So my wife and I are making the morning coffee this AM and we hear a loud crash and thump. Iys very very windy out side so I knew what happened and hoped it wasnt too bad. When I got outside I saw a large limb from a terr leaned up against the hous and thru the vinyl siding. Fortunately the decking and the house wrap are fine and it is a single piece of siding so It could have been worse, like another 5 feet and I would be replacing a window.
My question is can I replace a single row of siding without pulling all of it off that side of the house? I have a leftover piece long enough and the house is only 6 months old so flexability and matching shouldnt be a problem. I wont even need a ladder to get to it.
Sure can! There's a tool you can buy that looks like a bottle opener, it releases the siding from the one below it. Then just un-nail it and nail on the new one.
Six maple trees, BTDT> 
Yes. They make a tool that you can pull the bottom lip and unlock it from the other pieces around it, but if it's already broken, you might just cut the old piece out to keep from damaging the pieces around it. Make sure you do it on a hot day so the siding will be more flexible, otherwise you run the risk of cracking the new piece.
Bydaway Porksboy, what you've got there is an "Oh my."
These qualify as genuine "Oh CRAPs!"
914Driver wrote:
BWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Holy Mary Mother of God......
Yeah, I'll quit complaining about my day.
914Driver wrote:
Next time one of my friends refers to me as the ass in the Focus....
Well my day just gets suckier and suckier. My wife called me in from storm clean up because she was moving her car out of the garage so the little one could play. It was idleing rough. Turns out the serpentine belt idler bearing is crapping out.
While I am checking it out she called me because the clothes washer was making stinky smells, The timer was self destructing and would go in spin cycle but th pump wasnt working. This allowed the soap and water in the tub to spill out on the belt, This coupled with the extra load in the tub caused the belt to slip.
So I used caulking around the cracks and broken pieces of the siding to keep the water out.
Safety wired the timer back together. (dont know if that will work yet) $130.00 for a timer.
Lucky wifey is a stay at home mommy and could rescedule her week til I have time to get the parts and fix her car. Maybe I should put the car seat in the Spitfire? Oh wait, I have a sticky throttle shaft on the rear carb.
I guess I have over come what has been thrown at me today and adversity builds character but people tell me I am already a character.
pigeon
Reader
4/13/09 8:24 p.m.
Don't worry too much about sealing up the cracked siding. The house should be water and air tight without it - my house sat without siding when being built for several weeks and it's just fine 5 years later, including the spot where the siding was broken for a couple months after my shed blew over into the side of the house.
Sorry that you're living the "when it rains it pours" life at the moment. At least you have the skills to fix stuff vs having to pay big bucks to others as many of my friends are stuck doing.
Most towns have a small appliance shop that has a pile of old machines out back. The one here in town would let you go through the old machines and get what you needed for $20.00. Had a lightning strike years ago and needed a bunch of parts. Scored a timer for the drier, a fan motor for the fridge, and the solenoid water valves for the washer. Too bad he didn't have the phones and stereo equipment that blew up as well. Saved me a bundle though.
SVreX
SuperDork
4/13/09 9:38 p.m.
16vCorey wrote:
Yes. They make a tool that you can pull the bottom lip and unlock it from the other pieces around it, but if it's already broken, you might just cut the old piece out to keep from damaging the pieces around it. Make sure you do it on a hot day so the siding will be more flexible, otherwise you run the risk of cracking the new piece.
The tool is called a zipper tool (or an unzipper tool)
Cutting up the damaged piece won't quite work, because you will need to get the piece above it unhooked from the damaged piece, so you will still have to unzip it.
Corey is right about the warm day though.
You can probably get it done without the zipper tool (though they are only a couple of dollars). If you look up at the bottom edge of the piece above the damaged one, you will see about an 1 1/2 inch notch at the end. Pry a screwdriver or needle nose pliers up into this notch and pull/ pry down the bottom edge of the piece you are trying to unzip. It will take a little effort. After a few minutes of prying around, it will pop loose and you will be able to unzip the entire bottom edge. Then lift the panel, pull the nails on the damaged piece, and bump the damaged sheet in a downward motion with your fist or the palm of your hand. It will pop loose too, and unzip just like the first piece.
Nail in a new piece. The trick will be re-zipping the piece above to your new one. This is where the zipper tool REALLY comes in handy. You are essentially trying to bend the hooked bottom edge of the sheet down until it latches into the sheet below it, then zip it back together from one end to the other. It will take a little manhandling. Don't be afraid- you won't break it (as long as you picked a warm day like Corey said).
My Lt. when I was in the army did this to his bradley, he rolled it over into a waddi at the NTC. Unbeliveable mess as you can imagine the oil and fluids all comes pouring into the crew compartment......
Chris Rummel
