Causes of Vinyl Siding Buckled, Rippled, Bent, Loose
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Causes of vinyl siding damage: buckled, rippled, bent, deformed, loose, or un-clipped:
Why does some vinyl siding take on an ugly look with ripples, bends, bulges, or even loose ends?
Beginning here in an article series on vinyl siding buckling we discuss all of the know causes of this defect. Watch out: rippled or loose vinyl siding may be more than just a cosmetic worry, and may indicate structural defects, building movement, leaks, or even heat or fire hazards.
Our page top photo shows wrinkled vinyl siding - often caused by heat exposure but in this case the extent, location, pattern and size of the damage made us suspect that there was another cause, as we explain below.
We also provide an ARTICLE INDEX for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need.
Surface distortion of vinyl siding has been recognized as a problem since the early 1960's when it was described as "oil canning" (Summers 1983). Beginning here we catalog all of the causes of and steps to cure or prevent buckled, warped, oil-canned vinyl siding as well as other forms of vinyl siding damage.
[Click to enlarge any image]
First of all I would like to commend you on an excellent web site. I have considered it a valuable resource in my field of investigative engineering.
[Photos courtesy J.B. Click any image to see an enlarged, detailed version]
I was recently on your website viewing your information about vinyl siding damage and defects. I had an investigation just yesterday where I saw warped or rippled siding at a north side wall. This is a non-weathered side in Tacoma, Washington.
There is about 5’ of space between the wall and the property line fence and no utilities, etc. at that wall. There is a main floor living room and an upper floor master bedroom and that is all.
I have included some pictures for you that you may want to share on your web site and possibly comment on. There was no visible physical damage and no evidence of any water intrusion.
At the worst areas the vinyl siding was pulled away from the wall and there was no staining or streaking over the building paper nor was there any bubbling of the paper or damage to the OSB sheathing found.
Trapped moisture between the siding and building paper due to late fall-early spring damp weather and low temperatures is the only thing that seems reasonable at this time, except for the possibility of material defect, but I am not aware of any such defects matching the conditions seen. The residence was built in 2005. Thanks, - J.B. P.E., Auburn WA
Without a confident diagnosis of the cause of these vinyl siding anomalies I'm reluctant to rule out anything yet, but moisture as a root cause of rippling/buckling would surprise me; I think that plastics buckle and bend more in response to heat and physical stress, or sunlight and photo oxidation than to moisture exposure.
If I had to make a guess before we know more, I'd guess a defective product, thin and poorly formulated;
We might see product defects showing up inconsistently on different building walls for several reasons: exposure differences, installation differences, even different boxes or batches of product at the jobsite.
Since it would be odd for a quantity of defective siding to precisely match the square feet of a single building side or wall, I'd expect to find either some un-damaged siding (different product) on the mostly-damaged building wall, or some damaged siding (defective product) in some areas on other walls.
According to our siding contractor Eric Galow and somewhat supported by my own field inspections, some vinyl siding may be both buckled horizontally and rippled across the vertical width of segments because of what seems to be an inferior product formulation.
Twenty or more years ago there were (and there might be today) some lots of thin, poorly-formulated vinyl siding that warped and bent when exposed to intense sunlight or other heat sources, deforming worse than some of the more special cases we have already documented in our article series
at VINYL SIDING INSPECTION & REPAIR
Although you have not yet seen water damage, leaks can be a bit subtle and even hidden unless the siding is removed entirely.
So it may remain possible that this condition is more than a cosmetic defect; loose siding risks leaks into the wall structure, inviting rot, insect damage, possibly even mold contamination; and the risk of wind blow-off of siding areas is of course much increased.
As a technical aside, and certainly not having to do with the root cause of this badly rippled, loose, buckling vinyl siding, in the photo at left (click to enlarge) I see what looks like "more clean" vertical sections of wall siding in the upper right quadrant of the picture. There may be an insulation void or other interesting building condition going on there.
