Vinyl siding is one of the longest lasting and most durable products you can add to your home on the market, when it is done right that is. So what happens when the lifetime warrantied product you got all exited about isn’t so great underneath it’s nice exterior? It’s similar to putting a new car body onto a car with an old rumbly engine. No matter how nice the outside looks, if the inside is not performing at peak levels, then the entire system will fail. This blog contains a repair that A&A made after a contractor (who is not around anymore) installed their siding. Below is the actual picture of the rotting exterior.
One of the least protected cities from the elements in all of Massachusetts is Gloucester. It is the perfect place to be bringing you this blog entry from. Fewer places than Gloucester have a such prevailing elemental exposure. Over at A&A Services, we like to call places like this, which are right next to the ocean, “Horizontal Rain Hotspots”. These houses constantly take a pounding from the elements, and must get paid very special attention to while installing vinyl.
In the above pictures you can see the damage that occured on this property on the outskirts of Downtown Gloucester. Although the house looked normal, the homeowners noticed leaking underneath the siding long after rain stopped. They gave A&A Services a call to diagnose the problem. One look at the problem left by another contractor and A&A knew that there had to be rot underneath the siding from improperly installed flashing (wrapping). To the left is a picture of flashing installed by A&A Services after the rot was removed. Removing rot is no easy task. Rot can effect multiple aspects of your homes construction (i.e. Insulation, window sills, frames, etc.) This mistake left by a contractor who did not properly flash the house the first time cost these homeowners thousands. Remember, the outside of the siding is only as good as the insides of the siding. Make no mistake about it though, products like Vinyl Siding and Fiber Cement Siding still revolutionize the way your home is protected from the elements. Below is a picture of the house once it is restored back to normal. A&A will warranty this side of the house (facing the water) for a lifetime.
