Home owners understand that the cost and maintenance of their home is necessary to protect their investment. Properly installed vinyl siding can be one of the best ways to take care of your home. Not only is vinyl siding important for protecting the structure of your home, it will improve the appearance as well. The cost of vinyl siding is well offset by the protection it offers from weather and pests. Finding a vinyl siding contractor in your area is not always easy. With the help of our form you will receive the needed information from a qualified vinyl siding contractor in your area.

Installing Vinyl Siding

Installing vinyl siding is really best left for experts. A siding contractor understands the special considerations for installing vinyl siding.

Siding contractors will tell you that vinyl siding expands and contracts with temperature, probably more than most types of siding. Because of this, you’ll need to find a siding contractor who will include proper trim work in the vinyl siding prices. For instance, a 12 foot length of vinyl siding will expand up to 5/8 of an inch on a very hot day, so you’ll see that the siding contractor installs the siding so that it can slide back and forth about ½ inch. The challenge is to make the vinyl siding look good at the corners of your home, and around the windows, doors, and wall mounted utilities. Siding prices should reflect the need for special care in these areas.

Vinyl siding has to be installed on a flat surface. Therefore, the siding contractor will need to remove your old siding and dispose of it. If he doesn’t, the siding contractor will at least need to install ½ foam board over your old siding in preparation for the vinyl siding. This, of course, will affect the vinyl siding cost for updating your home. Your siding contractor will also install a moisture barrier. This is a plastic wrap that is put all around your house before the vinyl siding is installed.

Vinyl siding prices will vary, but it usually includes siding installation by a licensed siding contractor. When a siding contractor gives you a quote on vinyl siding cost, it should include removal and disposal of the old siding. Dumping fees should be included in siding prices, along with permits and inspections. You can do very little work on your home, including siding installation, without permits. All these issues can affect vinyl siding cost.

Siding installation, while often attempted and achieved by do-it-yourselfers, can be very challenging because of the expansion and contraction of the vinyl siding due to temperature fluctuations. It is, therefore, often better on your siding cost to simply hire a reputable siding contractor to install your vinyl siding. For instance, a siding contractor will know how to compensate for temperature changes during the day as he is installing vinyl siding. If the siding contractor begins siding installation in the morning, when it’s 70 degrees, and by the time he quits for the day, it’s over 90 degrees, the vinyl siding may have expanded significantly by the end of the day. Proper planning for expansion and contraction is vital to vinyl siding to keep it looking good regardless of the temperature. Therefore, the trim pieces and joints of the vinyl siding need to be considered by the siding contractor to keep a finished look on the trim work. Proper siding installation is also important to keep the vinyl siding from buckling.

Vinyl siding also interlocks, so when your siding contractor is installing vinyl siding, he will hook the upper strip onto the lower strip, then nail it in place in the slot. The vinyl siding will lock together, but still be a little loose to avoid buckling. These issues can all affect the cost of vinyl siding.

You may have seen houses with wavy siding. That’s because when someone was installing vinyl siding, they didn’t consider expansion and shrinkage. The vinyl siding needs to have room to move around without butting up against window and door frames, , and with overlapping seams. A siding contractor will also know to nail the vinyl siding in the slots, so that it can “travel” as it expands and contracts, and prevent buckling. Siding contractors will not tightly nail down the vinyl siding for this very reason. If you see the siding contractor using a hole punch on your vinyl siding, it’s because he’s had to cut the slot edge off of the vinyl siding, and is creating a new slot to use. A good siding contractor will never drive a nail directly into your vinyl siding.

Repair of Vinyl Siding

If your vinyl siding need to be repaired, there are some things your siding contractor can do to repair damage. For very small gaps in vinyl siding, caulk can be used, but he’ll have to use a silicone caulk that will shrink and expand with the vinyl siding. Larger gaps that require the replacement of a strip of vinyl siding will require a zip tool, that siding contractors have, and the patience and skill to match the new strip of vinyl siding to the old, possible faded vinyl siding that is being repaired.  All these things contribute to the cost of vinyl siding.

Construction of Vinyl Siding

Vinyl siding is made of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC. This is the same material used in your vinyl windows and in vinyl gutters. You can get a multitude of vinyl siding colors, as it comes pre colored. Vinyl siding won’t ever require painting, and the vinyl siding colors goes all the way through, so if the vinyl siding is damaged, the color won’t suffer. Vinyl siding comes in a variety of designs, and vinyl siding prices are far better than many stone and wood siding, making it a very good alternative when you start comparing vinyl siding cost.

Vinyl siding prices are a much more affordable than some other types of siding, placing vinyl siding in the very affordable range. With proper siding installation, and the wide choices of vinyl siding colors, vinyl siding will well protect your investment. It also doesn’t chip or peel which, combined with the vinyl siding colors that go all the way through, make vinyl siding very high value for the vinyl siding cost.