Sounds like the neighbors window was a little curved, and focusing the sunlight into a beam like a magnifier will do.

It might be cheaper for your client to plant a nice holly bush to block the rays.

Interesting.

Aluminum siding doesn't melt.  Maybe its time to switch to aluminum. Maybe their insurance would cover it less their decuctible.

BLOG ON!

WOW.  How strange.  That would be a bit irritating to see your siding melting thanks to a neighbors window...LOL...never heard of this before.  Learn something new everyday.

Okay, now, that's not intuitively obvious when you're buying a home! 

Planting something to block it occurred to me, but then I thought, would the plant burst into flame and maybe burn down both houses? 

I have seen this myself on my own house. It is curious to me that ASHI did not know more about it.

I have seen it during inspections where the sellers grilled too close to their house. What a shame!

Missy,

I have seen that to many times to count. The thing with vinyl is it melts or gets soft at a relatively low temperature. Put the grill to close, you get a new textured siding. People just don't think sometimes.

Paul, are you sure you saw this or just the siding warping because of a bad installation. You nail vinyl siding on too tight and it will warp and pull apart.

Wow, It really stinks.  I have seen the grill thing and the improper install of vinyl problems as well.  I prefer the cement board if the house must have siding.

Hi James and Happy 4th of July,

Had a house with a gas fireplace.  It was properly vented with a heat shield outside the vent.  Enough heat was deflected around the shield that some of ther siding warped and discolored.

If you haven't seen this before, you haven't been following the internet discussion boards for inspectors long enough, or maybe just the right ones, such as

Inspections News

The Inspector's Journal

I've seen it discussed several times over the last five or six years over there, complete with pictures.  One of those phenomena that ya can't really predict, but know it when you see it.

Here's some melted garage siding with another cause.  Though it was fine when I first inspected it, circumstances changed during the inspetion.

Sometimes you DON'T gotta wonder.  You see it for yourself.

Erby Crofutt
B4U Close Home Inspections & Radon Testing
Georgetown, KY
http://www.b4uclose.com/
http://www.kentuckyradon.com/
502-570-4054

We saw this in a new home community a few years ago.  The builder had to come in and replace the siding on the house and the neighbor's windows with ones that wouldn't reflect like that. 

Erby,

I don't make a habit of following the inspector discussion boards, I had for a while followed Inspection News.

I go to two meetings on average a month and speak with other inspectors. Many of these guys have been in the business a long time, no one around here had seen this before. The discussion groups are a great place to find out about weird or infrequent stuff like this. As I said I fouund someone on the ASHI boards who had the same experience.

By the way your pictures are not displaying.

Very common.  I see it more and more as homes are built on smaller lots and closer together.   It can be stopped if the owner of the home with the reflecting windows installs sun filtering screens on the windows.  A $50 screen vs. a $500 siding repair.

Well, obviously I've still got some figgering out to do on uploading pictures to active rain.

Uploaded at 640x480 and too big.

Used active rain tools to shirnk to 320x and now they're screwed.

I'll keep trying.

James,

 Did you see the photo in the blog I did about the same thing. Although I think the siding that time was victim to something much more catastrophic. I inspected a house with vinyl this weekend and it was melted, but obvious BBQ on deck syndrome.

Erby,

When you upload the photo resize it on the appearance tab. All you have to do is resize one dimension an then click your cursor over the other dimension and presto, it automatically figures the correct size.

Everyones pictures are great, but no one has the same thing that I put up here. Stupidity aside this was a freak occurrence, not an occurrence by some freaks. Looks like those fellas with the bonfire and the hose have what we would call a little algae in the old gene pool.

James,

It WAS the Active Rain tab that screwed the appearance when I resized it.

This will let you see how the AR Appearance tab, that you suggest, screwed it.

Vinyl siding pictures are hard to resize without getting the freaky appearnace below.

"freak occurrence, not an occurrence by some freaks"  That's a good one and so appropriate!

Erby,

If the shoe fits. Yeah I see what you mean that picture looks screwy.

Howdy James

Thanks for a great post. I had not ever seen that before.

James ..quit trying to deny you did that with your magnifying glass during the inspection.

