Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Vinyl Siding and Cold Temperatures

It's the second day off for kids in Northeast Ohio due to the intense cold (-3 degrees F). This doesn't mean that insulation is not being done - just not outside on vinyl sided homes.

Vinyl siding is great to work with typically. It removes easily so you can cover drill holes back up. It doesn't warp or wave upon removal. It basically makes the home look like you've never been there insulating. Unless...

It drops below 20 degrees. When the temperature drops, the siding gets very brittle. How brittle? I demonstrated for a confused home owner as to why we couldn't do his sidewalls until later week. The client obliged me and allow me to take a piece of his siding and demonstrate the "flexibility" of it (he had a spare piece in his garage...) I simply began bending it as I would do it on any other job and within seconds - snap and shatter. Shards lay on the ground. Needless to say, he was happy that we were not there insulating today.

Everything has an Achilles' heal. Cold weather is siding's.

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