Siding Installation Videos: What Good Work Looks Like

Most homeowners have never seen what correct siding work looks like, because the important parts get covered up. Our video series, “Pro Grades the Install,” fixes that: Jim reviews real installation footage, pauses it, and grades the details — flashing sequences, nail placement, kickouts — against the manufacturers’ written instructions. Twelve episodes are in production. Each one gets its own page here with the embed, a summary, timestamps, a full transcript and VideoObject schema when it publishes.

How the episodes are made

Each episode follows the same discipline: short clips from public videos are shown only to be graded against the manufacturers’ written instructions, with on-screen credit and commentary as the main content. Where we critique an install, we blur faces, trucks and house numbers — we critique the detail, never the person. Over time, outside clips get replaced by footage from our own South Jersey jobs, filmed with a signed homeowner release. The goal is never entertainment for its own sake; it is to teach you exactly what to ask for in writing before your walls get closed up.

The 12 planned episodes

1. Ep 1 — What’s Really Behind Your Siding In production
   Teaching goal: wall anatomy and how water moves through it; sets up the whole series.
2. Ep 2 — I Graded 4 Window Flashing Jobs In production
   Teaching goal: the sill-jamb-head flashing sequence, and why capping is not flashing.
3. Ep 3 — Kickout Flashing: The Small Part That Rots Walls In production
   Teaching goal: how roof-to-wall water works, and what a missing kickout does to sheathing.
4. Ep 4 — Why Is My Vinyl Siding Wavy? In production
   Teaching goal: nail-slot centering, hang-don’t-pin, and expansion gaps.
5. Ep 5 — Pro Reacts: Full Vinyl Install Start to Finish In production
   Teaching goal: grading starter strip, corners, J-channel and trim on a full install.
6. Ep 6 — Window Trim With Vinyl Siding: Done Right In production
   Teaching goal: casing, J-channel and drainage at window heads.
7. Ep 7 — James Hardie Fiber Cement: What Installers Get Wrong In production
   Teaching goal: clearances, joints and dust control vs. the written instructions.
8. Ep 8 — LP SmartSide: Is Engineered Wood Right for NJ? In production
   Teaching goal: cut-edge sealing, clearances and finish care for engineered wood.
9. Ep 9 — Rainscreen Siding: Worth It in South Jersey? In production
   Teaching goal: what a rainscreen air gap does, and when the extra cost makes sense.
10. Ep 10 — Repair or Replace? Matching Damaged Siding In production
    Teaching goal: repair methods, the limits of matching, and when replacement wins.
11. Ep 11 — Old Houses: Lead Paint and What Tear-Off Reveals In production
    Teaching goal: pre-1978 lead-safe rules and what open walls on old houses show.
12. Ep 12 — How to Read 3 Siding Quotes Side by Side In production
    Teaching goal: walking the 15-line checklist across three real-style quotes.

Want the reading version while episodes finish? The same material is in our siding buyer’s guide and answer posts like kickout flashing and wavy vinyl siding.