How to Install Vinyl Siding: A Home Improvement Guide

Do you want to know how to install vinyl siding in order to give your home's exterior a fresh look? While there are many things you can do to give your home a new look on the outside, few things are as cost effective as installing new siding, and no siding material is as wide spread as vinyl. So how can you make sure the siding you install on your home's exterior is everything it's supposed to be? Read this guide to find out how you can install vinyl siding on your home and make it so that your property is always protected.

What You Get with Vinyl

Vinyl is one of the most widely used siding materials because it's affordable and comes with a number of customization options that make it easy to get a look you truly want, no matter what your tastes might be. Likewise, vinyl has benefits like:

• The inability to rust and crack
• Coming pre-painted, so you won't have to do it yourself.
• Prevention of moisture and condensation
• Durability and against denting

With these qualities in mind, it makes sense that you would want siding made from this material. So, once you have some siding in hand, it's time to put it into place.

Installing the Vinyl

Installing vinyl on your home's exterior is an involved process, so you want to make sure you follow every single step down to the smallest detail to ensure things go as smoothly as possible.

1. Start by making sure you have enough room to work. This includes clearing out bushes and making sure things like light fixtures and downspouts are out of the way.
2. Using a Mason's line and line level, make sure you find the home's lowest corner. Measure up from the distance specified by the siding's manufacturer from there and snap a level chalk line around the home.
3. The chalk line is now your guide, and you want to use that to put starter strip all around the bottom of the house. Make sure there's room whenever you have two pieces butting together.
4. Install inside and outside corner posts, letting them extend past the bottom of the old siding.
5. Go to the windows and doors and install J-channel across the tops. Notching it will provide a drip edge at the corners. You also want to install J-Channels along sloped eaves at gable end walls.
6. Put under-sill trim beneath the windows and on horizontal eaves
7. Now you can begin installing siding panels. Start at the starter strip and work up from there.
8. Make sure each panel has a 1 inch overlap at each joint. Leave a small clearance where the ends of the panels butt into the J-channels.
9. Make necessary cuts to fit a panel under a window using a tine snip and utility knife to snap the panel apart.
10. After you dimple the cut edge 16 inches on the center with a snap-lock punch, you can push the siding panel into place.

It's important to follow these steps to the letter to ensure you don't suffer any setbacks. If it seems like daunting task, then you can always get the help of a siding professional to help you put the fixtures into place. Whatever you decided, you can be sure that vinyl siding will help give your home a strong new look.