Replacing Damaged Vinyl Siding

     A couple of months ago, I was working in the front of the house, and I saw a blemish on the vinyl siding.  It was a Y-shaped crack caused by who knows what.  I slapped a piece of duct tape over the crack, painted the tape to match the siding color, and waited for cooler weather.  The weather hasn't gotten cooler, but with the recent long stretch of sunny days, I decided it was the time to learn how to repair siding.  As with every DIY project I do, it takes lots longer than those grinning experts on the YouTube videos say it will.  Lots, lots longer.

The first thing you need to do the job is to purchase a siding removal tool.  It costs about $7.00, and you get it at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Our broken siding was between two windows, so we had to remove the shutters.  Mike is demonstrating how to do this:  Work a sharpened putty knife under the head of the plastic shutter fastener.  Smack it with a hammer until the head breaks off.  Since shutter attachment is a little loose to allow for expansion and contraction of the vinyl material, it helps to have an assistant to hold the shutter firmly in place when trying to break off the head of the fastener. 

After the fastener heads are gone, pull the shutter off.  The back side is going to be loaded with old wasp nests and other insect crud.  The next thing you have to do is pull out the plastic posts.

You'll need pliers to grab the post and pry it out, but first place a board against the siding to protect it from being damaged by the pliers.  Pull out and roll down using the curvature of the pliers to remove the post.  If the post breaks, you'll have to drill out what remains with a 1/4 inch drill bit.  Here's a video:
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Go to the siding strip that is located above the damaged strip.  Starting at one of the ends, shove the tool up until it catches the upper strip.  I made four unsuccessful attempts to engage the upper strip, so I tried the other end.  I separated the strips and grabbed the upper strip on the first attempt this time.  Slide the tool along the strip, and the two pieces will unzip.  

Raise the upper strip.  It's easier if your helper holds the upper strip out of the way for you.  This is an example of poor nailing technique.  The nails should be centered in the slots, not up against the edge.  The nails should also be driven in leaving room for the strips to slid back and forth.  Imagine all your siding pieces as a sort of unit that floats on the surface of your house.  Draw a line along the top of the strip before you remove it.  The line serves as a guide when you insert the replacement strip.  Pull out the nails with a hammer or pry bar, and remove the damaged piece of siding.  We had some extra pieces of siding in the crawl space, so I cut a new piece from these left overs.  For this repair between two windows, I cut the new strip about 3/8 inch shorter than the space I needed to cover.  This allows for expansion and contraction of the vinyl during the hot and cold seasons.  I was able to reuse the nails.  I centered all my nails in the slots, so I had to make some new nail holes.  I squeezed caulk into the old holes to seal them.     

When the new piece is nailed into place, drop the upper strip down.  Insert the tool into the corner of the upper piece and pull down over the lower piece.  Run the tool along the seam pulling down and locking or zipping up the siding.  Here's a video:
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     You might think I would pat myself on the back at this point and have a nice, cold drink.  Not yet.  While doing the repair, I noticed that there was another piece of damaged siding higher up.  This wasn't a short easy run between windows.  It was a full 12 foot piece that was cut around the porch roof and the top of one of the windows.  After consulting YouTube and learning about J-channels, I decide I should try it.  Things went well until the end of the job.  I pressed against a piece of siding and heard a crack.  A staple that had not been nailed flat punched through another piece of siding when I pressed directly over it.  Oh well, by this time I was an expert.  
     Replacing three pieces of siding was enough for one day.  Washing and reattaching the shutters would wait until the next day.  Mike says I'm nuts, but I plugged up all the shutter attachment holes overnight because I was afraid bees or carpenter ants would crawl into our walls.    

New shutter fasteners look like this.  You can get them at Home Depot in colors to match most shutters.  They cost about $7.00 for 12 pieces - enough to hang a pair of shutters.  These fasteners are not reusable, so buy more than you need.  The barbed design means you can't remove it without destroying it, even if you tap it in just a little bit.

I pushed the fasteners part way through the shutters.  Then I matched the fasteners up to the holes in the house.  Finally, I tapped the fasteners in until they were almost tight.  I left  just a little bit of play in the way the shutters fit.  Be sure to mark the shutters when you take them down, so you put them back in their original positions.  Do this because the holes from window to window might not be exactly the same.    

Job done!