mounting vinyl siding

8/12/2019 Mounting Vinyl Siding

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cringed the first timea custom-home clientasked for vinyl siding

on a new $400,000 house. But Ihad little choice. Our marketwas dead. So I took the project.

Now more than half of my cus-tom-home clients ask for vinyl,and I actually like installing it.Although vinyls installation isfaster (photo right), makingvinyl look good on a house ismore challenging than wood orfiber cement.

Hands on is always the bestway to learn, but you can get ba-sic installation instructions fromthe Vinyl Siding Institute(www.vinylsiding.org; 888-367-

8741), and manufacturers offerbrand-specific installation man-uals. Here, I highlight a fewtechniques to enhance the ap-pearance of clapboard-style vinylsiding in new construction (pho-to facing page).

A word of caution: Vinyl sid-ing leaks a lot. Water enterswhere vinyl panels overlap andat the end gaps inside the trimsreceiving channels. Manufactur-ers even punch weep holes into

the bottom edge of siding to letthe water escape. Besides beingcareful to maintain the integri-ty of the tar paper or housewrapbehind vinyl, I recommendflashing windows and doors todirect water back out when itgets past the flanges or casing(see Installing Windows for

Vinyl Siding Done RightIf vinyls final, youd best get the details right.

A veteran builder shows how to make itwater-resistant and attractive.

BY MIKE GUERTIN

I

Pushing up locks panels together. The bottom edge, or butt,of one panel clicks into the locking channel at the top of thepreceding course, and the siding goes up.

82 FINE HOMEBUILDING


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Siding panels oveallow expansion.

HANGING BAS

Starter strip can hangbelow sheathing toalign siding panelswith tops of windows.

Wide casingsreplace J-channel.

Aluminum fasciasupports soffit panels.

Hang siding, dont naUnless your brand of vinyl has feature that eliminates concernnail depth, leave the heads of about 116 in. proud of the vinyl tsideways movement.

Give panels room to min the receiving channWhen installing at temperature90F, leave a 14-in. expansion gaprevent panels from buckling. 12 in. below 30F and 38 in. attemperatures in between.

Minimize visibility ofpanel overlapsStart the first panel of each cothe end opposite the most comviewing point so that subsequeoverlaps face away. Avoid unifostair-step installation patterns t

catch the eye.

Keep it straightSnapping a line ensures straighcourses. Straight lines are espeimportant on walls broken up bwindows or doors.

Avoid J-channelWide window and door trim aninside corners can replace mosJ-channel, the hallmark of mostvinyl jobs.

Vinyl leaksA reliable drainage plane and tflashing are the weather barrie

Align panels withtops of windowsCalculate the height of starter so that the sidings shadowlinethe tops of the most visible win

Why did we mock up this job site?

Read more on our Web site:

www.finehomebuilding.com.

ONLINE CONNECTION

Receiving channels intrim hide panel ends.


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ALIGNMENT IS CRUCIAL

Snapping chalklines for corner boards (left) and sidinpanels (above) ensures that the flexible vinyl stays

straight. Siding panels have some vertical play, so cheing overall siding height frequently allows installers t

make small adjustments and avoid accumulated erro

Adjusting the starter-strip height can keep panels evwith the tops of windows and doors. Below, the auth

dropped the starter strip below the sheathing by popriveting it to pieces of coil stock.

Chalklines keep cornerboards straight.

Pop rivets hangstarter strip fromcoil stock.

Chalklines keeppanels straight andalign them with topsof windows.


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Rough Weather, FHB #129,p. 69).

Begin with the trimVinyl siding depends on a fewspecial trim pieces that eitherhold everything together or hidethe edges and ends of the panels.Undersill trim, for instance, is in-stalled under windowsills or oth-er horizontal projections andgrasps the top edge of the sidingpanel below it (photo top right,p. 86). J-channel receives the endsof siding panels where they abutwindows, doors or other walls.

Most pieces of vinyl trim,though, go by the same names astheir wood-siding counterparts:soffits, fascia and corner boards.

I start by installing the hightrim (rakes, soffits and fascias).For rakes, I usually bend alu-minum coil stock on a sheet-metalbrake to wrap the face and bot-

tom edge of a 1x rake board.Manufacturers also offer vinyl-coated aluminum and all-vinyl

trim stock that are bendable andgive excellent results. The rakeboard is furred out with a boardnarrower than the rake to createa space for the siding endssortof a site-made J-channel. Prepfor soffit installation begins as Iframe the house. Along the tailsof the rafters or trusses, I install a2x subfascia, then hang the sof-fit panels and fascia on that (pho-to above). Where soffit panelsmeet the wall of the house, they

are supported by J-channel, un-dersill trim or window casing.

