Why houses around here get re-sided
Vinyl lasts a long time. The home inspectors' life-expectancy chart gives it about 60 years. What usually ends a siding job early is not age but damage: hail that cracks panels on the storm side of the house, wind that pulls loose courses off a gable, a mower that punched through the bottom row, or fading so uneven that a single replaced panel sticks out from the street.
The other reason is what sits behind it. On older houses there can be original wood lap siding still on the walls under an earlier layer of vinyl or aluminum, and sometimes soft sheathing where water got behind the trim for years. You cannot see any of that from the yard, which is why we price a re-side after we have looked closely at the walls, not from a photo.
How we put new siding on
First the old siding comes off. Covering bad siding with new siding traps whatever moisture is already there, so we strip the walls and look at the sheathing. Any soft or broken sections get cut out and replaced.
Next the walls are wrapped. House wrap is the weather barrier that sheds any water that gets past the siding, and it is lapped so water always runs outward and down. Around windows and doors we pay the most attention, because that is where siding jobs leak years later.
Then the new trim goes up: corner posts, starter strip along the bottom, and J-channel around every opening. The panels hang from the bottom course up, locked into each other and nailed so they can move. Vinyl expands on hot afternoons and shrinks on cold nights, and siding nailed too tight is siding that buckles by August.
Last, we wrap the window and door trim in matching coil so there is no wood left to paint, and we clean up the scrap and nails before we leave.
Hail cracked your siding? Siding damage often gets missed on a storm claim because everyone is looking at the roof. We photograph both. See how we handle storm damage and insurance claims.
Vinyl or LP SmartSide?
Vinyl never needs paint and costs less. LP SmartSide is engineered wood that takes paint in any color and has a deeper wood grain, which some homeowners want on a front elevation or a dormer. We install both, and on some houses we mix them. If you are weighing the two, read our page on LP SmartSide siding before the estimate.
Do you need a permit?
Inside Indianapolis, siding put up by a contractor listed with the city is on the permit guide's exempt list. Greenwood only asks for a permit when the structure of the house is changing. Beech Grove and unincorporated Johnson County run their own offices, and we check with them before we start.
Vinyl siding questions
Often, yes. If the siding is still made and has not faded much, we unlock the damaged courses and slide new ones in. If the color no longer matches, we will tell you so before you pay for a patch that shows.
We prefer not to. Tearing off lets us find soft sheathing and get house wrap on the walls. Covering over hides both problems.
Yes, and after a hailstorm it is usually the smart way to do it. One estimate, one crew, and the roof edge, gutters and siding all get finished to meet each other. See roof replacement.
Yes. Seniors, military veterans and people with disabilities get 10% off. Mention it when you call.