It would be diagnostic in confirming that the root cause of this siding damage is defective product if we could rule out other factors; Some of these vinyl siding damage factors are adapted from Cardinal (2016), cited below.
Other useful diagnostics for this siding buckling, rippling, and loose ends all found in one place would include:
Thanks! My opinion is that it may likely be indirect heat reflecting from an upper floor window of their neighbor’s house which faces the damaged siding. The siding damage is between the upper floor and stops about 5’ above ground so it is at a specific location.
The somewhat widespread uniform warping would seem to indicate it is not a material defect.
If I get permission to check the manufacturer I will let you know. Thanks for your input and I agree that we all learn from each other’s collective experience, etc. - J.B.
Very interesting;
I must have missed that option in our correspondence.
There is no doubt that reflected heat from sunlight can cause rippled damaged vinyl siding - as I show at
the page top photo
at VINYL SIDING INSPECTION & REPAIR and at
at VINYL SIDING DEFORMATION) (which you may have already seen)
It would be useful to
Nice going.
Vinyl siding will buckle due to thermal expansion if it is not properly installed. Properly installed vinyl siding here means proper placement of siding nails, not over-nailing too tightly, and allowing proper end clearance at single-piece siding runs to allow for thermal expansion.
Vinyl siding that buckles due to improper nailing (photo shown above) is is not normally extremely wrinkled, and will be more wavy across longer horizontal runs of surface
And of course, more severe buckling vinyl siding will be found on a building sides more exposed to sunlight.
Experienced vinyl siding installers who want to avoid siding blow-off refer to "hanging vinyl siding" on the building wall rather than "nailing vinyl siding to the building wall" precisely to remind workers not to nail siding so tightly that it buckles when heated.
See details at VINYL SIDING INSPECTION & REPAIR
On a wall section long enough to have spliced sections of vinyl wall siding in a given siding course, if we see vinyl wall siding that is buckled, we also check to see if the siding moves freely left and right on the wall.
It's easy to either use the butt of your hand to try to slide a siding panel left or right - it should move about 1/2" or so. If the siding feels tight we may check further by grasping the end or edge of a siding section to see if we can pull or push it.
When locking the vinyl siding panels into position, do not force them up or pull them down to adjust the alignment.
Too tight panels can tear and too-loose panels can unlock and come loose. One exception is at the band joint between the first and second floor where panels may come unlocked due to shrinkage of the framing. To compensate for this, some contractors pull the panels a little tight over the band joist area.
At THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS where we discuss the coefficient of linear expansion of many materials we note that vinyl siding can expand significantly along its longer length in response to temperature variations. Consider the vinyl siding installation shown in-process just below.
A crew of four workers was installing vinyl siding on this home in Two Harbors Minnesota in late February, 2016. The workers noted that when they started hanging siding early in the morning the outdoor temperatures were close to 0 °F and there was a biting wind to boot.
Considering that on a hot summer day the temperature on the surface of sun-exposed sides of this home may easily reach 100 °F the siding is exposed to temperature swings of 100 °F or more! Unless the siding is properly hung on the building, buckling of this material in hot weather would be no surprise.
Detailed specifications for hanging vinyl siding to avoid buckling and blow-offs are found in our
article VINYL SIDING INSTALLATION - see:
Above: badly-buckled siding on a building, photo provided by an InspectApedia.com reader. We're not sure what this siding material is: possibly plastic or pvc. I suspect this siding was installed without proper spacing allowance for thermal expansion.
Special thanks to Bob Fankhauser <blueboxconst@hevanet.com>, a retired engineer / professional handyman and Habitat for Humanity volunteer who offered comments, suggestions, additions for vinyl CLTE (Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion), CPVC, PVC, cellular PVC, and vinyl (25 Feb 20-16) as well as helpful discussion concerning the wide variation in coefficients of expansion of materials given by various sources.
