LESLIE: Lorraine in Wisconsin is dealing with a siding issue. Tell us about it.
LORRAINE: Well, I was wondering if anything can be done about bulging siding.
TOM: What kind of siding is it, Lorraine? Is it vinyl?
LORRAINE: It’s vinyl.
TOM: OK. So the reason the siding bulges is because it was put on too tightly. I bet you, without even seeing your house – and no I’m not stalking you, Lorraine (Leslie chuckles) – that it’s probably bulging worse on the west and the south sides.
LORRAINE: Well, this happens to be on the east side.
TOM: It does?!
TOM: Oh!
TOM: Alright. Ah, you tricked me. Well, the reason I say this is because usually the warmest sides of the house is where this happens because if the siding was installed too tightly it expands and sort of bulges and gets very wavy on the house. Now the solution is to pull off the siding, to remove it, and then to reinstall it in the same place but to be very careful not to nail it home, so to speak. In other words, don’t drive the nails all the way in. You will find that the siding is put up – has prepunched nail slots, not nail holes, and the nail needs to be placed in the middle of the slot so that the siding piece can actually slide back and forth on it. If the nails are driven too firmly into the siding, then it’s attached to the house too securely and when the sun hits and it warms up it will expand and bulge.
LORRAINE: Oh. Can that come from pounding, like throwing – they may pound it a lot when they took the ice off the roof?
TOM: No, not really. If the siding was put up – was nailed too hard to begin with – you should be able to grab the siding and slide it back and forth. If you can’t slide it back and forth, it’s nailed too stiffly; it’s too tight. OK? And that’s why it’s bulging.
Lorraine, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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