Method and device for repairing vinyl siding and the like

In an array of overlapping siding panels, which are secured to the wall of a house or the like, if the hook-shaped lower edge of a panel becomes loose or disengaged from an underlying panel, it is repaired by inserting and securing the upper edge of a repair element beneath the lower edge of the loose panel, and above the upper edge of the underlying panel, and so that a hook on the lower edge of the element engages beneath and forms and extension for a hook formed along the upper edge of the underlying panel. The hook-shaped lower edge of the loose panel is then snapped over and secured by the hook on the lower edge of the element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to the repair of plastic or metal siding for houses 
and the like, and more particularly to a method and novel device for 
repairing elongate strips or panels of siding which become dislodged after 
installation. 
It is becoming more and more customary to cover or replace wooden housing 
siding or clapboard with plastic or sheet metal siding, frequently 
referred to as vinyl or aluminum siding, respectively. This type of siding 
usually is produced in elongate strips or panels, which are adapted to be 
nailed to the side of a house in overlapping, horizontal rows, and with a 
rearwardly facing, hook-shaped portion along the lower edge of each panel 
overlying, and releasably engaged in, a downwardly facing hook-shaped 
portion formed along the upper edge of the next lower panel in the 
assembly. 
One problem often encountered with siding of the type described above is 
that, after installation, shrinkage or settlement of the associated 
building or house often causes the interconnected, or hook-shaped portions 
of adjacent panels to become disengaged. In other words, although the 
panels remain nailed or secured to the side of a house, the shrinkage of 
the framework of the house may cause one or more of the horizontally 
disposed panels to shift downwardly relative to an adjacent panel, whereby 
the hook-shaped lower edge of the settling panel becomes disengaged from 
the hook-shaped portion that extends along the upper edge of the next 
lower panel in the assembly. This may also occur as the result of extreme 
changes in temperature which causes expansion and/or contraction of the 
panels. 
When siding panels accidentally become disengaged as noted above, it is 
possible to correct the matter by removing and shifting upwardly the panel 
which has settled, but obviously this would require removal of all of the 
panels located above the errant panel. The cost of doing so, of course, 
would be prohibitive. Alternatively, the lower edge of the panel which 
slipped downwardly could be simply nailed against the housing to prevent 
it from swinging outwardly or away from the underlying panel, but this 
creates an unsightly and unsatisfactory solution. 
A variety of siding panels and associated mounting devices are disclosed in 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,110,130; 4,054,012; 4,399,643; 4,187,661; 4,411,117; 
4,356,673 and 3,226,901, but none of these patents discloses a 
satisfactory method or deviice for quickly and inexpensively repairing 
panels which have become loose after installation. Although U.S. Pat. No. 
3,226,901 discloses panel mounting hooks which are hidden from view, they 
are used simply to secure and to support siding panels on a housing wall, 
but cannot be used to repair panels which have become loose, unless the 
panels themselves are modified in some manner. 
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a relatively 
simple and inexpensive method for repairing panels of the type described 
which have settled or otherwise become disconnected from the next adjacent 
panel in a house or building covered by siding of the type described. 
It is an object also of this invention to provide a relatively simple and 
inexpensive device which can be used to reconnect or repair housing panels 
of the type described when one has settled relative to the other after 
installation, and without repairing any modification whatsoever of the 
panels themselves. 
Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from the 
specification and from the recital of the appended claims, particularly 
when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
When the normally interlocked, hook-shaped portions of plastic or metal 
siding or panels accidentally becomes disengaged after installation, 
because of the vertical settling of one panel relative to the other, the 
disengaged portions are reconnected by the use of a siding saving device 
in the form of a hook-shaped lock extender. The device is inserted beneath 
and nailed along its upper edge to the housing beneath the loose, lower 
edge of the settled panel, and in such manner that a hook-shaped portion 
on the lower edge of the extender engages in the hook which is formed 
along the lower edge of the loose panel, and so that a rearwardly facing 
edge of such hook-shaped portion of the device engages beneath the hook 
which is formed along the upper edge of the next lower panel in the 
assembly. 
In practice, the loose, or settled panel, which remains nailed at its upper 
edge to the housing, is pivoted manually outwardly far enough to permit 
the siding saving device to be inserted therebeneath, and to be secured by 
nails along its upper edge to the housing above the upper edge of the next 
lower panel in the assembly. At this time the upper edge of a rearwardly 
facing hook, which is formed on the lower edge of the siding saving 
device, is seated beneath the hook formed along the upper edge of the next 
lower panel. After the saving device has been nailed in place, the hook on 
the lower edge of the loose panel is popped by a conventional instrument 
over the hook formed on the lower edge of the device, which at this stage 
functions as an extension of the hook that runs along the upper edge of 
the lower panel, thus securing once again the two panels together by means 
of a siding saving device which is completely hidden beneath the upper 
panel of the pair.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
Referring now to the drawings by numerals of reference, and first to FIGS. 
1 and 2, 10 denotes generally the side of a house, or the like, to which 
has been secured an array of conventional vinyl siding strips or panels, 
three of which are denoted at 20, 30 and 40, respectively. As shown in 
FIGS. 1 and 2, the various panels in the array (including 20, 30 and 40) 
are secured at their upper edges by nails 11 or the like, which extend 
through slots or registered openings 12 formed in the upper edge of each 
panel for this purpose. Below the nailing slots 12 each panel is provided 
with an elongate, downwardly facing generally hook-shaped projection 
denoted on panels 30 and 40 at 31 and 41, respectively. These hook shaped 
portions 31, 41 extend over the face of the associated panel 30 and 40, 
respectively, and extend longitudinally of the panel parallel to its upper 
edge. Intermediate its upper and lower edges each panel is provided with a 
longitudinally extending bend, as shown for example in the drawing by the 
bend 33 formed in panel 30 substantially medially of its edges. In each 
panel this bend operates to offset substantially the lower half of a 
respective panel slightly outwardly from the surface of the housing wall 
10, as shown for example by the lower half of the panel 30 as shown in 
FIG. 2. 
