Old Rumors About Vinyl

Posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

The early days of vinyl siding were a mixed blessing. The gas crunch of the 70s made aluminum siding impractical and cheaper alternatives became more appealing to consumers. One of those alternatives was vinyl. Since the 70s, vinyl has come to dominate the siding marketplace as the most popular siding choice in the USA. While the shift from aluminum to vinyl siding was great for the vinyl industry, it also exposed the pitfalls of early siding choices. These early faults of siding are still used as an argument against it today. Fortunately, they aren’t true anymore. You can get the best siding material ever made at an affordable rate.

Brittle

Old vinyl siding was more brittle and prone to cracking. In colder temperatures, the surface of the vinyl would become stiff and debris could damage it. One of the most common way people damaged their vinyl was when trimming their lawns. Smalls stones would be flung at high velocities causing the vinyl to chip or crack.

Today, this isn’t much of a concern. It’s not uncommon for modern vinyls to deflect baseballs or footballs. It’s far more common for people to ask, “How didn’t that become damaged,” than to actually damage their vinyl. It takes much more to break vinyl siding than you might expect.

Fading

Old vinyl was very prone to color fading. If you ordered red vinyl, in a decade it could be more of an orange. Anything exposed to the sun will fade eventually, but modern vinyl maintains its color. Given the drawback of fading, the vinyl industry invested heavily in research for fade-proofing their siding. Today, manufacturers are so confident in their colors, they offer replacement in a warranty if it actually happens.

Cheap

Due to fading and the potential to crack, many people found vinyl to be a cheap siding. For the vinyl siding industry to overcome these opinions, it had to work hard to create a product that could satisfy everyone at an affordable price. Initially, the affordability of vinyl siding made it a reasonable alternative to aluminum. Now, through improvements in durability and looks, it has become the dominating siding of today’s market.

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