My Vinyl Siding Doesnt Have Good Insulation

It doesn t take much sense to realize that vinyl siding is not water tight and that your sheathing should always be protected by a layer of paper of some sort.

My vinyl siding doesnt have good insulation.

The insulation bends the way that light passes through the glass a little like a magnifying glass. However the additional thickness of the insulation adhered to the siding does create some challenges that must be understood prior to installation. Drawbacks of insulated vinyl siding. Vinyl siding without insulation has an r value of 0 67.

If your neighbor has insulated windows and you have vinyl siding your neighbor s windows could reflect the light back onto your home in a way that causes your siding to melt even on the coldest of days. However if vinyl is being used as a rainscreen it cannot have insulation in this area. Pros and cons of insulated vinyl siding vs non insulated siding. Despite the good qualities of vinyl it does pay to have extra insurance in the form of house wrap.

This is negligible however as a fully insulated exterior should have an r value of 13. Thankfully they ve changed those building codes to require building paper under vinyl. Vinyl siding is made from polyvinyl chloride pvc and requires no painting or caulking. Manufacturers have vinyl siding and accessories that mimic the look of wood stone and other natural siding materials.

This siding is available in a variety of colors and textures. It s a trade off you ll have to consider. Adding insulation to the back of vinyl siding can raise the cost by 20 to 50. Installing insulated vinyl siding is not a far departure from non insulated siding for those that are experienced.

It s good to see that your contractor is putting it on top of felt. Hope your project turns out well. Vinyl siding can have foam insulation put behind it which increases its r value to 3 or 4. Installing insulated vinyl is similar to a standard vinyl installation so there s no reason why labor costs should be significantly higher with insulated vinyl.

For all it s improvements vinyl still doesn t have the same look and feel of real wood or even fiber cement. You have plenty of options with vinyl siding if you want an authentic look. The bid i just got is from a company that wants to put vinyl siding with foam insulation attached to the siding on over the existing siding. Studies backed by the siding industry have shown that insulated vinyl siding offers modest benefits at a substantial cost.

Even from a distance vinyl siding just doesn t look as good. Reduced energy use ranging from just 1 percent to about 11 percent. Here is an overview of the data. The main drawback of insulated vinyl is its relatively high cost.

While vinyl siding may be cheaper and maintenance free it doesn t look as good as natural products. My siding is mostly in good shape. Insulated vinyl siding advantages.