STEEL SIDING
HOW TO INSTALL DURABLE & STYLISH STEEL SIDING
Your choice of siding defines your home and protects it from all that nature throws its way. Choose well, and your vacation home will blend in with nature while maintaining the architectural style you admire—for years to come.
With the wooded setting of the Getaway, we wanted it all: modern style, durability and low maintenance. We chose Vesta Steel Plank from Quality Edge. Steel siding is gaining popularity, mostly in the form of vertical corrugated panels. We favored the look of Vesta’s steel lap-siding products; you can install the material vertically or horizontally. The style was born out of traditional and proven wood shiplap, common on older houses. This modern adaptation in steel has a permanence we couldn’t find with other products.
In our budget calculations, this splurge is well worth the upcharge compared with more conventional siding products. What sealed the deal was not only Vesta’s warranty and non-fading, rustproof finish, but also its sustainability. Steel is 100% recyclable.
WORKING WITH STEEL PLANK SIDING
Installing Vesta Steel Plank siding is similar to installing vinyl or aluminum siding. Many of the components are the same profile and you install them in the same manner. Vesta does employ some unique components and methods that aid its durability. Its support trim, for example, maintains the rigidity of the siding where it tucks into the J-channel at the top of a wall or below a window.
The Getaway was designed with generous 3-ft.-wide soffits and a 2x8 subfascia on the sides and the front. A soffit this wide would often require additional support framing in the center. However, with a 29-gauge thickness, the plank is stiff enough to bridge that distance. Beyond the subfascia, the only additional soffit framing needed was a 2-by nailing flange against the house. We used a lighter color of Vesta Steel Plank for our soffit material to contrast with the darker siding, and to coordinate with our roof material. We oriented these soffit planks and our outdoor porch ceiling in the same direction
as our decking. The 8-in. fascia trim pieces hid the subfascia and the ends of the soffit planks. The ends against the house are hidden by the J-channel, installed later, that caps the top course of our sidewall planks.
Depending on a home’s roof design, you’ll need to consider venting the roof and soffit. Our Getaway has vaulted ceilings and therefore no attic, so we insulated the ceiling with closed-cell spray foam. This “hot roof” construction method doesn’t require soffit venting. If your roof system requires venting, be sure the framing and the soffit material allow proper airflow.
To begin the bottom-to-top installation of siding, you first measure down from the soffit. Setting the starter strip for the first course is crucial. After calculating to be sure we didn’t end up with a skinny course at our windows or the final top row, we snapped a chalk line to indicate the placement of our starter strip. Even with new construction, this line may not be level. It’s more important that your siding be parallel to your soffit and windows. With our starter course line established, we set multiple parallel lines above it for reference as we sided our way up the wall. The planks fit together consistently, requiring little course adjustment and making for a fast installation.
Making weatherproof, attractive siding joints can be time-consuming, whether the ends of the planks butt together or overlap. With other types of siding, these joints often require caulking or priming, and some tooling for a good fit. The Vesta Plank system uses a clean overlapping interface on the ends of each panel to provide a tight fit and nearly invisible seam.
To allow panels to expand and contract, and to hide variations in the exterior sheathing, proper fastening is vital. A 1/8- to 3/16-in. gap is required between the nail head and the panel’s nail flange. Each nail must be driven into a wall stud, not just the sheathing alone. We marked the location of our wall studs on the exterior house wrap so we knew where to nail.
CUTTING STEEL SIDING
Cutting steel siding is easier than you might think, as long as you use the proper tools. A sliding miter saw and a circular saw with a ferrous metal blade are best. Cutting thin steel requires a saw blade with many teeth: An
80-tooth carbide blade yields the cleanest cuts. A grinder or an abrasive type of saw can damage the siding’s protective finish, and use of those tools could void the product’s warranty.
For making long horizontal cuts or rips, we chose power shears. This tool makes quick work of long cuts of up to 12 ft. We used hand metal shears for precise cuts with J-channel, corner pieces and other components.
We finished this siding installation with a bit of color-coordinated caulking around utility, plumbing and electrical penetrations. The tall lakeside exterior of the Getaway was something to behold with its completed siding.
Although a modern design, the structure keeps an organic look; the earthy finish on the siding makes our Getaway appear as if it
simply grew out of the woods.