Author Topic: Vinyl Siding repair?  (Read 5197 times)

trammatic

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Vinyl Siding repair?
« on: October 19, 2012, 09:41:32 AM »
So I have vinyl siding on the house, and a section of the house juts out past the screen door such that when the door is pushed open hard, it slams into the corner edge of the siding.  There is a crack going up the corner piece now...  I drilled out the top of the crack to keep it from spreading, and looked underneath to make sure there's nothing structurally wrong with the siding (it's just the top plate that cracked).  Unfortunately, it's an eyesore out there right by the front door that I'll need to fix before selling the place in a couple years.

AFAIK, to completely replace the corner pillar, I'd have to remove all of the siding from the 2 faces that end there.  I'm wondering if there are such things as glue on caps in the L-shape, that I could just affix to the top of the current corner pillar.  Or, perhaps something else more than just siding tape?

tooqk4u22

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Re: Vinyl Siding repair?
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2012, 10:56:08 AM »
You could use some 2 part sandable epoxy to fill in the crack - hard as steel.

paddedhat

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Re: Vinyl Siding repair?
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2012, 02:15:59 PM »
Corners are cheap, like under $15 bucks. My first move would be to buy a new one and cut the face off of it. This could be done in a table saw with a panelling blade. Loud as hell to cut this way, so eye and ear protection is a must. Now you have a nice piece to overlay on the corner. Clean the old one good and use an adhesive caulk, I prefer clear  "Lexel" and a lot of masking tape to hold it on place until the glue dries. I have done this sucessfully for hail damage, where the product was no longer available, and the homeowner had very few precious scraps that he saved in the attic. Option two is to replace the corner. Cut the old one with a razor knife, right down the outside edge. this will allow you pull it apart and pry the nails out without pulling all the siding off, because you are going to avoid that at all costs. Now you need a siding zipper tool. this is an odd little hand tool that will unlock the siding. The goal is to gently pry the siding up and get a few nails into each each nailing flange of the new corner. Unless you live in a wind tunnel, you should be OK with 4-5 nails on each side. Pick a hot day, have a buddy to hold the siding bent out of the way while you renail, and you should be fine. Vinyl is hung on the nails, not nailed tight. you need to be able to slide a dime behind the nail head as a feeler guage. If you don't have a dime gap, and the nail head is tight, the siding will buckle and look like shit when it gets hot.  Good luck.

trammatic

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Re: Vinyl Siding repair?
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2012, 06:14:31 PM »
Awesome!  Thanks paddedhat!

this will allow you pull it apart and pry the nails out without pulling all the siding off, because you are going to avoid that at all costs.

Exactly my point!  I'll give the first one a try...if it doesn't work, I'm only out the $15.

paddedhat

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Re: Vinyl Siding repair?
« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2012, 06:25:17 PM »
Oh. one more thing. Since vinyl fades, you will never get a good match the day you do the repairs. Now if you managed to find the exact same product and color for your repair, in a year of two, it will fade out and blend in nicely. Until then, it can end up looking like shit on a white horse, especially if you are on the shady side of the house.