Also each panel in the array is provided along its lower edge with a 
rearwardly facing, upturned or hook-shaped portion, as shown for example 
by the hook-shaped portion 25 and 35 of the panels 20 and 30, 
respectively. 
When the siding strips or panels in the array are properly secured by nails 
11 over the side 10 of a house the rearwardly facing hook-shaped portion 
along the lower edge of each panel (for example portions 25 and 35) has 
its upturned edge releasably locked or seated beneath the downwardly 
facing hook-shaped portion (such as portions 31 and 41) of the next lower 
panel in the array. Thus, when properly installed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 
2, the lower edge of each panel is releasably attached or locked to the 
next lower panel in the array by virtue of the interengagement of the 
hooked shaped portion of the lower edge of each panel with the downwardly 
directed, hooked shaped portion formed adjacent the upper edge of the 
lower panel in the array. 
Because of the above-noted shrinkage in the framework of the housing, or 
because of excessive expansion or contraction of the various panels in 
response to extreme temperature changes, of the various panels, it is not 
unusual for one or more panels in the array to become dislodged from one 
another as shown, for example in FIG. 6, wherein panel 30 has settled 
somewhat relative to panel 40, so that the lower, hook-shaped portion 35 
of panel 30 has shifted downwardly relative to the hook-shaped portion 41 
on the upper edge of panel 40, thus causing panel 30 to disengage from 
panel 40. This problem could be resolved by cutting one or more of the 
errant siding strips and shifting them relative to each other before 
renailing them to the housing side; or the various strips could be 
unfastened from the side of the housing and then refastened or renailed 
thereto, but of course this would require shifting all of the panels in 
order to compensate for perhaps only two of the panels which may not be 
properly connected. 
To obviate the difficulty in repairing disconnected panels of the type 
shown in FIG. 6, applicant has developed a novel siding saving element 
which is denoted generally at 60 in FIGS. 3 to 5 and 7. Element 60 
comprises an elongate sheet metal or plastic fitting which is bent or 
otherwise formed in intermediate its longitudinally extending, parallel 
edges, into four, integrally connected sections 61, 62, 63 and 64. Section 
61 forms a plane, front wall or body portion of element 60, and has its 
lower edge integral with the lower edge of section 62, which is inclined 
to an acute angle upwardly and rearwardly from section 61 to form a 
rearwardly facing hook on the lower end of element 60. Intermediate 
section 63 is integral at its lower edge with the upper edge of section 
61, and is also inclined rearwardly relative to section 61 and generally 
parallel to and in vertical registry with, the hook section 62 of the 
element. The upper edge of section 63 is integral with the lower edge of 
flange section 64, which extends above section 63 parallel to, and offset 
rearwardly from, the front body portion 61 of the element. 
Flange section 64 may also have therethrough adjacent its upper edge one or 
more openings 65 to accommodate nails or similar items which may be used 
for securing element 60 to a housing wall as noted hereinafter. 
In use, and in order to repair detached panels of the type shown in FIG. 6, 
the lower portion of the panel 30 as shown in FIG. 6, is pivoted or bent 
manually outwardly relative to its fixed, upper edge, and far enough to 
permit the upper flange section 64 of an element 60 to be passed beneath 
panel 30 and over the upper edge of the underlying panel 40, and also in 
such manner that the hook 62 on the lower edge of the element engages 
beneath the downwardly extending hook-shaped portion 41 of panel 40 (FIG. 
7). The device 60 is then secured by nails 11' along its upper edge 
directly against the housing 10, after which the lower portion of the 
panel 30 is pivoted back toward the panel 41, and its hook-shaped lower 
end 35 is snapped or otherwise engaged around the lower end or apex of the 
device 60, by conventional tool, if necessary whereby the lower end of the 
saving device 60 becomes locked or seated in the hook-shaped lower end of 
panel 30 as shown in FIG. 7. The siding saving device 60 will then be 
completely hidden from view, and panel 30 will once again be properly 
secured against panel 40 without having had to strip panels from the side 
of the housing, or without having had to make any cut in the panels to 
effect the repair. 
From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention provides 
a relatively simple device and a novel method for repairing vinyl or metal 
siding of the type frequently used in place of clapboards on houses or the 
like. The siding saving devices 60 can be made in various lengths; and the 
configuration of each device can be modified slightly if necessary, to 
accommodate the device for use with different types of siding. A primary 
advantage of this construction is that it is not necessary to remove or 
shift any of the panels previously secured to the housing side. Wherever 
necessary a saving device 60 is slipped beneath adjacent edges of two 
panels which have become detached from each other, and after being secured 
to the side of the housing by nails 11', one need only to pop or insert 
the hook-shaped lower edge of the errent panel over the lower end of the 
saving device to complete the repair. The devices 60 can be made very 
inexpensively because they do not bear any load whatsoever, but merely 
couple together the hook-shaped portions of two panels, such as for 
example portions 35 and 41, to prevent one from pivoting or otherwise 
moving away from the other. 
While the present invention has been illustrated and described in 
connection with only certain embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that 
it is capable of still further modification, and that this application is 
intended to cover any such modifications as may fall within the scope of 
one skilled in the art, or the appended claims.