Storm damage -- advice

[VoyT]

   For the second time in a week, my house has been nicked by a spring storm ...    this time it was a hailstorm that left about a dozen small holes in the vinyl siding (it pretty much cracked holes in the bottom lip of the panels).

    I've never dealt with busted siding before, so I could use some advice ...

     Can these holes be patched?  Or are the pieces just going to have to be replaced? (which is going to look kind of odd, colorwise). I'm a bit worried that we might have to replace all the siding on two sides of the house, which I'm sure will do wonders for our homeowners insurance once that claim goes in... (along with the roof damage from both storms)
       

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Probably not. Really small holes can be patched with bits of leftover siding or a dab of caulk. There are some patch kits made for vinyl siding that include color matching, but you'll never get it to match exactly.

Doing major 'vinyl spackle' type repairs wont work. Vinyl expands and contracts a LOT over the course of the seasons, and anything you do thats thicker or bonded to the surface below the vinyl probably wont move with it.

 

[Brat]

Time for new siding. Consider Hardie.

 

[Martha]

Because you are going to have an insurance claim anyway, try to get all new siding along with the roof.

I have been told that insurance companies really don't like lots of small claims. One big one isn't such a big deal. Our garage fell in from snow weight a couple years ago and we had the whole thing rebuilt. No effect on our rates.

 

[VoyT]

Doing major 'vinyl spackle' type repairs wont work.  Vinyl expands and contracts a LOT over the course of the seasons, and anything you do thats thicker or bonded to the surface below the vinyl probably wont move with it.


    That makes sense ... while they're not large (like the snowball-size ones on my neighbor's house) they're kind of long and oddly shaped, so I can see where a patch might not hold...

 

[VoyT]

I have been told that insurance companies really don't like lots of small claims.  One big one isn't such a big deal.  Our garage fell in from snow weight a couple years ago and we had the whole thing rebuilt.  No effect on our rates.

That's good to know .... guess we'll get the verdict next week when the contractor sees it. Fortunately, he was already scheduled to come out and look at the damage from the 1st storm!

 

[REWahoo]

....  guess we'll get the verdict next week when the contractor sees it. Fortunately, he was already scheduled to come out and look at the damage from the 1st storm!

Uh Oh.  If you haven't already reported the damage from the second storm to the insurance company, you might want to not mention to them that all the damage was not caused by the same storm.  Since the damage happened days apart as a result of two different storms, there is a very high probability the insurance company will say your deductible will appy against each loss separately.  In other words, they will say you have to pay your deductible twice.  Ouch.