Best Way to Cut Vinyl Siding on the House

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Vinyl siding is a swell addition to the walls of many unlike kinds of homes. Made of the same material every bit PVC pipes, it'due south go nearly ubiquitous thanks to its versatility and ease-of-installation.

If you're looking to make modifications to your ain property or heave the aesthetic value of your rental belongings, you lot might be because cutting your own vinyl siding to give it a make clean look and finish. Only you don't have to hire someone to do this relatively simple task for you.

Contents

• How to Cut Vinyl Siding
  • Materials You'll Need
  • Tools You lot'll Need
  • Preparation
• 1. Using a Circular Saw
  • Step One
  • Step Ii
  • Step Three
• 2. Using Tin Snips
  • Footstep One
  • Stride Two
• 3. Using a Utility Pocketknife
  • Footstep I
  • Stride Two
  • Step 3
• Benefits of Cutting Vinyl Siding Yourself
• Conclusion

How to Cut Vinyl Siding

We can show you the optimal ways to cut your ain vinyl siding. Cutting vinyl siding is actually very easy to empathise and carry out with a piddling preparation beforehand.

All you need to know how to practice is make unproblematic measurements and peradventure operate a circular saw.

In that location are iii primary methods you can use to cut vinyl siding finer. These are: using a round saw, using handheld tin snips, or using a handheld utility knife.

None of these methods is necessarily better than the other, but they are each infrequent for particular kinds or lengths of cuts. We'll explain what each one is best at during their private explanations.

Materials You'll Need

No matter which method you decide to go with, there are some materials you'll need to collect beforehand. These are:

• goggles and a skilful mask for breathing safe
• ​a apartment surface such as a workbench
• ​possibly gloves for protection
• a pencil or light marker, or calorie-free-colored masking tape
• a carpenter'southward square
• a measuring tape

The goggles need to be worn during each method. It's not just the circular saw that tin can potentially spray pieces of vinyl siding up into your optics.

Even a particularly forceful cut with tin snips can cause a modest shard of the material to fly up and cause damage. Wearing goggles is a worthwhile safe precaution.

Y'all don't have to accept a specific workbench to accomplish expert vinyl cutting. Any regular flat table such as a farmhouse dining table out of wood or your living room coffee tabular array will do. The key office is that is to be perfectly flat to permit for ultimate accurateness during the cut itself.

Gloves are optional, but they might exist a good thought if you employ the round saw method.

The pencil and marker are for drawing out the line earlier you cutting, and you'll use the measuring tape to find out how far to marking in the first place.

The masking tape and marker can be used when making measurements on darker vinyl siding types which may block out the dark colour of a pencil marking.

Finally, the carpenter square is too there to assist you lot in making the perfect measurement, which will hopefully translate into the perfect cut.

Tools You'll Need

There are three possible tools you'll need to collect.

• Circular saw
• ​​Tin snips
• ​​Utility knife

Each of these tools can be purchased at a local hardware store. A circular saw will require a ability source, but like a table saw would and is by far the most expensive of all 3 options. Even so, information technology'due south also the fastest and the tool that relies the least on human muscle accuracy and power.

Tin snips and utility knives are both much cheaper than a circular saw but are much slower as a result. They likewise permit for more user error since each cut is derived from pressure from your arm or fingers.

Preparation

Each method will need y'all to mensurate the amount of vinyl siding you'll be cutting beforehand. Any crafting project for beginners or professionals relies on accurate measurements and you don't want to guesstimate how much y'all should cut.

Instead, measure the length of the wall that you'll be covering with the vinyl siding. Utilize a measuring tape for all-time outcome. So, decrease this number from the full length of your vinyl siding slice. The resulting number should be how much vinyl y'all need to cut off of the main siding department.

Marker the line that yous're going to cut with a pencil and a carpenter foursquare to go on your lines straight and even. If your vinyl siding is dark, you can always use chalk or another light-colored mark to do the same thing.

Do this measuring tactic for each method before moving on to the individual steps.

one. Using a Circular Saw

Using a circular saw is the kickoff method that y'all can utilise to cut vinyl siding. This method is best for cut a lot of brusque or long vertical cuts since the round saw will create clean incisions relatively quickly.

You'll need a fine-tooth plywood saw blade to do this correctly. Not just any round saw bract will do. The reason for needing this kind of bract is to go on the cut clean and great, which affects the aesthetic of the vinyl siding and how well information technology fits together with other pieces.

Pace I

Afterwards making your initial measurements and marker out the appropriate line with a pencil and carpenter's foursquare, mount your fine-molar saw bract so that it is positioned astern within your circular saw.

This means that the points of the teeth should be oriented contrary of the spinning direction. Over again, this contributes to giving the vinyl siding a clean cut.

