What could have done this to my vinyl siding?

[DerbyDad03]

- Well problem #1 is that you're using Google to read groups.

Considering it's the only server that I have ever had trouble with, I think I'll stay with my current methods. Since I read these groups on multiple machines, some of which I couldn't install a news client on if I wanted too, I'm not looking to access these groups in different manners depending on what machine I happen to sit down at. I've got enough things confusing me already, I don't need to add another one. ;-)

In any case. thanks for the info.

[HeyBub]

If you're on a Windows machine, you already have a news reader installed. Outlook Express is part of the Windows distribution.

[Kyle]

Are you using Firefox or another non-Internet Explorer browser to view the link? I had the same problem in Firefox, but was able to open it in IE7.

[dpb]

Mozzilla Firefox here was just fine w/ it...(2.0.0.4, I think...)

--

[dpb]

...

I'm w/ the guessers who think it looks heat-caused more than chemical although it's possible, I suppose, depending on just what was in whatever was used.

But, it looks to me like it is concentrated in an area just to the right of the railing post and is graduated from the center outwards in all directions which would seem to be consonant w/ a single source at that point. It would almost have required the material be sprayed w/ a wide pattern concentrating in that area it seems to me to have left that type of damage.

I'd be for pulling that off and investigating behind it pronto as I'd be concerned as somebody else also mentioned about the possibility of an electrical problem from the proximity to the outlets/etc. It's going to have to be replaced, anyway; better to have an ugly hole w/ showing for a while while you find replacement siding than to have the house go up in flames because you ignored a possible problem.

If it turns out there isn't any visible damage behind it, then you'll have pretty well confirmed it was a chemical or external source and can rest easy. If there is, you may just save a bundle...in dollars and other ways, as well.

--

[Kyle]

I would have to discount the idea of something inside the wall, given the asymmetrical shape of the sagging and darkening. Note how the "burn" tends to wrap around the top of the deck's railing, and has a oval shape like the motion of someone wiping a cloth across a surface.

My money is on a combo: the siding was wiped with some sort of chemical cleaner and it took time for sunlight to cause a chemical reaction between the vinyl and the residue.

[dpb]

I don't see it as "around" the railing, I see it as to the right and concentrated just about at the height of the railing post. I could easily see a heat source centered at that point producing the pattern.

The "oval/circular rubbing" action would be much easier if the surface were flat, but on a simulated clapboard siding w/ the horizontal edges rubbing would be far more likely to be constrained to the horizontal direction only.

My only idea on the solvent/chemical would be that it was sprayed at that location and the heaviest concentration was at that point.

As I noted before, what worries me is that if it was an electrical problem, ignoring it while pontificating leads to the possibility of far more serious problem while exploring and finding out now has only the downside of a temporary different bad-looking area for a while until it is replaced.

--

[mm]

Worked for me in Firefox. v2.0.0.1

I'm not sure version 1 will remind you to get version 2, for some reason.

[DerbyDad03]

One of my machines is XP-Pro with a corporate image. The image is scanned and updated by our corporate IT department. Since I shouldn't be reading news at work, I'm not about to activate the newsreader in an application that gets scanned and updated by our corporate IT department.

At home on my main machine I use Mozilla Thunderbird to read my mail and on another I don't access email at all. The only thing common to all three machines, as well as the machine at my Dad's house and any other machine I happen to sit down at is IE.

So, as I said, since this one site is the only one that has ever given me a problem, and the problem is easily rectified, I'll stick with reading the news via IE.

[tnom]

The product you used has acetone in it. Oops.

[aemeijers]

Don't bet on it- if it is a 'work' machine, corporate install images often have stuff like that stripped out, to keep the users from impure servers and such, and to keep them from bothering the help desk with 'Why can't I get to whatever?' calls, or from more tech-savvy users, requests to punch holes in the firewall.

aem sends....

[Oren]

And I would say the exact reason there was not a fire damage . Acetone and vinyl is a bad mix,, :-]

-- Oren

"I didn?t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you."

[Chris Lewis]

According to dpb :

If it were a heat source behind or in the wall, I wouldn't expect to see the bottom of each vinyl siding piece (where it's bumped out from the wall) being as badly damaged as that compared to the top. The air gap has to account for something.

[If it was on the inside of the house, like a toaster flameout, there should be much more obvious heat damage on the inside walls - an exterior wall doesn't transmit heat very well, especially in cold climates with decent insulation.]

Still, it'd be a good idea to at least remove the covers and electrical devices from the boxes and take a really close look inside and see if there's any signs of damage to the wiring. On the inside too, if there's any electricals (eg: switches) there.

In any event, he's going to want to get the damaged siding off so it can be repaired, and that should make the cause a lot more obvious and/or some of the sheathing can be cut out to check the wiring more directly.

[dpb]

Conjecture is easy but useless.

The siding will have to be replaced anyway and simply pulling it off (or even one piece) will show whether there's heat damage to the siding/homasote/whatever and be conclusive that it is/is not from an internal heat or external heat source. That's well worth knowing immediately imo, just on the chance that it is/was.

--

[Chris Lewis]

That's why I said that last paragraph, no need to repeat: ;-)

[Dan Espen]

Seems like there are 2 leading theories, heat and chemicals.

The chemical theory is that something got on the siding that would make the siding soft and start to sag over time perhaps with the addition of mild heat from sunlight.

Wait til the middle of a sunny day. If the siding is soft, it would be chemicals. If it's not soft, it was probably heat.

[dpb]

"If it were a heat source behind or in the wall, I wouldn't expect..."

"[If it was on the inside of the house, like a toaster flameout, ..."

IF you hadn't preceded that w/ two paragraphs of further "ifs", I'd have not said a thing further... :)

--

[clifto]

I have something similar and just as weird. The mini-blinds in one window on the south side of my house have a round-ish area about 8" in diameter that's discolored and warped just like your siding. The blinds have naturally been inside at all times, the window hasn't been opened, and I had cardboard on the inside of the blinds for a long time, which means nothing from the inside could have burned the blinds without harming the cardboard. Cars can't get anywhere within 1,000 feet of that side of the house without leaving obvious tracks in the mud, so it's not a windshield reflection. There's a building off in the distance, but a reflection off its window would have to travel across the blinds as time-of-day changed and it wouldn't leave a nice, round burn in one spot.