How to Install Aluminum Siding

The use of aluminum as a house siding material began after World War II. Since then, people have preferred to use it over other different types of house sidings on account of its several advantages. The surface of the siding is often coated with enamel, which enables it to obtain various kinds of looks including an artificial wooden surface.

The weather plays a vital role while installing this type of siding, as summer and spring are the best seasons for carrying out this project. It is generally a good idea to check the weather forecast before beginning with the work of installation, as an unexpected rain will make the task difficult for you for the next few days.

Following are some of the advantages of using aluminum as the siding material:

• It is fire as well as waterproof, and it can last for several decades.
• It does not require much maintenance as it gives rise to a very few problems, like scratches and minor dents. These can be cured by sanding or repainting the surface.
• It does not oxidize, unlike steel siding.

• As a result of using this siding, the exterior walls of your house do not come in direct contact with rain or snow, and they are protected from fungal or algal growth arising due to moisture.

• The cost is much less as compared to other types of house siding materials like brick, stone, and wood.

• It provides much more effective insulation to your house as compared to vinyl siding. As a direct result of this, your fireplace and/or air-conditioner would work more efficiently throughout the year.

Usually, the manufacturers would provide you with an instruction manual when you buy aluminum siding. If you read this manual carefully, the installation work will be quite easy for you.

You require some simple tools like attachment strips, hammer, handsaw for cutting the sheets, nails, utility knife, and a ladder to reach out to the higher areas of the wall. To get an impressive finish, you have to prepare the wall properly.

Clean the walls to remove the dirt and debris like old paint, putty, or caulking. Any nails sticking out of the walls should be hammered properly inside, and all small or big depressions should be filled up with wedges.

For installation of the siding, the backing surface has to be even. For this purpose, an underlayment has to be installed before you fix the aluminum siding. Foam board is considered the best material to be used as underlayment.

Start the installation work from one wall, and move on to the next one only when you are done with it. Each of the sheets should be kept in a straight line during installation. Any two adjacent sheets of siding should overlap at least two inches with each other.

After placing the sheets on the wall, you have to fix them. The sheets have factory-made holes in them where you have to put the nails and hammer them in to fix the siding on the wall.

You have to use only aluminum nails for this work as the sheets may get damaged otherwise. Take care not to fix the siding very tightly, as it may bend due to thermal expansion and contraction.

On every wall, a gap of ¾ inches needs to be kept to fix up the corner caps. When the installation work is finished, you have to fit the corner caps on each corner of the wall. Slide the rims of the corner caps under the edges of the panels of aluminum siding and then fix them up with nails so that the sheets are joined together.

We hope you find this procedure for installing aluminum siding easy. You can paint the walls with any color of your choice after installation and make it look attractive.

Once you have installed the siding, you are free from any kind of maintenance of the external wall of your house. All you need to do is to clean it up once every year and paint it once in 5 or 6 years.