The help of a general contractor

If you are installing vinyl siding on the outside of your home's newly built room addition, then the project will go a lot more smoothly if you follow these time-tested tips for successfully working with vinyl siding products:

Always Cut Vinyl Siding Short

While the trim pieces for your room addition's new vinyl siding will need to be cut with some precision, the siding's plank pieces need to be intentionally cut short. Vinyl needs about a half of an inch to expand during warm days, so leaving a bit of excess space available under the trim pieces will allow the vinyl the expansion room that it needs.

Use a Vinyl Saw Blade and Punch

You must cut vinyl siding planks and trim pieces with a special saw blade and punch nail holes using a vinyl punch. A vinyl-rated saw blade will easily cut the planks and the trim pieces without cracking them as a wood blade will do. A vinyl punch will give you a nice large notch hole to use when nailing the siding planks to the foam board underlayment. Large notches are necessary to allow the siding to safely move around in the wind and expand in the weather without breaking or cracking.

Attach Siding to Sheets of Rigid Foam Insulation Board

Over the exterior plywood on your new garage, you need to install rigid foam board insulation. The foam board serves a dual purpose of insulating your garage and providing a nice smooth surface where you can attach the vinyl siding to the exterior of the house. When you apply the foam boards, do so using a construction adhesive on the back and galvanized nails to hold it in place while the adhesive cures. Avoid over nailing too many nails into the foam board because the nails can later interfere with nailing the siding to the wall.

Nail the Siding Loosely to Prevent Breakage

Finally, since vinyl siding will shrink in cold weather and expand in hot temperatures, it needs to be nailed very loosely to the walls of your home's new detached garage. The nail heads should stick out far enough from the wall to allow the vinyl siding planks to slide back and forth as the vinyl contracts and expands during natural outdoor temperature changes. If you nail the siding too hard into the walls, then it will not be able to move and will bow and crack.

If installing vinyl siding seems like too involved a task, a company like Bohnstedt Construction can do it for you.