Between freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and high winds, winter is the toughest season that your home’s siding can weather. Depending on the type of siding you have, you could experience anything from cracks, sagging, or warping to peeling paint and moisture damage.
Below, we’ll examine how snow and ice affect siding, and how TruLog’s steel siding can keep your home protected no matter the weather.
Can Snow Damage Siding?
Yes. Snow is one of the harshest weather conditions for some types of siding. For example, vinyl siding can become brittle in the cold, which can lead to cracking.
Wind-driven snow and freeze-thaw cycles can cause snow buildup, snowmelt, and melting ice to seep into cracks and gaps. This can cause all kinds of siding damage while exacerbating existing issues with cracking or warping in vinyl siding.
Wood and fiber-cement siding are also prone to moisture absorption, which can lead to swelling, warping, peeling paint, and eventually, mold growth and rot.
Does Ice Cause Siding to Crack?
Yes, ice can absolutely cause many types of siding to crack. The problem typically comes from freeze-thaw cycles, which allow snow or icicles to melt and drip down siding, where it can seep into gaps, cracks, or absorbent materials like unsealed wood and fiber cement.
From there, it freezes and expands, which causes warping and cracking. It can also lift and loosen shingles if you have shake siding.
While ice dams usually form along the edges of the roof, they can also form on your home’s siding. Ice dams on siding form when water drips down from the roof and refreezes, creating a large mass of ice directly on the siding. They’re notorious for causing water to back up behind them, often resulting in moisture damage as water seeps into gaps and cracks.
In extreme cases, particularly if you have vinyl siding, the weight alone of a larger ice dam can warp, crack, or break the siding.
How Snow and Ice Affect Siding Materials
Most types of siding are vulnerable to damage from snow and ice to one degree or another — but you can expect different kinds of siding to take on different types of damage. Below, we’ll dive into the specifics of how snow and ice affect siding, and which popular siding materials stand up best to winter weather.
Vinyl Siding
Snow and ice can wreak havoc on vinyl siding. In climates with harsh winter weather, you can expect the following:
- Cracking: Cold weather can cause vinyl to become brittle, increasing the risk of cracking, especially if it suffers an impact. Freeze-thaw cycles can cause water to infiltrate cracks, then make them larger as it freezes and expands.
- Shattering: Falling ice and icicles, or even a snowblower throwing chunks of compacted snow and ice, can crack and shatter vinyl siding.
- Sagging and Breaking: Ice dams and heavy accumulations of windblown snow on the siding itself can cause it to sag, warp, or break.
- Structural Damage: Water from melting snow and ice can seep into cracks or gaps between panels, causing water damage to sheathing and potentially structural damage underneath the sheathing.
- Loose Panels: Strong winds during winter storms can cause loose panels.
- Staining: Dirty snow and ice or meltwater running from gutters and rooftops can cause staining over time.
As you can see, while vinyl doesn’t rot like wood or other materials, winter weather still poses a significant threat that can result in costly repairs. You may even need to replace the siding entirely if you can’t color-match the existing vinyl siding after a few years of fading under UV rays.
Wood Siding
Wood siding is the most vulnerable type of siding in winter conditions because harsh weather can cause short-term damage while setting the stage for long-term problems.
Short-term damage includes:
- Blistering and Peeling: Water seeps beneath the paint, causing it to blister and peel.
- Warping, Swelling, and Cracking: Wood absorbs water, which leads to swelling, warping, and cracking. This can worsen over the winter due to repeated freeze-thaw cycles.
- Cracking and Splintering: Falling chunks of ice, icicles, or chunks of snow and ice thrown by snow blowers cause cracks and splintering.
- Staining: Dirty meltwater flowing from the rooftop and gutters over the siding causes staining.
The real danger to wood siding is all the long-term problems that can arise from the signs of damage listed above. It’s why wood requires regular inspections and lots of costly yearly maintenance.
The finish (paint or another sealant) is the most valuable way to protect wood siding against moisture. Still, winter weather will naturally cause even the toughest finish to crack, chip, blister, or peel.
