I'm looking at an old house (1940s) that has vinyl siding on it. I'm not sure how recent it is, but it looks to be in decent to good shape.

I'm not sure what to think about that - should I be concerned about longevity, fading/cracking, etc.? Should I be concerned about what might be going on underneath the siding? I'm sure the inspector will look for stuff, but I'm trying to be proactive.

The inspector won't peel up anything to see what's under it. It's up to you to do that once you own the place, unfortunately. Difficult to get permission to do that from sellers.

If it's a 1940's house that has vinyl siding, I'd be worried that what you'll find underneath it is asbestos shingles. I'd want to be really sure that that's NOT the case before you buy the place. Asbestos is a bit of a problem cleanup-wise. If not, you certainly want to test the entire structure for lead paint to see what's been cleaned up and what isn't.

In Texas, Vinyl (especially stuff sold in the last decade) seems to get crunch and fall off within 15 years. Faster if it's dark colored or painted dark. North of the Mason-Dixon line it's a popular exterior cladding for houses, but they don't have the solar climate that we do here.

Luckily there's some original (I assume) wood siding visible inside a shop/garage which was added onto at some point. Still have the lead issue I guess, but I sure don't want to have knowledge of lead based paint!

It's white, so there's that. Fairly we'll shaded from the West as well, I think.

Thanks for the info.

We have had vinyl siding for more than 15 years. It pretty much still looks like it did when we put it on. It is shaded quite a bit by a porch roof and some trees. We just wash it down about twice a year to clean it.

Don't know about what might be under yours . . .

If it's in good shape just leave it alone. Keep it painted or replace it when necessary. Just don't disturb any asbestos shingles underneath and don't eat paint chips and you'll be fine. The level of alarm over asbestos and lead paint is out of control. I had a painting company come to give me an estimate on painting the exterior trim on my house and they said that since the house was built before 1978 they'd have to do lead paint testing ($200) and then IF lead paint was found they'd have to do "EPA-certified" abatement ($2000). I told them to get bent and used an independent guy that did the job for half the price with probably better quality too.

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they said that since the house was built before 1978 they'd have to do lead paint testing ($200) and then IF lead paint was found they'd have to do "EPA-certified" abatement ($2000). I told them to get bent and used an independent guy that did the job for half the price with probably better quality too.

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The lead testing and abatement is federal law.

http://www.epa.gov/getleadsafe/

The contractor who did the job without the lead abatement, if caught, will have to pay a $3,800 to $10,000 fine per job that he did where he didn't follow the rule. The EPA is auditing companies and is filing suit against those that aren't following the rules.

The first guy wasn't trying to rip you off and I'd feel much safer and better taken care of with a contractor that knew the law, was trained, and then followed the law instead of some fly by night that just did it anyway and broke the law.

For your reference, here are some things you should be looking at:
• Check for ripples in the vinyl siding. Ripples can arise because of incorrect installation or wrongly done stapling and nailing.
• Make sure the lap joints are positioned in a staggered manner and not lined up straight.
• Vinyl siding isn’t waterproof. So check for drainage slots which allow rainwater to drain.

[This message has been edited by wellsronald18 (edited 12/19/2012 12:49a).]

[This message has been edited by wellsronald18 (edited 12/19/2012 12:49a).]

[This message has been edited by wellsronald18 (edited 9/24/2013 1:23a).]

What SS said is true, unfortunately. The new EPA rules are a HUUUUUGE pain. That's probably the biggest reason why I'm stripping all old paint from the interior trim and window sashes on our 1920s craftsman. That, and the wood looks a lot better that way.

One bad thing about vinyl siding is if repairing, you have to replace an entire section of the siding. You also have to remove other sections to access the piece of vinyl siding you want to repair. If the problem area is close to the roof surface, you must remove the roof flashing to access the area you need to replace.

Crap