Vinyl siding can expand and contract 1/2” (12.7mm) or more over a 12’ 6” (3.81m) length during normal, year-round changes in temperature. That's quite a bit, and we think that metal siding will have an even greater coefficient of thermal expansion. - VSI Cited where we discuss proper siding installation, including the importance of "hanging" the siding on the wall, not "nailing" the siding to the wall,
See the examples quoted at note 1 below.
1. PVC has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of about 165 F, and a coefficient of thermal expansion (CLTE) of about 3.5x10 -5 " - source: Stucky, David J., Randall M. Elinski, and Lori M. Hesslau. "System, method and apparatus for dark-colored siding panel product." U.S. Patent 9,145,690, issued September 29, 2015.
2. Vinyl siding has a high Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion (CLTE) as discussed in some of the citations given just below.
For this reason siding manufacturers include long nailing holes and instructions to hang (loosely) rather than "nail" (tightly) vinyl siding to the building and to provide both overlap between siding sections and end or butt-joint clearances.
This topic has gotten fat - we moved it's tubby self over to it's own room
at VINYL SIDING DEFORMED by SUNLIGHT
Continuing the case of vinyl siding deformed by sunlight or reflected sunlight, siding that's rippled and damaged perhaps by a combination of factors is discussed
at VINYL SIDING BUCKLED RIPPLED COMBINED EFFECTS?
Please see the new home for grillers who cook their siding: VINYL SIDING GRILL COOKER DAMAGE
This hot topic got a page of its own, now at VINYL SIDING FIRE DAMAGED
This topic has been moved to VINYL SIDING MOVEMENT DAMAGE where serious structural damage is suggested.
On 2020-02-26 - by (mod) - white,round circles are appearing all over the exterior of the sidding
Jim,
Please use the add image button to attach a photo showing the spots that you described.
Also tell me if they are occurring uniformly all over the home or if they are more frequent on one side.
I suspect that you are seeing spots at nailheads just as you described.
The cause may be something as simple as slight differences in temperature of the surface at the nail heads that in turn cause spot condensation in certain weather conditions that in turn affects the siding color.
Tell me also if the spots are constant or if in warm dry weather they diminish or disappear
On 2020-02-25 2 by Jim Gately
My vinyl sidding is grey in color and was installed 15 yrs ago with a lifetime warranty. This last year white,round circles are appearing all over the exterior of the sidding. The circle appear to have something to do with the nail heads underneath the sidding as they are in straight rows etc. What is causing this and will my warranty cover it??
On 2020-01-11 - by (mod) - buckling siding diagnostic questions
Richard, I'd need to know more and see more to understand why the bottom vinyl is buckling.
Since siding is installed from the lowest course upwards on the wall, buckling at the bottom would normally be traced to either pressure from above or pressure from below.
From below, for example, if siding is nailed over a wall set on rotting wooden framing or a settling foundation, the siding may press against the ground or against a masonry foundation top (if it's wood rot) and then compress.
How old is the home?
How is it constructed: materials, above-ground clearance; ?
Is there a basement or crawl space that gives view to the other side of the wall?
Perhaps you could use the add image button to post some photos (one per comment)
On 2020-01-11 by Richard grigor
New vinyl siding section at bottom of wall distorted.Then it was replaced. Four days later same thing.Could it be because foam board under it was defective.Or was it nailed to tight?
On 2019-12-05 - by (mod) - troubles with incomplete work by siding contractor
Nancy
I want to help but I can't understand enough of your situation from what you've written so far.
1. "Wrapped?" what was going on, what was proposed? Wrapping what with what material for what purpose?
2. "Wrapping only edges" - edges of what - each siding board? corners? With what material? for what purpose?
3. Siding sliding sideways? - how far, why, what was done to the siding to cause it to move. (Properly installed siding is hung-on, not nailed-to, a building. It can move sideways as much as the width of the slot through which nails are secured. No more.
Horizontal siding would terminate in corner trim installed at the building corners, a vertical piece; were those removed and left off?
