How to Repair Melted Vinyl Siding | Ask This Old House

Tom Silva helps a homeowner solve the mystery of her melted vinyl siding. (See below for a shopping list, tools, and steps.)
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Shopping List for How to Repair Melted Vinyl Siding:
– Window screen, used to eliminate reflective solar heat
– Adhesive-backed Velcro tape, for securing screen to window
– Vinyl siding, used to replace the damaged siding
– Aluminum roofing nails, for attaching the vinyl siding

Tools List for How to Repair Melted Vinyl Siding:
– Hammer
Utility knife and combination square, for scribing a cut line onto the vinyl siding
– Aviation snips, used to cut vinyl siding
– Zip tool, used to lock siding panels together

Steps for How to Repair Melted Vinyl Siding:
1. Apply 4-inch-long strips of adhesive-backed Velcro tape to a window screen.
2. Peel off the backing from the tape and stick the screen to the outside of the window sash.
3. Slip your hand behind the siding course immediately above the damaged siding. Slide your hand along the wall to disengage the butt (bottom) edge of the siding.
4. Use a hammer to pull the nails holding the first course of damaged siding to the wall.
5. Pull down on the siding to disengage it from the course below, then remove the damaged piece of siding.
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to remove the remaining damaged siding panels.
7. Measure a new vinyl siding panel to fit along the very bottom of the wall. Scribe the cut line with a combination square and utility knife.
8. Cut the siding along the scribed line with aviation snips.
9. Snap the lowest course of siding into the starter strip fastened along the bottom of the wall.
10. Secure the siding with aluminum nails. Space the nails 12 to 16 inches apart, and tap them through the center of the nailing slots.
11. Be sure to leave the nail heads protruding 1/16 of an inch or so. Don’t nail the siding tight to the wall.
12. Where two pieces of siding overlap, use the utility knife to trim the end of the nailing hem and the back edge of the butt edge.
13. Continue to install siding up the wall, one panel at a time.
14. To snap the last-installed siding panel onto the panel above, use a zip tool.
15. Hook the zip tool onto the butt edge of the upper siding panel, then pull down and push in at the same time.
16. Slide your hand and the zip tool along the wall to lock the siding panels together.

About Ask This Old House TV:
Homeowners have a virtual truckload of questions for us on smaller projects, and we’re ready to answer. Ask This Old House solves the steady stream of home improvement problems faced by our viewers—and we make house calls! Ask This Old House features some familiar faces from This Old House, including Kevin O’Connor, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook.

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How to Repair Melted Vinyl Siding | Ask This Old House
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