The Trim goes on First with Vinyl Siding

Figuring Trim Accessories

With vinyl siding, your corners, windows, and door trim go on first. Measuring is an art form of sorts. When I measure, I don´t typically right down exact feet of a window, for example. I measure the height and width, then I write down how many pieces of J channel I´ll need to wrap that window. Your average size window usually requires 2 pieces of J. You have to measure from the top of the window, to the bottom and add a couple of inches to compensate for the trim on the top and bottom.

Measuring Doors

Doors are measured in a similar way. Depending on the way the door is installed, you may have to install J under the thresh-hold. See if your existing siding goes under the door to determine if this is needful.

Elaborate door shapes will make things more difficult to measure and install. For example, if you have an arch over the doorway, it will require a lot of cuts and use more material.

Inside and Outside Corners

You´ll have to measure (or take a real good guess) at the height of your corners, both inside, and out. If you just have a single story home, one piece of corner will be enough, so just count how many inside corners you have and how many outside corners you have.

For a two or three story house, you´re going to be stacking the corners on top of each other, so you have to know the total height of the corner and divide it by 10 (the length of corner pieces). If you get anything less than 1/2 as a remainder, you will probably be able to use the other half on another corner. If it´s over half, like 2.7, you´ll have to have 3 pieces for that corner.

Starter Strip

Starter strip goes all along the entire bottom edge of the house. You should measure from corner to corner, inside and out.

Soffit

You may also want to replace your Soffit. In most instances, this can be done before or after you replace the siding. Measuring and installing soffit will be covered in a seperate article.

Other Accessory Pieces

Another thing to look for is any outside outlets, faucets, or vents. These will all need special accessories to make the job look nice. I don´t typically install these though until I get the siding very near them. This way, if you need to move it a bit to make it sit on the siding better, you can make that adjustment. Plus, there is no point in installing a vent up high on a gable until you are already up that high installing the siding.

Let´s start installing your new Vinyl Siding

OK, you´ve got your tools and your materials and you are ready to begin! Let´s get started by checking out the tools you´ll need for installing vinyl siding.