Every spot where the paint is damaged is a spot where moisture from melting snow and ice can seep into the wood — this is what causes the fungal growth behind mold, mildew, and wood rot.
Fiber Cement Siding
Fiber cement siding is a lot more resistant to winter weather than either vinyl or wood. For starters, it’s a tougher, more stable material, which means it’s unlikely to crack or warp due to temperature fluctuations. It’s also denser than vinyl and wood, which means it’s much less likely to sustain impact damage from falling or flying chunks of snow and ice.
As long as it’s properly sealed with a solid coat of paint and caulking around any seams, it’s also more moisture-resistant than wood. That said, fiber cement does have a couple of weaknesses when it comes to snow and ice:
- Moisture Damage: While it is more moisture resistant than wood, it’s not impervious to moisture — especially if the paint or caulking is old, worn, chipping, or peeling. Damaged paint and caulk can allow moisture to penetrate fiber cement, causing swelling and flaking.
- Staining Risk: Like both vinyl and wood, it’s also prone to staining from meltwater running down from rooftops. Since the protective paint finish usually features a little bit of texture and natural porosity, it can pick up dirt and debris, leaving ugly dark streaks wherever water tends to flow.
Fiber cement offers better protection against winter weather when compared to vinyl and wood siding, but it’s still not the best option out there. If you want the best durability, you’ll want steel siding — and we’ll discuss why next.
How Does Steel Siding Perform in Snowy Climates?
Nothing performs better than steel siding in winter weather. The common factors that contribute to how snow and ice affect siding in climates with harsh winter weather include temperature swings, impact damage, and freeze-thaw cycles that lead to excess moisture.
Let’s take a look at how steel stands up to each of these elements individually.
Temperature Swings
Most materials expand and contract as temperatures shift from warm to cold. Whereas this can cause vinyl or painted surfaces to become brittle and crack, these temperature shifts don’t affect steel siding at all. It’s a non-porous, stable material coated with an impenetrable finish, so it won’t become brittle or warp when temperatures shift.
Impact Damage
TruLog steel siding features a Class 4 impact damage rating — the highest rating available. This means it’s one of the most durable materials available against impact damage.
While it won’t crack, shatter, or splinter like vinyl or wood, occasional extreme examples of winter damage can lead to dents, usually from huge icicles or chunks of ice falling from rooftops, or from snowblowers throwing large pieces of ice.
Fortunately, steel siding repairs are typically easy — if they’re even necessary. In most cases, you won’t need to worry about dents, and you can use a suction cup dent puller to smooth them out if needed.
Moisture
Moisture is by far the most significant threat to most types of siding. To recap, it can cause vinyl, wood, or fiber cement siding to blister, peel, warp, crack, mold, and stain.
TruLog steel siding doesn’t suffer from any of these problems because it features a non-porous protective UV coating. This means:
- No Moisture Damage: The finish won’t blister or peel due to moisture seeping through.
- No Corrosion or Rot: Since moisture can’t seep through the finish, the steel beneath won’t rust, corrode, or flake — and it can’t develop mold, mildew, or rot.
- No Fading or Staining: The protective coat guards against fading from UV exposure and prevents staining from meltwater running from the roof and gutter system.
Even without a protective finish, steel is a non-absorbent material, so it won’t warp or crack when exposed to moisture. And should the steel beneath become exposed to moisture — for example, if some other source of damage causes a chip or scratch deep enough to expose the metal — TruLog’s siding features a rigid core infused with a galvanizing alloy designed as an additional layer of protection against rust and corrosion.
Winter-Proof Your Home With Steel Siding
Cold air, snowfall, ice, and high winds can pose a threat to many types of siding, including vinyl, wood, and fiber cement. Sometimes, damage from heavy snow or other winter weather can even necessitate siding replacement.
That’s not the case with TruLog steel siding. It’s a highly durable material that’s impervious to freezing temperatures, moisture, and other winter weather concerns, which means it will keep your home safe throughout the year’s harshest season. If you’d like to learn more about what our siding can offer, download our free catalog.