Step Two

Lay the vinyl siding on a flat table or workbench. Yous should position the siding and then that the cut line is hanging off the edge for obvious reasons.

Failing to do this can result in your round saw cut into the workbench or tabular array beneath the siding itself.

Stride Three

Cut the line with your circular saw. You'll desire to push the saw caput carefully and at a steady footstep without going besides quickly. Remember that you can't take back any cut you brand so taking your time is a good thought.

You should use your non-dominant hand to push button down on the vinyl siding, keeping your palm flat, to prevent the siding from sliding around equally the saw interacts with it.

2. Using Tin Snips

Method two involves the use of tin can snips. These small tools are easy to concord in 1 hand and requite yous a lot of precision command over each cut since you can but brand incisions a petty bit at a time.

Because of this, using tin snips to cut vinyl siding with short, vertical incisions is a good idea. Information technology'south better to employ tin snips when you only take to cutting a few vinyl strips as opposed to many since using tin can strips tends to accept longer than using a circular saw.

Use tin snips for vertical cuts, non horizontal cuts. Horizontal cuts can be hard to finish due to the presence of pieces of vinyl on either side of your cutting hand.

Footstep One

Grip your vinyl siding steadily with the hand that doesn't hold the tin can snips. For most people, this will exist a left-hand although the key is simply making sure that yous use your non dominant hand for the property.

Your ascendant hand should concur the can snips since you'll likely be more than accurate with that hand. For can snips, accuracy and stability is key to keeping and even cutting line.

Pace Two

Side by side, carefully cutting along the line that you drew out with a pencil and carpenter square beforehand. It's important to go slowly during this process since yous tin't accept it back and human mistake is all the more than likely using can snips as opposed to a circular saw.

When cutting, be certain to continue the blades of the tin snips from touching all the mode. Nearly ii-thirds of the mode is ideal. This will assistance your cut stay make clean and forestall the edges of your cut siding from fraying or marring.

3. Using a Utility Pocketknife

Finally, you can likewise use a utility knife. Information technology's ideal to use a utility knife to cut your vinyl siding if you need to cut vinyl strips lengthwise. This tool is besides ideal for making longer cuts since utility knives allow the best control out of all three types.

In addition, your utility knife volition never dip beneath the vinyl siding itself, so you can safely perform horizontal cuts of any length so long as you're careful.

Step 1

After making the standard measurements and mark them with a pencil and carpenter's square, make sure to lay the vinyl siding on a totally flat surface.

This is imperative since the straightness of your line will rely on you beingness able to printing down firmly on the vinyl siding itself.

A workbench or flat table is a good solution.

Step Two

Yous're non going to cut the utility pocketknife directly into the vinyl siding right away. Instead, follow the line with the utility knife and carefully press down to "score" the line.

Basically, you lot're making a pre-cut that volition make the actual cutting easier in just a moment.

Not pushing the utility knife all the way through prevents you from damaging both the knife blade itself and the workbench surface beneath the vinyl siding.

Step Three

Once you've scored the marked line on your vinyl siding, push down on ane side of the scored line with your hand, keeping information technology apartment against the tabular array or workbench.

With the other manus, pull the other side of the vinyl autonomously, bending if necessary. You can do this on the edge of your table if it helps. Yous should hear a satisfying snap as the vinyl breaks.

If washed correctly, this procedure should event in the vinyl siding coming autonomously cleanly without having to chop all the fashion through with the utility knife. Y'all should take a make clean break.

If the vinyl starts to fray or tear instead of coming apart easily, score the line again with your utility knife.

Information technology'due south a good idea to do longer cuts in smaller chunks to ensure accurateness over fourth dimension.

Benefits of Cutting Vinyl Siding Yourself

Cutting your ain vinyl siding comes with several important benefits. These are:

• ​It saves yous coin. Cutting your own vinyl siding can potentially only cost as much as the materials described below. This is much cheaper than hiring a professional to practise this easy chore.
• ​Customization. You control the size and lengths of your vinyl siding cuts. This gives yous even greater control over the last await of your property.
• ​Immediacy. If yous do this yourself, you don't demand to look for the construction crew to come out and do the task. Get it done on your time, all the same fast you demand it.

Determination

Every bit you can see, cutting vinyl siding is easier than you might have thought. The truth is that it merely takes a pocket-size amount of grooming and some patience with the cutting process.

And then long as you lot don't rush through the cutting, you'll be able to make perfectly straight cuts and accept fantastic looking vinyl pieces in no time. Skilful luck!

If you lot also want to acquire how to cut can metal for your roof, nosotros have a complete guide on that here.

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Source: https://sawshub.com/how-to-cut-vinyl-siding/

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