Q. How does an inspector know is the entire house is okay under the aluminum siding without looking under every section of siding? We are considering the possbility of buying a home that has aluminum siding on it, and we plan to eventually take it off, but how do we know for sure that we are not just buying a problem. How likely is it that a home inspector will be able to tell if there is something wrong under the siding? Do they check around the entire house under all the siding? When siding is put on, do they remove all the old siding, or install it right on top of the old siding? Can an average "do it yourself person" tear off aluminum siding and replace it with something else? Any help would be greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!!!

A. He is checking for moisture and mildew. maybe rot of any kind. ask him. if there is a problem and you are purchasing it, the seller is responsible. they will have to fix it before you buy so you will find out anyway. talk to your realtor about an insurance that the seller buys, if anything happens for 1 year, that insurance covers it. it is about 300.00. that 300 is the sellers responsibility. make sure you have a realtor an average person can take it off and add something else later

Q. I'm looking to install aluminum siding but hear it's difficult to keep it level all around the house--start to finish. How would I do this? Thanks!

A. Most siding contractors I know use a transit. Some use a story pole.

Q. I am planning to scrap the siding on my house and was trying to figure out how much it will weigh before I remove it. I currently have 8" panels on my house.

A. 2 squares (200 sq. ft.) of 8" siding weighs about 76 lbs. Hope this helps.

Q. There is deterioration on several parts of the wood siding as well as in the soffits. Some boards are actually missing. My husband and I are thinking of purchasing home and wanted to know if it would be more beneficial to repair the wood siding or take the rotten boards off and put up vinyl siding. Thanks for the help.

A. If you are purchasing this home, and intend to stay there for a while and preserve the structure, then by all means repair the wood. Once the house is covered with vinyl, aluminum or whatever, the condition of the original structure can deteriorate with no way to stop it. This covering is no more than a band aid, not a cure. We went pretty much through the same decison process, and decided to have the house covered, and at that time aluminum was the prefered material, along with a vapor barrier. Eight years later, after a strong wind storm we had to get the siding people back for repairs, and found the original wood siding had really gone bad, due to the lack of breathing and condensation. I would never advise this to anyone. When you see a older home that has been re-sided, beware, because it was to hide defects, or the owners were too lazy to maintain the home and looked for the easy, cheap way out.

Q. Hi, I want to install new vinyl siding on my house, and I have got some quotes from different contractors However some have said that it is better to remove all of the old layers of different siding on the house and some have said just to remove the first layer that's aluminum siding and leave the layer under in place.....nobody offered and explanation as to why I should remove them all the contractor who sudgested to leave the older layers said that it was better for insulation.....is that true? what's the right thing to do and why ?

A. I have some experience with this. It really is a personal choice, and sometimes what is cost effective is better. But, I am going to assume from what you have told us that you have a house that was originally cedar siding, then it was wrapped with aluminum, and now you plan to put on vinyl. Whenever replacing siding it is very important to remove all previous layers and get all the way to the actual sheathing of your house. Sheathing rots and gets damaged over time and you can never have any idea of the problems underneath the original siding unless you strip it. If you simply cover it up with new vinyl siding it will only compound any problems with mold/rot that may be lurking underneath. The vinyl siding will create a cavity over the old siding where there is room for air and temperature differences that will make the vinyl siding more prone to warping over time, and that is on top of the fact that without the flat surface of the actual sheathing, it is more difficult to install the vinyl perfectly flat. My neighbor installs Certainteed vinyl siding on houses and ALWAYS removes old siding because even though it may cost more, the benefits to the consumer far outweigh the costs of having totally hidden problems or having to have workers come back out to fix things. As far as them telling you its better for insulation, thats not entirely true. Tearing down the old siding allows them to replace the Tyvek, repair any rotted out plywood and get a better seal around windows and doors where the most air is leaked in any house. So I'm not sure how true that is, sounds like a crock to me.

Q. We're looking for someone reliable, honest and fair to give us estimate on replacing our Aluminum siding with Vinyl. Any good referals?

A. Dont give up!!!!!!

Q. I just bought a house with white aluminum siding. The previous owners had a flag on a pole which was screwed to the side of the house with a normal fastener/bracket. Unfortunately, the pole created a cascading rust line from the rain. I tried using CLR, but that started to take off the white color of the siding, which then turned the siding a nasty gray-ish color. HELP! That rust is ugly! And is it possible to fix my CLR mis-hap?

A. I too have used the mr clean magic eraser with good results, and it wont scratch the surface of your siding. I do tend to think that the gray color you now have, could have happenned because of some of your white paint may hae been thinned down, while you were cleaning the rust, allowing the under coating, or the grey metal primer paint to start showing through the finish coat of white paint. It could have also been left behind from a metal scratchy pad if you tried to use that with the clr. I would suggest the Mr Clean Magic eraser on the rust and to see if it will remove the gray you now see too~ ( I have had gray stains left on the ceramic of some toilets I have cleaned which was caused by using certain scratch type pads with clr. ( I think it was when I used the stainless steel type scouring pads ) If you cant remove the rust or the greay with the MR clean sponge, they you may want to take a paint chip to a paint matching store that can match up your paint chip for you to repaint the grayed / rusty area ~

Q. One company wants to remove the metal frame and seal directly to the brick/foundation of the house. The other company wants to leave the current metal frame in and cover the frame with aluminum (similar to aluminum siding).

A. The second way is going to look better. The first way is going to be sealed up better. Its basically a choice of Pretty vs Practical. Personally I'd go with practical, but if you're wife is involved, you have to consider pretty lol.