What causes vinyl siding to keep unlocking?

Posted by admin
blueyam1234 asked:


What causes vinyl siding to not stay locked? Could it be a damaged piece somewhere, a crooked wall? Also how can i solve this problem.

Jon
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    • This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 11:30 pm and is filed under siding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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    4 Responses to “What causes vinyl siding to keep unlocking?”

    1. wolfatrest2000 Says:
      July 13th, 2008 at 7:49 am

      It’s possible that when it was installed that it was colder than normal and they didn’t push the pieces together tightly. So when it gets hot and the vinyl expands the pieces pop out loose from each other. Another possibility would be that if they nailed the vinyl too tightly and the siding doesn’t have room behind the nails to expand and contract freely. If either of these is the case, the only way I know you could fix it would be by rehanging the siding.

    2. hdhog98 Says:
      July 15th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

      improper installation, it probably wasn’t nailed in, unlock the one above it and make sure it has nails in the nail-strip on the top of the piece in question

    3. johnsoak Says:
      July 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

      Difficult to solve by replacing, as color differential is a problem. Fading starts almost immediately. When originally hung, it has to be pulled (upward) fairly tight and nailed loosely(1/16″ min. gap between nail head and nailing track). Rehanging is possible but will need a siding tool (not expensive) for releasing track on all above pieces. If this is happening at the rim joist area, it could be header shringage and the same remedy could apply.

    4. Derek Says:
      July 19th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

      You must be in a climate that has large temperature fluctuations over the course of the year. It is very likely that the installation took place during a cold or hot time of the year and the installer either pulled the siding too much with nails during hot season or did not pull enough during installation in cold season. Siding works all year, it expands and shrinks based on the temperature it is exposed to. Someone will need to remove a row or two of your siding where it unsnaps and compensate for it. Not a difficult process but unless you know how to unsnap siding in the middle of the wall and which way to move the pressure I would not do it yourself.
      Good Luck