[albertaa]

I had 16' double 6 insulated siding from a leading manufacturer installed 2 years ago. As you can see in the attached picture there is warping where the siding pieces meet. I was thinking of buying and replacing just the pieces where this warping occurs on the garage and house, thinking that maybe there was a manufacturing problem that was later corrected and doesn't affect the siding now. However, what I'm wondering is if this is a general problem with insulated siding, and should I instead replace the siding with a completely different one? Does having insulation glued directly to the siding create a temperate variance leading to an issue like this?


Sorry for image, for some reason it rotated it 90 degrees when uploading

 

[joecaption]

No it's not normal.
First thing I'd do is unlock a few pieces and check to see if someone nailed it to tight to the wall.
Siding must have room to expand and contract.

 

[albertaa]

Ok, i'll do that this weekend. If that isn't the case, are there any other causes for this?

 

[Old Thomas]

If it was nailed too tight, it would ripple between the nails not at the ends of the panels. Darker colors of vinyl are more prone to strange things happening than pastel colors. I think the laminated insulation is not all the way to the end of the panel, so there is some uninsulated vinyl at the end for overlapping the panel below. That part probably reacts differently in heat from the insulated area. Vinyl siding is not air tight, so laminating insulation to the back of it does very little in terms of adding insulation to your exterior envelope. In fact, if the insulation is glued on and it expands differently from the vinyl, it can cause problems.
My solution, since it is only 2 years old, would be to contact the local distributor for that brand, where it came from if possible. All manufacturers have field reps who visit jobs like yours to evaluate problems. If they cannot identify something that was done wrong, you might have a warranty claim. They usually visit the local distributors every few weeks to buy lunch and make sales. Call the local distributor and get hooked up to the rep.

 

[albertaa]

Old Thomas, you're correct that there is no insulation where the pieces overlap on one of the boards. The one underneath has insulation and the one on the top doesn't. So what you say makes sense. A neighbor down the road had the same type of siding installed but a different brand and I noticed the same issue to a varying degree. It seems like my only option is to tear off the old siding and replace it with something that doesn't have insulation. Uguuuuuh!!!!

 

[tribe_fan]

Call the manufacturer - they may send someone out and replace the material for free.


Also look at it at different time during the day to see if you may be getting a reflection from another Window.

 

[Colbyt]

Is it everywhere or just in one spot?


I have seen reflected sunlight, like from a neighbors window, damage vinyl.


If everywhere I would definately call the MFG.

 

[albertaa]

It's everywhere, both the garage (picture) and house on all 4 sides.

 

[Old Thomas]

Yep, manufacturer should be involved. The last resort is doing something at your expense. The good news is that it is cosmetic, so it is not damaging your home if you need to be a pest to the manufacturer.

 

[kwikfishron]

The manufacturer isn't going to do anything but you can try.

What I'm seeing in an installation issue.

The siding is either nailed to tight (as mentioned) or the panels were cut to long not leaving enough space in the channels for expansion (or both).

 

[Colbyt]

The manufacturer isn't going to do anything but you can try.

It is always the installer's fault. No MFG ever made a bad batch of anything.

 

[kwikfishron]

It is always the installer's fault. No MFG ever made a bad batch of anything.

I do not disagree with your comment but in this case I see what I see and after about 35 years of my work being about 20% VS installs the op's pics makes it obvious to me.

 

[Old Thomas]

It is usually the installer’s fault, but probably not this time. The problem is at the overlaps. If it was fit too tightly, the whole panel would ripple. If it was nailed too tightly, it would ripple between the tight nails. It is rippled beyond the last nail where it is free floating overlap, or so it appears. I did a lot of warranty work for manufacturers, they even covered stuff that was really installer caused. Give them a try, your house is not in danger of deteriorating and you might get it fixed for free.

 

[Windows on Wash]

Probably no foam behind those sections as they tried to run the lap as wide as possible.

 

[ron45]

Zoom in the picture and you can see the same result at the eave where no nails should be.

My opinion.

One side is pulled up higher then the other/not level