Snapping a line keepscorner boards straight

After the rakes and soffits arefinished, I install the cornerboards. Because corner boardsare hollow and flexible, nailing

them up straight can be difficult.Snapping chalklines on bothsides of the corner ensures that

the corner board goes on straight(photos facing page). I use shortcorner-board sections as templatesto mark the wall for the chalkline.

I begin nailing the corner boardat the top and use sheet-metalsnips to cut the flange backwhere it abuts the already in-stalled soffit trim. The top twonails (one on each side of the cor-ner) are placed at the top edge ofthe nail slots and are set tightly.These nails lock the corner-

board top in place so that it ex-pands downward rather thanupward into the soffit. I drive therest of the nails (spaced about12 in. apart) in the middle of theslots to permit that expansion,leaving the head about 116 in.proud of the nailing flange sothat the vinyl can move.

After determining ewhere at the bottom of ththe starter course will begi

to top right, facing page),all the corner boards justthe bottom of the starter sin. in winter, 12 in. in suand finish nailing them inExcept for window trim, mthe prep work is now don

Accommodatingthermal expansion

Vinyl-siding manufacturhard to make their panelike real wood. Althoug

manufacturers are gettingvinyl installs, behaves anforms much differently thnatural material it mWhereas wood moves sponse to moisture contenmoves in response to temture changes. And it can mlot through expansion an

Site-bent aluminumfascia captures frontof soffit panels.

Window anddoor casingsupports soffitpanels at wall.

SOFFIT AND

FASCIA TRIM

WORK TOGETHE

The author cuts soffit pa

els 14 in. shorter than thesoffit depth to allow for

thermal expansion, then

traps the soffit panels wsite-bent aluminum fascitrim and vinyl window ca

ing. The window casing ctures the top of the sidin

panels and mimics a frieboard, which looks bette

than narrow J-channel.

AUG US T/ SE PT EM BE R 2 00


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Whether its J-channel or a wider piec

of casing, a tab cut in the top piece owindow trim wraps over the side to d

vert water. Additionally, the metal heaflashing tucks behind the tar paper an

over the window top, or flashing tapeused to seal tar paper to the window

nailing fin.

WINDOW TRIMIS NOT FLASHING

Flashing tapeTab in top piece lapsover lower trim.

Side piece is notmitered at top.

Undersill trim capturtop of cut panel as itwraps around window

Tar papercarries watshed byflashing pathe nailinghem of thenext panel

Behind the window casing, undersill tsecures the cut vinyl panel under a wi

dow. To push water to the outside,builders felt and flashing membrane

rect water past the nailing hem of thefirst full panel below the window.

When notching panelat bottom of window,leave 14-in. expansionspace all around.


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AUG US T/ SE PT EM BE R 2 00

traction, especially along thelength of the clapboard-stylepanels. To compensate for thismovement, adjacent siding pan-els are overlapped so that theycan slide sideways past each oth-er without buckling or creatinggaps (photos bottom left). Nailsare left proud of the surface to al-

low for this movement. Wherepanels meet windows, doors or

corner boards, they are cut short,and receiving channels on thetrimconceal the expansion gap. Trimalong roof slopes should be set12 in. above hot asphalt shingles.

Minimize J-channelaround openings

Windows and doors need to be

surrounded with a receiver chan-nel to accept the ends of the sid-

ing. This process usually meanswrapping them all with J-chan-nel, one of the dead giveawaysthat a house is covered in vinyl.Minimizing J-channel takesplanning and creativity. When Iknow a house will be sided invinyl, I select windows that haveeither an integral J-channel or a

slot to receive an applied cap thatcreates a receiver channel. Alter-

natively, I use vinyl windodoor casing, which is essea 212-in. wide J-channel p. 83). The greater width chance the window rathedetract from it as a narrowof standard J-channel doe

Around doors, I use a coother tricks to build receive

nel. Using either a preffoam plastic or a custom

NAILING DETAILS ANDEXPANSION GAPS ACCOMMODAT

PANEL MOVEMENTPanels overlap so that they can slide past each other as tpanels expand and contract with temperature changes. T

allow this movement, panels are made with the nailing

hems notched at the end. This notch must be duplicated

field-cut panels. Most nail heads are left high to avoid traping panels.

