Vinyl siding strips are naturally flexible, and bend in the length easily. They also distort in the width slightly with sufficient pressure. Our trained artisans know how to attach vinyl siding so it remains smooth and even, although not everybody has their skills. Read on if you would like to know why vinyl siding may buckle, when installed by less experienced contractors.
The #1 Reason Why Vinyl Siding May Buckle
Vinyl siding has a relatively high coefficient of expansion. This means that it expands and shrinks at a greater rate than fiber-cement or wood, as temperatures rise and fall. Our skilled artisans know how to allow for the current ambient temperature, when installing new vinyl siding.
If it is a hot day when they do so, then they don’t need to leave much room for expansion. However, if they are doing the job in winter when the vinyl has contracted, then they allow more space for expansion between the strips, to prevent buckled siding.
Additional Reasons Why Vinyl Siding May Distort
Vinyl siding, as we explained, is a ‘living thing’ that needs space to react to changes in temperature. If an installer hammers the fixing nails all the way in, then this cannot happen even if the installer allows expansion room.
This is the second most significant reason why vinyl siding may buckle after installation. Valiant Exterior’s installers know how to leave ‘breathing room’ between nail heads and siding strips. Although the gap is so marginal a home owner may not notice it.
Checking Whether Buckling Vinyl Strips ‘Float’
Loosely-nailed vinyl siding strips, as explained above, should allow slight sideways movement to prevent buckling. If this is indeed the case, then they should slide easily back and forth by a quarter to a half inch.
If you can’t do this easily on your siding job, then you may have a problem that’s hard to confirm. This is because the nails are concealed under the strip of siding immediately above. However, you will never know for sure without removing the siding.
In reality. there is nothing that you can do without replacing the entire run of siding. Vinyl is a ‘memory material’, and may retain the distortion permanently. This means you may have to live with it.
Speak to Valiant Exteriors Before You Award a Siding Job
Correctly nailing vinyl siding is not ‘rocket science’. In fact, like most ‘bright ideas’ it is easy to do when you know how. If you are planning a siding job in Calgary please ask us for a proposal. It is not for nothing that our clients call us ‘the specialists with the know how’.
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