Looking to patch up a 2 inch diameter hole in my siding. What does anyone suggest for me to fill the hole in with? Should I just use caulk and then use putty or fill the hole in with a differnt material? Need help.

 

The only way to make the hole disappear is to replace the piece of siding, which is fairly easy to do, provided you have some extra pieces of siding laying around. You simply unzip the piece above and below the broken one, unhook it from the nails, and replace it with a new piece. Then you use a vinyl siding unlock tool to rehook the siding again.

I've also heard that a franchise called "Dr. Vinyl" can patch vinyl siding fairly sucessfully, but that's not a DIY repair.

If you just want to patch the hole so that it doesn't leak, caulk it. Since the caulk will be very obvious, use any kind you want. I'd recommend OSI Quad or Geocel Proflex. It won't look very good, but unless you want to replace the siding that's the way it goes.

 

This is kinda cheesy, but it works, looks better than caulk, and is surprisingly hard to notice.

If you have any scraps or extra pieces, cut a 'patch' about
1" bigger than the hole. It helps if you can keep part of the bottom lip intact. Trim the top so it fits snug up to the lapped edge of the siding. Just put some adhesive on the back (I have used Goop and clear silicone), use some tape to hold it til it dries.

 

Especially when it's behind a big bush. LOL

Just kidding you Vic!

 

Well, of course bushes help...lol.

Surprizingly tho, it didn't look too bad from 10 ft away. You do what you have to when the weedwacker gets away from ya. Or when the builder apparently uses a hatchet to make holes for the condensate drain, then spray foam to fill in.

 

I had a piece that fell off and is in the middle of the wall of my house. Where do I get an unlocking tool and how do you unhook from the nails? Thanks for the help

 

Just do a Google shopping search for vinyl unlocking tool. You'll get some hits.

 

33greatdayne,

Big box stores sell them. You hook it under the siding, start on the end of a piece, pull the tool downward and toward you a little while sliding it along the bottom of the siding. The tool stays hooked on the siding and basically "unzips" the siding from the interlock. You unzip the bottom of the piece you want to remove, and the piece above the one you want to remove.

You can then either pull the nails and replace them later once the new piece is installed, or you can unhook the siding from the nails. To unhook it, you kind of have to get a little rough with it... get your hands on each side of the nail, with your fingers behind the nailing fin... pull the siding down and toward you until you stretch it enough to unhook the bottom half of the nail from the slot, then pull up on the siding to unhook the top half of the nail from the slot. Hard to describe, easier to do in person.

 

I appreciate the help. Thank you very much and hopefully I can get the repairs done this weekend. I have one other question... If the siding buckles, is there a good way to repair that or is it a case of having to replace the piece or pieces of siding that are buckled? Thanks again for any help.

 

Not sure what you mean by "buckles". If the siding has warped because of heat, such as if a grill was too close, then no- the buckle is permanent and the piece must be replaced. If the siding has buckled because of being nailed too tight (vinyl siding is supposed to be able to slide back and forth on the fasteners) then it may just be a simple matter of finding out why it is buckling and relieving the stress so that the siding can lay flat.

 

I guess that I haven't really looked at why the siding is warped but it isn't from heat cause it is 32 degrees at best in MI and it is still warped and it is in the front of my house where there is no grill. I am not sure if it wasn't nailed down properly either so I will probably have to find a store around here that carries the unlocking tool and check whats under there and worse case would be having to replace the one or two pieces that are warped. Thanks for the help.