Vinyl Siding

[BMFR6]

Any install or have installed vinyl siding in the past? I need to do my house this year and it kills me to pay some one. Is it a tough job? My house is pretty small, about 10 square. So how difficult of a job is it and any guesses what I would pay in materials?

[1/2pint]

easy as hell how tall is the house? wrapping the windows is the hard part

[BMFR6]

rough estimate?? 8 feet the majority of the way around, i do have one gable end that probably is about 16 feet or so at the peak.

[1/2pint]

that is not bad at all. you can bang that out in 2 to 3 full 8 hour days helps with 3 people 2 to hang it and one to make the cuts on the ground.

what is on the house now?

[Stoneman]

Siding's so easy that *I* used to do it winters for a friend when he couldn't find cold-weather crews. You'd be amazed at just how easy it is. To price materials, just visit your local box store with dimensions, corners, window/door openings, etc. They'll give you everything you need - starter strips, corner posts, J-channel, siding, nails, etc., and probably give you a quick lesson on how to install. And all you really need is a quick lesson - it's THAT easy...

[1/2pint]

yup like stoneman said it is easy to do more so with a little help i can get you some pump jacks if need be to make it go faster

[Trouble]

It's really quite easy to install.

Not to sound like a tree hugger but I'd recommend watching the movie "Blue Vinyl" first. Vinyl is some really nasty stuff that will be on this planet for an extremely long time...

[tsanto]

Probably getting everything set up (jacks, planks, ladders) is the hardest step. It should go up pretty quick, cutting stuff in like windows and doors is a little tricky.

[BMFR6]

right now there is vertical pine boards, barn board style. under that is old clap boards. i am thinking of taking the pine off, wrapping it in tyvek and pink board insulation, then the vinyl. Insulation in the house is horrible.

[1/2pint]

right now there is vertical pine boards, barn board style. under that is old clap boards. i am thinking of taking the pine off, wrapping it in tyvek and pink board insulation, then the vinyl. Insulation in the house is horrible.

smart move will cut your heat bill down a little

[Daytona440]

I'll help you out Mark.

i'll work for pizza and beer...

[1/2pint]

i would be more then happy to help just note i might cash in the favor when i reside my crib

[BMFR6]

nice, i'll keep everyone posted.

[R7]

Any install or have installed vinyl siding in the past? I need to do my house this year and it kills me to pay some one. Is it a tough job? My house is pretty small, about 10 square. So how difficult of a job is it and any guesses what I would pay in materials?

Vinyl siding is very easy to work with as mentioned above. The key to a nice job is installing the J-channel properly. When ever you're working on a house, think water and how it travels. It's hard to describe the nothces and whatnot with J-channel but around windows and doors, always start from the bottom and work up...install the bottom first, then the 2 sides, then the top. I always fold the inside peice/flapper (that most people just cut off) over the the other so it acts as a flashing...again hard to describe without showing.
Don't forget that vinyl expands and contracts with temperature, it's very important to NOT nail it tight and to leave each peice 3/8" short.

As for cost, it depends what you choose to use. Vinyl siding can range from $60/sq to $1,000/sq
I used the cedar impression (looks like real shingles) on my house and they ran me about $260/sq. Lifetime garantee and this stuff is 1/8" thick!!

As for the prep work, well if it were my house I'd strip all the old siding off and start from scratch. You'll end up with a nice clean looking job and you may even save a little time by not having to pad around windows and trying to make things even

[Punjistick]

I've helped side a tripple decker in dorchester before. Like others have said, it goes fast with one guy cutting and a few others nailing it up. Mark is spot on about the J-channel around the windows and doors. That's exactly what we did. We used a laser transit to make sure we started it off level and got the corners right.

[RandyO]

siders started on my barn today, supost to take them 3 days, only 12 square of siding, but trim under the overhangs, widows peak will slow them down,

[Stoneman]

...Vinyl is some really nasty stuff that will be on this planet for an extremely long time...

That's usually the point of using vinyl siding...

[Stoneman]

Oh, and again with the +1 on what R7 says about the J-channel...

Also-with an 8' exterior wall, it doesn't sound like you'll need much 'setting up'. A coupla guys and a coupla ladders sounds like all you need. Fuck, we've done 2-story houses in a weekend with just ladders, including the gable ends...

The current siding sounds like board & bat by your description, yes? Also, here at the shop, we used insulated siding instead of foam board. The 'R' factor was the same, the material wasn't quite twice as much. But the courses are double, so the labor was a lot less. Just a thought as foam board underlay's 'R' factor isn't really that high. But we DID use it on our house. Like yours, next to no insulation as our house was originally a 3-season 'camp' - and like yours, we had board & bat siding to start with...

[BMFR6]

thanks guys.

i've seen diagrams of what R7 is talking about as far as snipping/bending the ends of the J channel, makes sense.

as far as the insulated siding vs. the foam board, this is where i am a little un-decided. the simplicity and double courses of the insulated siding sounds good as it would cut the time it takes in half, but...
there is the current pine board siding, then some tar paper (or newspaper depending on which part of the house you look at, yeah, newspaper) then the old horizontal clap board siding. i am not sure if there is any sheathing under the clap board. most likely there is, but in this house, anything is possible. by putting the foam board, over the clap board i give myself a flat surface to work. if the clapboard comes off and there is sheathing underneath, great, nice flat surface. the problem then however becomes building the wall back out enough to make windows/doors flush again.
if i use the 1/2" foam board and just get rid of the 1/2" pine siding, one would think everything should line up like it should, no?

[BMFR6]

okay, just an update. i'm not having fu with this. i'm pumped to be able to say we did it all ourselves and we have gotten awesome comments from everyone...... but it is not any fun. i have worked very hard in life to get out of the manual labor world, now i remember why.

[banzairx7]

Did my house last year completely by myself. It took me like 3 weeks of 3-4 hour days. It wasn't hard just time consuming. Put up the tyvek, put on the blueboard, put up all the channels, then siding, repeat forever. I probably put 20 miles on my ladder. My house is tiny too. Id hate to do a big ole colonial.

[Stoneman]

I'm TOTALLY not trying to sound like an ass. But if you're having a hard time hanging vinyl, you're doing something wrong. It's as tit as a 'manual labor' job you can do...

[BMFR6]

haha. true, it is a pretty skate manual labor job, but its not any fun. like banzai said, I think i've put 20 miles on my ladder so far. i'll be curious to se what the change is home value is.

[BostonSVkid]

wrapping windows is no fun and if you dont have a bender then you will make it look like poo!