Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We believe our house was built on an Indian burial ground. Seriously, this new house is custom built and over $500K yet everything is going wrong. We've been living in this house for approx. 9 months. During this time, 7 pieces of our vinyl siding has fallen off which the builder has put back on. Two of them fell off 2x.
Approx. 2 months ago or so, we noticed that a whole side of our house's siding has this wavy "melted" look. The builder states that it's because the house is built such that the sun hits the energy saving windows which reflects the sun onto the siding melting it. I asked them not to replace the vinyl there until a solution to this issue could be found. They instead went and replaced the siding which in 1 month's time, has started melting again. They state this is not their fault and we will have to keep replacing the siding. They stated that neither the siding or window company is at fault.
They stated our only option is to maybe put up some trees in front of the windows, however, 2 things - that would take all the light out of our basement and 2nd, wouldn't that sun burn the trees? Also, the area where it's melting is also the same area where one piece of siding fell off 2x (could be coincidence).
We've been looking at different films/screens, etc. Have contacted places like 3M but they said they don't know if they will actually work to solve the problem but it's worth trying. For the screens, the builder told us we would have to purchase the windows that open vertically vs. the swing arm ones. I am open to trying anything though.
All this BS for the cheap price of putting solar screens on the house. Your builder apparently isn't too sharp otherwise this easily resolved issue would be gone.
The problem is even worse when houses are built so close together that one owner's windows reflect on the second owner's vinyl, causing damage. Who pays for remediation? I hope now that builders are aware of the potential problem it will happen less often, either by a change in materials or architectural tricks. In our area near Raleigh new houses in planned developments are not allowed to be built with vinyl siding anymore.
It's kind of hard to tell since we can't see a very large area, but was the siding hung properly? Vinyl siding must be hung so that the siding can expand and contract and slide on the nails. That is the reason they have nail slots and the nails must go in the center of the slot, loose enough so the siding can slide. If the nails are too tight or placed at the ends of the slots, particularly opposite ends, so the siding can't slide, it will buckle and look wavy when it gets warm and expands. As I said, I can't really tell by looking at this on my phone, but it is something to consider.
I worked at a building materials supplier for 38 years. I sold a lot of vinyl siding during that time and never heard of a single instance of vinyl siding "melting" from the reflection of the sun off of windows.
It's kind of hard to tell since we can't see a very large area, but was the siding hung properly? Vinyl siding must be hung so that the siding can expand and contract and slide on the nails. That is the reason they have nail slots and the nails must go in the center of the slot, loose enough so the siding can slide. If the nails are too tight or placed at the ends of the slots, particularly opposite ends, so the siding can't slide, it will buckle and look wavy when it gets warm and expands. As I said, I can't really tell by looking at this on my phone, but it is something to consider.
I worked at a building materials supplier for 38 years. I sold a lot of vinyl siding during that time and never heard of a single instance of vinyl siding "melting" from the reflection of the sun off of windows.
I was just getting ready to post that. The reason it keeps happening is because the builder is hanging the vinyl incorrectly each time. Vinyl must be allowed to expand and contract. I would almost guarantee that's the problem.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
