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Vinyl siding is the most effective way to protect your home from the elements, as well as, save on energy costs. Satisfaction comes from knowing you will never have to paint again! Years of testing and experience have proved the superiority of vinyl siding over wood; aluminum, and steel siding. Unlike these materials, vinyl will not scratch, dent, rust or rot!

Why Vinyl Siding?

Vinyl is now the number one of choice for nearly all homeowners. Builders, Realtors, Investors all say that vinyl siding is the smart choice. There are two simple reasons. Vinyl lasts longer than nearly every other material, endures against sun, wind, rain and hail, and it never has to be painted.

There are many different siding profiles to create different exterior looks. You can select traditional clapboard style, the beveled look of a dutchlap panel, or the old-fashioned charm of a beaded panel. Your home can have an exterior that is slick and modern or one that is rustic and comfortable.

Important Things to Know About Vinyl Siding

Panel Thickness - Gauge is the thickness of the panel. The higher the gauge (or panel thickness), the better the panel. Thicker panels offer greater impact and weather resistance. Thicker panels also are more rigid so they will hang straighter and flatter against the wall for a more attractive finish to your home.

Wood Grain - Vinyl siding is molded with different wood grains to offer different exterior looks. Smooth grains tend to work well with homes with more traditional designs, but also work well with contemporary architectural styles. More pronounced grains tend to give homes a more rustic appearance.

By the Square - Vinyl siding is sold by the “square”. Each square of siding covers 100 square feet, and shipping cartons from the manufacturer contain two squares. You can estimate how many squares you will need for your house - determine the square footage of each side of your home and divide by 100.

Don’t subtract windows and doorways from the measurements. Add 10 percent to account for cutting and waste.

Style, Performance and Value

You can select the right siding for your home by considering the architectural style, the environmental conditions such as wind, hail, and your budget.

Design and Style

However, the full benefits of vinyl siding come only to those who choose a superior company that uses the highest quality products. Make sure to choose a company that guarantees results on workmanship and the effectiveness of the vinyl siding they use.

Vinyl siding, when properly manufactured and expertly installed, should provide insulation in a few important ways:

* First, it should create structural integrity. Vinyl siding can be thought of as a protective shell for your home. In this way, it should be as seamless and durable as possible.

* Second, vinyl siding should increase R-value. R-value refers to thermal resistance, and is one way of measuring the insulating capacity of any given material.

* Third, vinyl siding should allow moisture to escape. By permitting the walls to “breathe,” the problems associated with mildew and rot can be effectively averted.

* Finally, vinyl siding should prevent air infiltration. In this way, the many unwanted elements carried by the air-such as noise or pollution-can be significantly reduced.

Not all vinyl sidings are created equally. Neither are the guarantees from the siding companies that install them! Most vinyl siding you will find today is made from recycled material. It can usually be recognized by its light bluish color on the back-side.

Vinyl siding produced by inferior companies is usually hollow-backed, with flat foam or drop-in contoured foam underlayments. Such options provide no structural integrity, and are either too thin to provide adequate insulation, or trap in moisture entirely.

Often such products are poorly installed. When improperly nailed, even the highest quality vinyl siding will lose its protective and insulating features. Such problems will only become worse over time and eventually resulting in a total loss of your investment!

The primary function of a housewrap or building paper is rain penetration control. It is not air infiltration despite what the manufacturers say. The energy aspects of housewraps are vastly overstated.

They have been embraced by builders for this function as can be evidenced by their market penetration. Yet their critical role in building durability is under appreciated and not marketed. It has been a triumph of marketing over physics.

The problem with building papers in general and house wraps in particular is a loss of water repellency. Contaminants referred to as surfactants (”surface-active contaminants”) either raise the surface energy of the house wrap or building paper or lower the surface energy of the water allowing the “wetting” of the housewrap or building paper surface by water.

Once wetting of the house wrap or building paper surface occurs, material pores in the house wrap or building paper become filled allowing transport of liquid phase water across the house wrap or building paper via capillarity or hydrostatic pressure (gravity).

Water soluble extractives in wood such as tannins and wood sugars in redwood and cedar are a type of surfactant that contaminate the surface of house wraps and building papers raising their surface energy.

Detergents and soaps are another type of surfactant that contaminates the surface of water, lowering its surface energy. Both result in the liquid (in this instance “water”) being able to “wet” the surface (in this case the building paper or house wrap).

The surface energies of either the liquid or surface or both are altered so that the surface energy of the surface becomes greater than the surface energy of the liquid. Back-priming or back-coating wood clapboards and trim helps to isolate the surfactants in the wood from the house wrap or building paper surface.

Similarly, providing airspace between wood trim and clapboard vinyl siding using furring or some other spacer (”cedar-breather”) reduces the quantity and time liquid phase water is trapped in the exterior of the wall assembly thereby reducing the potential of surfactant movement.

Where wood is concerned, both back-priming and airspace are highly recommended. Where stucco is concerned, stucco should never be installed in direct contact with any of the plastic based house wraps.

Stucco can “bond” or adhere to the house wrap surface altering its surface energy thereby allowing house wrap pores to become “wetted” and subsequently establish capillary flow. Another issue with stuccos is many have additives that improve workability and freeze-thaw resistance. These additives are typically surfactants.

A drainage space between stucco and building papers or house wraps is essential to control liquid phase water penetration. Bonding typically does not happen between stucco and building papers.

However, with most stucco applications applied over building papers, insufficient drainage results. It is recommended to use at least two layers of building paper under stucco in order to allow some drainage between the two layers.

Even better is to provide a spacer between the two layers of building paper by using a textured building paper or a building paper with granules or cork adhered to its surface thereby creating a space.

Another analogy that might be useful in understanding some of the concepts involved is one of being inside of a tent during a rainstorm and pushing your finger against the inside of the tent surface creating a leak by both compressing and tensioning the fabric altering its surface energy.

Dirt and dust can also affect house wrap performance. Think of a fabric that is “Scotch Guarded” to be water repellent that subsequently becomes dirty. The fabric must be cleaned to remove the contaminants and retreated to reestablish water repellency. Don’t let you house wraps become muddy or dirty.