Five checks, two minutes
1. The tap. Knock with a knuckle. Aluminum rings with a hollow, tinny sound; vinyl gives a dull, plastic thud.
2. The scratch. In a spot nobody sees, behind a downspout or at a low corner, scratch lightly with a key. Aluminum shows shiny silver metal under the paint. Vinyl shows the same colour underneath, because the colour runs through the material.
3. The chalk. Wipe a sunny wall with your palm. Aged aluminum leaves a white or coloured powder on your hand; vinyl almost never does.
4. The damage. Aluminum dents, usually from hail, ladders or a ball. Vinyl cracks, splits or breaks out in pieces, especially after a cold-weather impact.
5. The cut edge. At a corner post or around a window, look at a cut end. Aluminum is a thin sheet of metal with paint on the face; vinyl is a thicker plastic panel, the same colour edge to edge.
The test that does not work
The magnet test. Aluminum is not magnetic, so a magnet will not stick to aluminum siding or to vinyl. It only tells you if the siding is steel, which is rare on houses here.
A rough clue from the age of the house
Aluminum siding was most common on homes sided from the 1950s into the 1970s, and a great deal of it is still on houses across Montgomery, Prince George’s and Northern Virginia. Vinyl took over from the late 1970s on. A house re-sided in the last 30 years is almost certainly vinyl or fiber cement.
Why it matters before you spend anything
Aluminum can be cleaned and painted; vinyl generally should not be painted dark colours. A dent in aluminum and a crack in vinyl need different fixes, and matching a replacement piece is far harder on aluminum, because most of it is no longer made. Insurance treats hail-dented aluminum as a covered cosmetic or functional loss depending on the policy, so knowing the material is the first line of any claim.
If you are weighing whether to keep it, the next questions are paint or replace and aluminum vs vinyl.
How we help
We will tell you what is on the house during a free inspection, photograph any damage, and give you one written, line-item price for whatever makes sense: repair parts if they can be matched, or replacement if they cannot.
MHIC #111971 in Maryland, Virginia Class A #2705183185, family-owned since 2005.
Get it looked at, free
We inspect across Maryland — Montgomery, Prince George's, Howard, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Carroll and Baltimore counties. Free inspection, photo report within 24 hours, and the report is yours to keep whether or not you hire us.