Do Houses With Vinyl Siding Always Have Insulation

An honest professional vinyl siding contractor will tell you exactly what you re getting.

Do houses with vinyl siding always have insulation. Siding and insulation have several jobs to do beyond sheathing the home and insulating it from the elements. Insulated vinyl siding is standard vinyl siding with a backing of solid rigid foam insulation. Also during this siding process you may also consider asking your contractor to add foam insulation between the vinyl and the house wrap for increased r value. So if you re comparing proposals to install new vinyl siding on your home please be aware of this important fact.

In fact third party studies show that an existing 2 story home without cavity insulation can reduce heating and cooling costs by an average of 14 2 by adding insulated vinyl siding. Some people use roofing nails but if a strong gust of wind gets under the siding it may not hold. There are insulated rigid foam products that will increase the insulation factor but you ll pay much more for r 5 to r 7. Hi todd i have a ranch home in md built in 1988 i recently took off the brick on the front which only went half way up and vinyl siding and wanted to replace the windows with anderson well i found out that the house was only sheated on the corners and silver foam on the walls i removed the foam and found areas missing isulation and a few areas.

Even if you have pink insulation in your walls you are still losing energy through a process called thermal bridging. As an alternative installation of specific types of drop in contoured foam underlayments for various styles of vinyl siding are available. Vinyl siding must never be applied directly to studs without sheathing. By filling the voids behind the siding s stepped profile the insulation makes the complete material stiffer and more resistant to warping and movement than conventional vinyl siding.

Although using flat insulation with traditional siding can be a cheaper alternative it doesn t come with all the additional benefits that insulated vinyl siding can provide. Siding and insulation have improved greatly but the finest siding is not good enough without proper insulation. This will help your house wrap perform better and if you re already siding your house you may as well include it as installing it later will require a complete re siding. The nails have a plastic cap that keeps them from damaging the foam.

Insulation must keep the area between the insulation and the walls free of insects dirt and moisture. Always follow the manufacturer s instructions for installing rigid foam insulation. Some manufacturers of vinyl siding do not recommend the use of drop in backers with certain vinyl siding configurations.