriate trim piece (included with the siding). These are meant to hold the vinyl in place, cover cuts and imperfections, and provide an area where the siding can swell and shrink according to the environment. Place these trim sections where they are needed. There should be a ¼ inch of space between the end of a piece of siding and the inside of the channel, to allow for expansion. Overlap pieces by no less than an inch.
4. At the outside corners, place the outer corner posts using the channel molded into the sides as your guide. Overlap two sections of J-channel trim at the top corner of windows and doors to send moisture down and to the sides of windows so that water won’t seep behind the siding or the trim.
5. Where vinyl siding lies against a horizontal surface, such as a window, you will need to place a piece of under sill trim. You will no doubt have to cut the top edge of the siding to fit, but the under sill trim has been designed to grasp onto this cut edge and hold it firmly. If you have to horizontally cut the siding, it helps to create small tabs along the cut edge with a snap lock punch tool. These tabs will help secure the siding to the trim.
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