Professional Vinyl Siding Replacement | Southern Maine Siding

Vinyl costs the least per square of the four sidings we put up, and the Vinyl Siding Institute's installation manual says every certified panel is tested for wind load and labeled with a design pressure rating. Model codes call for certification to ASTM D3679, shown by a label on the carton.

Panels differ more than most buyers expect. One large maker lists its lines from 0.040 to 0.048 inch thick and says the thicker ones generally take impact and weather better, usually at a higher price.

The VSI manual covers lap profiles from single to triple, plus Dutch lap, board and batten and vertical panels, so a ranch and a farmhouse colonial can each get a face that suits it.

The tradeoff is movement. Vinyl grows and shrinks with every swing in temperature, and the manual warns that a saw rushed through a panel in deep cold can chip or crack it.

Most owners judge a vinyl job by its color, yet the layer under the panels decides whether the wall stays dry. VSI calls vinyl a cladding and a supplemental rainscreen, never the water-resistive barrier, so a new barrier goes on first and laps over the flashing at each opening, as the Department of Energy's drainage plane guide describes.

Near salt water we use the corrosion-resistant fasteners VSI calls for (aluminum or stainless steel with aluminum trim) and favor the double or rolled-over nail hem VSI says high-wind panels carry. Where a roof meets a sidewall we add kick-out flashing, which the manual notes some cold-climate localities require.

Below 40 degrees F, VSI widens the clearance at openings and stops from 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch, and the panel maker's own instructions win wherever the two differ.

Mike Guertin of Fine Homebuilding warns that panels butted tight into their channels can buckle once the weather turns hot, so we leave that room on every course.

Vinyl at $1,000 to $1,250 per square is our starting point for a ranch, raised ranch, cape or plain colonial with ordinary exposure. LP SmartSide averages $1,500 to $1,875 and James Hardie fiber cement $1,625 to $2,000, so each step up adds real money across a 25-square house.

We steer owners toward board siding when a wall has a reason to want it: a painted wood look the street expects, or a face that takes full wind off open water. Otherwise vinyl hung right is money well spent, and the difference can pay for rot repair or insulated panels.