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Regular rippled buckled vinyl siding (C) Daniel Friedman Combined Causes of Rippled, Bent Vinyl Siding
Heat + low quality vinyl + nailing defects in vinyl siding jobs

Are there combinations of causes of vinyl siding damage that work together to cause ripples and buckling in the material?

This article explores rippled buckled siding that may be due to a combination of factors including the quality of the original vinyl material, nailing errors, and other defects combined with sunlight or a heat source.

This article series discusses all of the known causes of buckled, loose, cracked or otherwise damaged vinyl siding. 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.

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Buckled Rippled Vinyl Siding Caused by Combined Factors: Heat + Nailing ?

Regular rippled buckled vinyl siding (C) Daniel Friedman

[Click to enlarge any image]

This article is a sequel to VINYL SIDING DEFORMED by SUNLIGHT where we illustrate vinyl siding that is almost certainly buckling due to intense sunlight or heat from sunlight reflected from nearby windows.

The ripples in the vinyl siding on the building discussed here may involve sunlight but there is no obvious source of reflection or concentrated heat.

The vinyl-sided wall on the Amenia New York home shown here is rippled or buckled at regular intervals, suggesting that the deformation might be related to the siding's nailing pattern, perhaps having been nailed too tightly, or perhaps rippling at or between nailing points due to thermal expansion of siding butted between vertical J-channel trim.

Below is a closer-look at the buckling/rippling pattern in this vinyl siding.

Regular rippled buckled vinyl siding (C) Daniel Friedman

Click to enlarge this photo to see details of the vinyl siding rippling pattern. Some of the bulges are too-close to be likely to be nail pops or to map a stud interval.

We're not sure exactly what's going on with this siding but here are some diagnostic observations that may prompt comments from other readers. With one exception the siding buckling photos shown below were photographed at the end of May in 2016. We think the siding job was about ten years old at that time.

Area where buckled siding occurs on the home (C) Daniel Friedman

Here is a different wall of the home, one receiving more shade, showing that the vinyl siding is quite flat (though growing some nice algae).

Vinyl siding in shade is not buckled (C) Daniel Friedman

Here is a less sharp image of the same home from Google Street View taken in October, 2008.

You can see that in October the house wall is more-shaded. The siding was about two years old when this photo was taken.

Vinyl sided home in 2008 - Google Street View

Probable causes of rippled buckling vinyl siding on this home

Opinion: it would be unusual to see rippled or buckled vinyl siding blamed on heat from the sun in areas of a building where there was no reflected, concentrated sunlight - such as from an opposing window.

We speculate that we are seeing rippling siding at regular intervals from a combination of

Readers are invited to comment using the page bottom COMMENTS box.


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