Vinyl siding installation is an affordable and low-maintenance first-line of protection against the weather. It gets a bad wrap because of J-channel, but with a little thought, you can make any vinyl siding installation look great.
Detail 1: Ditch the J-channel
One step above off-the-shelf J-channel is to bend wide casings on a metal brake, but better yet is to step up to wide trim stock with the edges rabbeted to accept the vinyl. This gives room for expansion at windows, doors, and corners.
It also looks dope.
Detail 2: Align vinyl siding with window trim
At the bottom of the wall, a water table can help kick rain away from the foundation. It should be located according to the size of the vinyl siding courses.
Begin at the windows. Siding that is aligned with the bottoms and tops of windows is faster to install and looks better. Count your way down to benchmark where the starter strip will go. Snap a line around the house signifying the top of the strip, and then put the strip on the line and nail it.
Detail 3: Make the starter strip into a kickout flashing
If you seal the top of the starter strip, then you can tuck flashing behind it later to protect the trim and kick water out from the wall. Always use a roller to mash the tape down. Many of them are pressure-sensitive.
Now, you can install the first course, nailing it according to the manufacturer’s specs. Tuck the water table flashing under the starter strip, and install the mudboard. Now you can install vinyl siding up the rest of the wall.
At the top, you can use a frieze board and head casing to adjust for course width, or to fill the space.
