Aluminum siding:snake oil from the 60s???

4217 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by dkerlee, Feb 7, 2020

dkerlee

Discussion Starter · Feb 5, 2020

Hello folks, my house has Aluminum siding, and I gotta tell ya, while I've been happily ignoring it since I moved in in 2018, I get nothing but grief from all contractors that come over to work on the house! There is only one contractor in a 100mi radius that works on vinyl siding, who's website also mentions aluminum siding. This is crazy be cause Tacoma and Seattle are right here.

What's the skinny with this stuff? It's hard to work with, near impossible to fix when removed. it covers up the siding of the house, which I'm sure is home to bugs ants moisture, all kinds of horrible horrible things.

Or, would someone clad a house in aluminum siding because it's already suffering from all those aforementioned things to essentially "freeze in time" the destruction and decay of the house? Or is it more like the awesome movie Tin Men where a handsome door to door salesman comes by and sweet talks a home owner into putting this **** on their house?

I'm tempted to make a little hole... but when I start, you know I'll go bonkers, rip it all done - then stand there, scratching my head staring at God knows what, asking myself what do I do now?

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Windows on Wash

· #2 · Feb 6, 2020

Just a dying breed of material that is less malleable (figuratively and literally) too work with than vinyl and even hardie or wood.

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dkerlee

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 6, 2020

what do you think about slowly replacing the stuff? Darn, I should probably not DIY this project. It'll need a crew, and scaffolding, and lots of hardy-board. What are the chances that Hardy-board also falls into the "dying breed of material?" Wood is usually a safe bet huh. Wood and a few good coats of paint.

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Windows on Wash

· #4 · Feb 6, 2020

I prefer LP smartside if you are going for the more realistic looking products.

Siding is usually a product that is better suited to tackle in a bigger project, head on, then drips and drabs.

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Old Thomas

· #5 · Feb 6, 2020

Aluminum is decent siding. It was made obsolete because vinyl had advantages such as dent resistance and color clear through. I installed aluminum siding in a former life before vinyl came along. Someone who knows how to work with it can install it and fix it. Considering that vinyl took over the market in the 1970s, people who have expertise with aluminum siding are mostly dead, retired or moved to another line of work long ago. I did my last aluminum job in the early 80s for someone who wanted aluminum but could not find anyone else who ever worked with it.

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dkerlee

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 6, 2020

The inside of the house is lathe and plaster. It was built in 1921. I'm 90% sure the aluminum siding is on over wood siding, but have no idea what shape it's in. In the next month, I'm going to get insulation blown into the exterior walls. Because of the siding, they're going to blow the insulation from the inside.

I'm curious, with blown in insulation, one of these days I'll get around to redoing the siding on the house. If I pull the aluminum siding, and the wood siding, will the insulation fall all over the ground? Or was it standard to have some sort of lathe on the exterior walls to nail siding to other than the structural 2x4s?

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Nealtw

· #7 · Feb 6, 2020

What exactly is the problem you are facing. It is like vinyl in that it really needs a good underwear like house wrap or likely tar paper. Leak problems around windows and doors and decks are more do to installation procedures in the day and would be found with what ever siding of the time. We see aluminum siding now being painted for the first time in 40 years, not may sidings can claim that success.

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dkerlee

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 6, 2020

You're right on there @Nealtw I don't think this siding has been painted for years, and that's a success. The problem I'm having with it at the moment is that my insulation guys won't mess with the siding to blow in from the outside. They're insisting on going from inside which is just a pain.

Beyond that, the siding is old it's starting to fall off in places, and needs a little tlc. There is no one left to work on this stuff, so I pretty much have to live with it, learn to DIY it without replacement parts (no bueno), or wait for it to get real bad, then replace all the siding.

I also don't like that I can't see what's going on in there. Can't see rot, can't see bugs, can't see moisture behind the siding. Not to say any other siding would be different, but I'm a lot more comfortable pulling off a stake of Hardy Board than breaking hang tabs on 20ft lengths of 30+ year old aluminum.

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firehawkmph

· #9 · Feb 6, 2020

I installed a lot of aluminum siding in the 70-80's. I also hung the first vinyl to hit the Cleveland area. Aluminum got phased out due to cost. Vinyl siding was a lot less expensive, especially as aluminum prices continued to rise. For a house of your vintage, if you decide to strip the aluminum off, be prepared for more work than you anticipated. A lot of aluminum was installed over sound wood siding. Homeowners got tired of painting. There was a lot of truth to the Tinman movie. Not sure when it was used as far as the actual years, but I have torn off some jobs and found asbestos siding underneath. That can turn into a big mess. Asbestos siding was fine as long as you didn't touch it with the exception of painting. When they sided over it, they usually stapled lathe and then the siding. The staples would crack a lot of the asbestos siding, making a mess when you removed the aluminum. Do a little exploring if you can and see what you have underneath before you decide what you want to do.
Mike Hawkins

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Bondo

· #10 · Feb 6, 2020

Ayuh,..... Aluminum, then vinyl siding was usually put up to cover whatever's under it,....

I've always said the vinyl sidin' is proof positive that you can actually polish a turd,....

Donno how many run down, nasty lookin' clapboard, or asbestos sided houses that they threw vinyl sidin' on, to make it "Look" like a new house, that I've seen,......

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Old Thomas

· #11 · Feb 7, 2020

Most houses of that vintage had matched lumber as sheathing under the clapboards, some installed diagonally. However, I have seen some with the original clapboards installed over the studs with no sheathing. In those cases, I installed sheathing with the new siding. I had a siding business for 20 years and stripped to the sheathing virtually every house I worked on. It made a better finished product and uncovered a myriad of things that needed attention.

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NotYerUncleBob2

· #12 · Feb 7, 2020

I think ya might wanna maybe possibly do something about that step down to the patio from that door there.

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dkerlee

Discussion Starter · #13 · Feb 7, 2020

hahaha, yup @NotYerUncleBob2, that was sorta an interim evolution between the old junky porch, and a nice new cedar one. I gotta say, a porch, sitting on the ground made for a real fun stage!
thank you all to posted on this thread - excellent advice as per usual for diychatroom.

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Aluminum siding:snake oil from the 60s???

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