I have always hated vinyl siding.  On new homes it just looks cheap.  On old homes it may be covering some serious sins.  And look what it does!

Hey Bob, let's try to keep that quiet. ;-)

You know David around here there are towns or communities that won't allow homes to be clad in vinyl for just that reason. They feel it looks cheap. Me I like anything that is low or no maintenance. Like they say vinyl is final. Unless you decide to have a bonfire next to your house. That picture kills me!

If we go back to to asbesto's we won't have that problem.

James

I don't make a habit of following the inspector discussion boards, I had for a while followed Inspection News.

Thats too bad. I think you would be a valuable contributor to The Inspectors Journal. IMO it is the best board out there (I am on all of them waaayyy too much, I'm a certified HI geek).  Check it out if you haven't  already.

Tim

This is happening to one side of my 2 story house.  House built in 2003 and builder replace siding in Nov 06.  It is happening all over again.  Builder claims  the neighbors windows are defecetive.  Problem is that the builder also built the neighbor house.  Builder now says that neighbor has to change their windows and that they will not replace siding again.   Neighbor doesn't have to cooperate.  It's not affecting them and their siding is fine.   Meanwhile our dream house is melting before our eyes.   Builder also says that this is between the neighbor and the window manufacturer and they are out of it.  We do have a letter from the builder's warranty department which states they (the builder) will replace anymore warped siding until they get the neighbors window changed.  Now they claim they can't do that.  Any thoughts? 

Stan 

Stan,

Are your neighbors aware of the problem their windows are causing to your house? Seems to me that if their windows are defective, they should be replaced by the builder. He admitted as much to you. I would assume you have an attorney. If not the time to find one is now.

Stan, I don't know what to say about your legal problems, but if you have to replace your siding yourself, I would respectfully suggest you go to some other type of siding.  If you want low maintenance (there is no such thing as no maintenance) and a relatively reasonable price go to one of the cementicious clapboards like Hardy Plank.  I personally prefer cedar for siding but it has gotten quite expensive in recent years, and unless you live close to Western Canada and can go directly to the mill to buy it (I can do that here) it can be prohibitively expensive.  As I stated in a response above, I don't like vinyl and you have certainly learned that it is no panacea.

David,

I would also agree about Hardy board, but I did not see that as an option for Stans' problem. The reason being he should reside the the whole house with this product and I doubt the builder will agree to that. Maybe he could get the builder to pickup the cost of residing one side and pay for the rest. 

This is a complicated issue and the builder sounds like he's trying to wriggle out of his responsibilities.

Yes it is complicated.  I made my comment based on the assumption that Stan would probably end up paying for it himself.  I certainly think he needs good legal advice and that he shouldn't just roll over, but I also know that pushing a principal to the limit can be very expensive.  I wish him well, and hope he gets what he needs in the process.

Yes, our neighbor is aware.  This involves them taking the time off of work and arrange with the window manufacturer to come and replace the glass in their windows.  Sadly, the neighbor has to do all the work to fix my problem.  I really think the builder should offer them an incentive, however, I may have to do that myself.  The builder says they can't offer any incentive.  It amazes me all the things my builder could do 3 years ago when the building market was good.  Now, he can't do anything.    I will be speaking with the builder again this week. 

Thanks for all the advise.  I am not sure a lawyer will do any good at this point.  The builder has an arbitration clause to avoid going to court.  The things we learned after we closed on the house. 

 Stan

My son just built a weekend place down at the Texas coast and used Hardy board. I am seeing more and more homes in this area being built using Hardy on three sides and brick in the front to dress it up. If we ever build a house I would like to use Hardy but will have to convince my wife, she likes brick or native rock over here in Texas.

Great blog material and photographs.  

Stan,

I'm no legal expert, by any means, but I would have a contract law attorney look at the contract, as well as the letter from the builder.  It sounds as if you may have a breach of contract case.  If that's the case, it may void the arbitration clause.  Again, I'm no law expert, but, if I were you, it would be worth it to me to have an attorney look at it.  Heck, a letter from an attorney to the builder might be enough to get the builder to cooperate.

Hi James,

your blogs are great, thanks for sharing.

CJ

Thanks Carla, glad you find them interesting.