Lawsuit questions ability of vinyl siding to take the heat

Maybe it was intense sunlight reflected from a nearby window that created a magnifying glass effect and melted the vinyl siding on Michael Harney's house in Beaverton, Ore. Or, maybe it was some other kind of ambient heat buildup in the subdivision just west of Portland.

Either way, he doesn't think his warranty claim should have been denied on the basis that the damage was caused by an “unusual heat source.” Now he's suing the manufacturer, Associated Materials of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in what could become a national class lawsuit.

“He had Alside [brand] vinyl siding and it melted on one side of his house in several places,” Harney's lawyer, Alex Nelson, a partner with the law firm Benson, Kerrane, Storz & Nelson P.C., said in a telephone interview. “Alside denied his warranty claim saying the melting was caused by an unusual heat source. We think whether it was from a window reflection or just ambient heat or whatever, we don't think it was an unusual heat source. And we think there are thousands of these warranty claims being denied by Alside based on heat.”

A 25-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., on behalf of Harney and “all others similarly situated” calls Alside vinyl siding “inherently defective” and says it “prematurely fails when exposed to natural conditions” by thinning, bowing, discoloration and excessive gapping. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, negligence, unjust enrichment and unlawful trade practices.

Nelson said his client's vinyl siding was exposed to “typical environmental conditions” and he should be reimbursed $2,800 for replacement materials and labor. The lawsuit says there are more than 100 potential class members residing in multiple states with damages exceeding $5 million.

Associated Materials lawyer Michael Farrell declined to comment on the pending litigation. He has been granted an extension until Dec. 5 to file a response to the lawsuit.

The company's website says Alside vinyl siding is certified by the Vinyl Siding Institute (VSI) under a program that offers independent, unbiased testing and inspection for performance and quality.

VSI President Kate Offringa said in an email that the Washington-based trade association has no first-hand knowledge of the circumstances in Harney's case “but we are confident in the performance of certified vinyl products when used under normal conditions.”

Offringa addressed some of the issues of concentrated solar reflection, which she said by definition is “an unnatural and abusive condition.”

According to Offringa, “Damage to property caused by concentrated solar reflections is infrequent and occurs only under a complex of circumstances in which an energy-efficient window can distort, becoming concave and then reflecting normal sunshine as a beam of concentrated energy, generating temperatures well above 200° F, greater than many products — including car parts, patio furniture, landscaping, wood, and yes, vinyl siding — can withstand.”

The presence of concavity in double glass panes appears to be the primary cause of heat generation, more so than the increased reflectivity of low-emissivity (low-e) windows, according to a 2010 report by the National Association of Home Builders about the effect of reflected sunlight from glass on vinyl siding. Low-e windows have a thin coating of metallic oxide that controls heat transfer and acts as an insulated glazing. The angle of the sun also is a contributing factor as is proximity of houses, wind speed, air temperature and the presence of foliage, the NAHB report says.

Heat generated from reflected sunlight from double-paned low-e windows has been measured in excess of 200° F while “normal” grades of vinyl siding starts to soften at 160-165° F and darker colors soften sooner because they absorb more heat, according to the NAHB and VSI.

An online listing of Harney's former residence — he has since moved — shows a two-story house with beige vinyl siding and white trim after he paid $2,800 to repair the alleged damage and before it sold in November 2015 for $348,900. The house is in a subdivision where dwellings made of the same kind and color of building materials appear in close proximity.

Other houses in the neighborhood also have had problems with warped, buckled and deformed siding, Nelson said, and the issue has been discussed at homeowner association meetings. Solar reflections from windows onto neighboring buildings is normal and widespread, according to Nelson.

“Alside knows and the vinyl siding industry knows that people are going to situate houses together,” he said. “Modern land use standards basically dictate that. And, people are going to use windows that have R-values and coatings that reflect because modern energy codes require that. So a lot of stuff they point to as the problem is something you can't realistically change.”

VSI recommends homeowners protect their vinyl siding and other property by blocking or diffusing the path of sunlight with window screens, awnings and strategically placed trees and shrubs. Concentrated solar reflection also can be mitigated by window manufacturers through the use of capillary tubes, Offringa said.

“A window collapses into a concave shape due to a difference in pressure between the outside and the space between the window panes,” she explained. “Capillary tubes allow that pressure to be equalized, and thus eliminate the glass collapse. When capillary tubes are used, the chance of siding damage from reflections from the windows is virtually eliminated.”

Capillary tubes are mandated in some western states for double-paned windows installed in houses above an altitude of 5,000 feet and builders can request them elsewhere, according to NAHB, which says in its 2010 report that the additional cost is up to $1 per window.

However, there are different kinds of energy-efficient windows for different climate zones and capillary tubes aren't an option when argon or krypton gas is used to fill the area between sealed glass panes. The gas helps keep passive solar heat in houses in northern climates and it would escape through the tubes.

Nelson said the use of capillary tubes could help in some situations but he doesn't think it's a “total solution” for another reason as well.

“We've been told by engineers that even having vinyl siding adjacent to other building materials can generate heat,” he said. “If you have a dark brick or a black shingle adjacent to vinyl siding that can also contribute to warpage and melting. That's sort of an ambient heat.”

To prevent the problem in the future, Nelson said the vinyl siding industry should consider the use of chlorinated PVC, which is said to withstand heat of 185-220° F, or find some other engineered solution.

“We think the vinyl siding industry should make their products able to withstand the heat conditions they are expected to endure,” Nelson said.

Offringa said although CPVC has a higher threshold for temperature, it may only be marginally more resistant and definitely will be more expensive.

“Vinyl siding consumers shouldn't have to bear the burden of compensating for an abusive exposure caused by windows, especially when the cause is correctable,” she said, likening the situation to requiring all windows to be made from costlier impact-resistant glass because some get broken by baseballs, hail and rocks kicked up by lawn mowers.

There is one kind of thicker glass that could be used to manufacture windows and it doesn't cost much more, the NAHB report says, pointing to double-strength glass, which is 1/8-inch thick as opposed to 3/32-inch thick single-strength glass.

“Double strength glass keeps a flatter surface, and is less subject to deflection,” the report says. “That would lessen the possibility that a concavity will occur in the glass panes, and lessen the chance that reflected sunlight will be focused and cause damage to nearby vinyl siding.”

Nelson doesn't think window manufacturers, home builders, architects and land planners should be blamed for vinyl siding that can't withstand modern building codes and housing developments. He called the ASTM International standard for vinyl siding inadequate, saying a product qualifies for certification if it can briefly withstand a temperature of 120°, which is less than real-world installations. He also said he expects to challenge that at trial even though “that's a big hill to climb.”

“We have an engineering study done in the 1970s by the plastics industry suggesting the standard wasn't adequate even back then,” Nelson said. “To our knowledge it has never been revised.”

Offringa said she isn't aware of any such study. She also said the applicable ASTM standard has been updated periodically and the standards are developed through consensus of interested parties, including industries, academia, government and consumers.

“Anyone who believes the current test to be inadequate has the opportunity to join and initiate projects to suggest changes,” Offringa said.

Nelson and the construction defect attorneys at that law firm as well as Portland, Ore.-based Ball Janik say melting vinyl siding is a serious problem across the United States and Alside needs to satisfy the owners' concerns about the durability of their product. They also say they are jointly investigating similar class action lawsuits against vinyl siding manufacturers including but not limited to Certainteed, Mastic and Ply Gem.