Try using the "add image" to add some photos - one per comment; the photos will appear after moderator approval and perhaps we can comment further.
DO NOT pay the company anything until you are completely satisfied.
On 2019-12-05 by nancy
Approximately 15-20 years ago, we had aluminum siding, as did our entire neighborhood. After a heavy hail storm, we,and many of our neighbors, had our siding replaced w/vinyl siding. We've never had any problems w/our siding.
During this past summer, we had our house wrapped and a few windows replaced by what we thought was a reputable company, Thompson Creek. We have had numerous problems w/them. On the southwestern side of our house, the wall is entirely siding, the one window had been replaced years before.
They wrapped only the edges of the siding. Since that time (the job was finished in August), we had 2 instances where the siding slid sideways, exposing the house underneath,
They came out twice, the second guy saying that he'd secured the siding so that it wouldn't slide again. When he first looked at the problem, he said that they didn't need to fix it because they hadn't installed the siding. When I mentioned that they had wrapped the wood on the edges of the siding, he agreed to fix it.
The third time the siding came loose was during a heavy wind storm. Not only did it come loose, but this time, it broke completely away, bent away from the house. They sent a more senior guy out this time (we thought they were coming to fix it, but he came in a truck w/out tools, like the others had), which surprised me because we thought they would fix it like before.
This guy said that they were not responsible; that wrapping the area around the ends of the siding could not cause the siding to be jarred loose.
Is that true? We don't want to hassle the company if it's not their fault, but now, in order to match the siding, we'll have to replace the entire wall, at a cost of $5-7,000.00.
We are both 66 yrs. old, and we're not rich. We had a contractor come out tonight to give us an estimate, and he said it was possible that Thompson Creek had created the problem. My husband is so disgusted w/the company, that he doesn't want to deal w/them anymore, but I just want to know if it's worth pursuing their liability. We don't just happen to have a spare $7,000.00 lying around.
Any info or opinion you could give me would be greatly appreciated. Nancy love
On 2019-05-31 - by (mod) - matching replacement siding
That generosity would surprise me.
On 2019-05-30 by Anonymous
If only one side of a 4 sided house has damaged vinyl siding, should your homeowners insurance pay for 4 new sides to match equally
On 2019-05-23 - by (mod) -
Anonymous by private email said
I live in a 55+ manufactured home community in the Orlando, FL area. We were hit by Hurricane Irma on 9/10/2017. Our home, as well as others, had some of the vinyl sidings detach and hang or appear to be okay but was actually loose. We are currently in litigation with the insurance company for moisture damage to our subfloor from the rain entering through the detached & loosened vinyl siding.
I have noticed the vinyl siding warping and buckling on my home and a majority of the homes in my community. This has just started happening in the recent past few months. Could this be caused by the hot Florida sun in combination with moisture trapped behind hurricane loosened/detached vinyl siding?
The majority of our residents live on Social Security and can not afford expensive repairs. Who would we contact to inspect this situation and advise if this is hurricane damage that should be covered by our insurance companies? Also, who could I contact to inspect and confirm the subfloor moisture damage in my home? I also have black mold in the kitchen wall.
Thank you for any recommendations and assistance you can provide. Im sure our community isnt the only one experiencing this damage.
Moderator reply:
Siding that warps or buckles is usually doing so from being nailed too tightly; much less often it's a defective product; in that case I'd expect the condition to show up before the Irma storm.
Please take a look at VINYL SIDING BUCKLED WARPED and let me know if that leaves you with questions. https://inspectapedia.com/exterior/Vinyl_Siding_Buckled.php
On 2019-03-11 - by (mod) - nearby water causes buckled siding?
Thanks for an interesting question Bill.
I suppose it's theoretically possible that a dead flat body of water close enough and on the right angle could affect vinyl siding, but it seems unlikely that those conditions would occur.
On 2019-03-08 by bill
will a big lake cause siding and trim to warp?
...
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