Face overlaps away from the

most common viewing pointto minimize their visibility.

Tin snips notchfield-cut panels.

Fixing the centerof a panel with twonails ensures thatthermal expansionhappens equally ateach end.

Butting a panel too tightly intothe trims receiver channels cancause buckling when thetemperature climbs.

Where panelsoverlap, factory-

notched nailinghems keep adjacentpanels frombuckling. Newnotches must bemade where panelshave been cut.

Leave nailheads 116 in.high to allowmovement.


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door surround is the easiest. Isimply apply a 1x3 wood spacerover the door jamb and exteriorsheathing (bottom photo). ThenI fasten the decora-tive trim over thespacer to create a34-in. wide pocketthat receives the

ends of the siding.Alternatively, I cantrim the door withfurring and bendaluminum coilstock around it.

When my bag of tricks runsout and Im forced to wrap anopening with J-channel, I try tomake it look as clean as possible.You cant count on the leg of theJ-channel at the top of a windowor door to serve as head flashing.

When using J-channel, I alwaysinstall drip cap that slips beneaththe housewrap and laps over thewindow or door. The J-channelgoes over the flashing.

Align siding panels withwindow tops andintersecting roofs

Perhaps the most fundamentaltrick to making vinyl look goodbegins well before installation.One of my goals when planning

wood siding is to have the bot-tom edges of the clapboards lineup with the tops and bottoms ofwindows and doors wheneverpossible. This alignment unitesthe exterior look of the building(Installing Wood Clapboards,FHB #112, pp. 62-67). Align-ment is difficult with vinyl be-cause the course exposure isntadjustable. And this lack of align-ment is one of vinyls telltale signs.

To minimize this problem, I

begin planning the vinyl courselayout before the foundation ofthe house is poured. Because thelimiting factor is the vinyl itself,I choose the siding for the housefirst. The three most commonvinyl-siding patterns are doublefour, triple three and double five.That is, vinyl panels are made to

look like two 4-in. clapbthree 3-in. clapboards or twclapboards. Their total expare fixed: 8 in., 9 in. and 1

Knowing posure alloto plan atsome of the the house a

it. I plan fotion drops,spots wherfoundation up or down pace with

grade, on increments to the siding height. Its easysition the window roughings so that the tops of wimatch a siding course. Thtoms of windows are hit ounless Im using custom

vinyl windows and can window height.

When I have to notch pathe bottom of windows J-boxes (photo top left), Isure the notch isnt at a jotween panels both becaueasier to cut one notch thand because it looks better.a 14-in. space both on the rip bthe opening and on each the window or box to allexpansion space. I cant ad

height of doors, but the wthe surrounding trim ctweaked to align with the bof a siding panel if its withor so.

When porch, garage orintersecting roofs interruing, I have to install J-chastart the panels. But by adthe roof pitch just a little the butt line matches therointersection, I get a cleanThe same goes for the he

a deck. It may seem excesplan exterior building elevto match the siding, but sults are worth the effort.

Contributing editor Mik

Guertin is a builder in E

Greenwich, RI. Photos b

OBrien and David Ericso

Trimming around outlets, light fixtures, electric-meter sock-ets and ventilation exhaust ports can be accomplishedeasily with preformed J-boxes (photo below). Several manu-

facturers make special accessory boxes with integral J-chan-nels or snap-on J-surrounds to make trimming the penetration

faster, more weather-resistant and more attractive than some-

thing that can be fabricated on site. Whenever possible, I

roughly locate the J-boxes on the wall but dont attach them

until the siding goes up. This way, I can achieve a cleaner look

by precisely locating the top of each box against the bottom

of the panel above it.

Around doors, the easiest way to hide panel ends is to fur

out the trim so that siding panels abut the furring and the trim

forms a receiving channel (photo bottom).

M. G.

J-boxes and furred-outdoor trim replace J-channel

Notching siding into J-channel keeps wateroutside the wall.

Door trim re-places J-channel. At afront door(right), a furringstrip lifts thedoor trimenough to letsiding panelstuck in behind.

Utility boxescreate receivingchannels. Asnap-on moldingholds panel endsaround a lightbox near thefront door.

Furring liftsdoor trimover panelends.

mounting vinyl siding

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