Did You Know That Vinyl Siding Can Melt?
After a homeowner recently called me with a question about replacing her vinyl siding, I did some research and found this HouseLogic.com article.
The homeowner mentioned her vinyl siding looked, “melted,” and I thought it might be on a deck near a grill. This is a common problem in the summer people don’t realize until it’s too late.
But the customer responded, “We’ve never grilled on the side of our house. And it’s too high off the ground.”
So I stopped by for an estimate and looked at the problem area. It definitely wasn’t a grill, but the siding did appear melted. The houses in this development are relatively close together and the side of the house across from my homeowners is the Southern facing side. When I was there, I didn’t notice anything specific, but when I got back to the office to ask Jon (the Owner of American Home Contractors) he said it might be the energy-efficient windows of the house next door.
If you read the article, it does confirm that this phenomenon is rare and requires the perfect combination of factors to lead to any real damage. However, with Energy Efficient Windows becoming so much the standard in the market that, “some areas require low-e windows on new homes or in retrofits,” the problem is becoming increasingly more common.
From the article What are Industry Insiders Saying? – House Logic
The Vinyl Siding Institute acknowledges the problem but claims that heat distortion from low-e windows is rare. However, the NAHB says that as low-e windows have become more prevalent, melted vinyl siding has become more common. So much so that major vinyl siding manufacturers have updated their warranties to exclude heat damage caused by windows.
That homeowner from before, she decided to remodel her house with James Hardie Fiber Cement Siding.
Try melting that stuff.