We bought a and gutted a 1998 McMansion. Part of the remodel was new siding (Norandex). The siding was installed in December (we live in Pennsylvania) so it was cold. Before the siding went on, on the south west side of the house, my wife wanted to put three additional windows on on the second floor and one on first flow to give a balanced “three on bottom three on top” look. Looking at the 20+ year old siding we were removing, she felt there was way too many long expanses of buckled siding. Our (since disappeared) contractor said the buckling would be solved with the new siding. Well, guess what, it’s now May and the new siding has these long, vertical bumps in it. While I’d like to think it’s as easy as the siding was installed too tightly, it’s hard to imagine the installer lined the nails up just so that there’s be 3-4 9 foot vertical bumps like shown in the picture. I look online and I see people say some siding is cheap, pieces are too long, walls are wavy with studs protruding over time…I just want to know what’s the best fix. Now my wife’s fix is to cut out for the windows because if it is a cheap siding or warped sheathing or stud problem, reinstalling the siding looser won’t fix it. She feels no matter what, there is just too much lengths siding making the side of the house look like an ugly wall of vinyl and visually breaking it up will take your eyes off of any rippling. And no, I won’t plant trees next to the house and end up with the problems that come with that. In the end, I just see dollar signs and am sick that new siding looks this bad. Thoughts from expert siding installers appreciated…
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Vinyl siding is meant to expand and contract. Proper installation includes two things to understand. the ends have to have room to expand (and are covered by trim which allows this while covering the end)
The mounting slots are intended to hang from fasteners (usually nails) which are placed in slots which also allow movement as the siding expands and contracts. (you do not nail in vinyl as you would a solid siding product, you hang it like a picture in your living room)
A qualified siding installer can fix the installation, but the labor involved is going to be at least as expensive as original installation, more so since removal has to be done with more care than removal for disposal, and the installer will have no markup in material sales to help the bottom line.
Adding windows comes with structural modifications to make sure the wall above (and floor and roof ) are properly supported.
Truthfully I agree with your wife. This side is just too wide and too tall to look good without some trim. I think your wrinkles are caused by poor installation where the siding started dropping down and the installer pushed the next pieces down so they would lock into place which made them wrinkle. You might get by by removing and reinstalling just the back half but while you're doing it install a 5/4" X 12" Pvc band board across the bottom with white aluminum flashing on top to shed water. I'd also re-trim the windows with at least 5/4" X 4" Pvc to give them more weight. I'd also consider another band board at the second floor level to break up that big expanse of siding.
These are great recommendations. Thank you. If you have any pictures that reflect what you’re talking about with the trim (I think I get the idea, but pictures help), can you post them? I’d like to show my wife and a few contractors were talking to about redoing that side.
This is what I mean with the trim. On your house, this type of trim would reduce the big spaces you have now with the vinyl. The window trim has a rabbet all around for the siding to fit into so the ugly vinyl trim isn't needed.
Got it! I also googled and found these. I showed them to the new siding contractor we found and he said these would be easy adds in addition to the new windows and redoing the siding. Expensive, but we’ve spent so much on the inside remodel, it’s would make sense to leave the exterior looking the the crap it looks like now. Thanks again!
are the 2nd floor end rooms dark inside ? (no/few windows?
Yes. Very dark. The house faces east. While the front second floor bedroom is blazing in the morning, it becomes really dark around 11am
My wife came up with this “after” design. Thanks everyone for the advice. It really irritates me that the siding was installed incorrectly and the contractor won’t own up to it, but we have a great siding contractor now and with redoing the side, we can make it less bland (though the amount of the check I need to write for this will hurt)