Nailing Clip For Plastic Siding

Abstract

Plastic siding made to simulate clapboards is now made with an integral top locking strip having a downward projection spaced from the body of the siding into which an upturned projecting strip, on the bottom of the next higher course of siding, can be fitted when applying the siding to a house. The present disclosure eliminates this integral locking strip and provides instead small nailing clips of a special construction which are less expensive and which are constructed so that the siding can be nailed in place loosely, which is desirable to permit thermal expansion and contraction of the siding.

Description

A popular form of plastic siding is made to resemble clapboarding, and consists of a number of elongated pieces or courses which are applied in overlapping relationship, similar to clapboards, so as to shed water. Since the plastic siding is made of thin material, means must be provided to interlock each course as it is applied with the next lower course. For this purpose, an integral top locking strip is provided on each course which has a downward projection spaced from the body of the siding into which an upturned projecting strip on the bottom of the next higher course of siding can be fitted when applying siding to a house. This next course is then nailed to the house, usually to plywood sheathing which has been applied to form the exterior walls of the house, at a point above the top locking strip, so that the nailing is concealed by the next higher course of siding. The nailing is usually done through a slot provided near the top edge of each course of siding, the purpose of the slot being to permit a certain amount of lateral movement of the siding with respect to the wall of the house, to provide for differential expansion and contraction between the siding and the sheathing, which otherwise would tend to produce buckling and distortion of the siding. For this reason, the nail should not be applied too tightly, and this is often difficult to achieve in practice, and may result in the undesired distortion taking place. The present invention substitutes for the integral locking strip a series of small nailing clips of special construction as described below, which are less expensive, and which are constructed so that the siding can be nailed in place loosely, thus permitting the desired thermal expansion and contraction.

The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective drawing, partly in section, showing one form of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken through another form of the invention showing the clip applied to a wall;

FIG. 3 is a similar view of a different form of the invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are side and front views respectively of a different form of clip;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along 7--7 of FIG. 8, showing the clip of FIG. 4 applied to a course of siding;

FIG. 7 is a similar view, considerably enlarged to show the details of the clip; and

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the application of the siding to a wall.

Referring to FIG. 1, the courses of plastic siding 2, 2a and 2b are shown fastened to the sheathing 4 of a building wall; alternatively, the siding could be nailed directly to the joists of the exterior walls of the building, with a thin layer of any suitable waterproof material between the joists and the siding. Each course of siding is provided at its top portion with an integral flat strip 6 which in turn is provided with nailing slots 8 by means of which each course of siding is nailed to the wall, the nails preferably being driven not fully in so that the siding is free to move slightly in the direction of its length relative to the wall in accommodation to thermal or other expansion or contraction between the wall and the siding.

The bottom part of each course of siding is formed by an inturned strip 10 terminating in a shorter upturned strip 12 which can be engaged with a downturned portion 14 of a nailing clip 16 to hold the bottom part of the siding firmly in place. In a common form of past construction, the downturned element which the upturned portion 12 of each course engaged was itself an integral part of the upper portion of the preceding course. For this, the present disclosure substitutes a small nailing clip 16, preferably pre-assembled with a nail 18 so that they can be nailed through the slots 8 of each course of siding as it is installed, which serves both to fasten the siding in place, and also provides a bottom hook for engagement with the upturned portion 12 of the next course of siding.

FIG. 2 shows at 26 a modification of the clip 16 which it resembles in all respects except that a short leg 27 is added which fits into the slot 8 of a course of siding 2, which is the same as shown in FIG. 1 and is sufficiently wide to also permit nail 18 to pass therethrough loosely. Leg 27, together with thicker leg 29 at the top portion of the nailing clip projects sufficiently far so that the flat portion 6 of the siding can rest loosely beneath the nailing clip 26 even after the nail 18 has been fully driven home, thus requiring less care on the part of the person doing the nailing.

FIG. 3 shows still another modification, in which a second leg 35 is added to the structure of FIG. 2 to provide a more positive support and to eliminate any possibility of the nail being driven far enough to pinch the plastic siding against the wall. In this case, the inturned strip 10' is shown terminated in a locking strip 12' which overlies the upturned portion 14' of the nailing clip 36. This arrangement has the advantage that the next course of siding is supported by the nailing clip while it is being installed.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show still another form of clip which is generally somewhat similar to the form shown in FIG. 2, except that an extra vertically extending nailing strip 41 is added, which is preferably pre-assembled with nail 18, and the leg 47, corresponding generally to leg 27 of FIG. 2 is made heavier and sturdier, so that it can serve as the sole support for the preceding course of siding by extending through its slot 8 as best shown in FIG. 7. This has the advantage, among others, that the nailing strip 41 can be made larger to provide a better target for nailing, and less danger of damaging the clip. This construction also makes it almost impossible to nail too tightly; it creates a "floating" siding which does not require a backer board to support the individual siding units.

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show in more detail the manner in which the clip is applied to successive courses of plastic siding.

Claims

I claim:

1. a. In combination, a course of siding of thin, sheet-like material made to resemble a strip of clapboard,

b. said course of siding having a top edge adapted to lie flat against the side of a wall to which the siding is to be nailed,

c. said top edge having a number of spaced horizontal nailing slots,

d. said course of siding having a bottom edge turned in toward the wall and terminating in a short upturned locking strip,

e. and a number of separate, narrow nailing clips of thin sheet-like material, one for each of said nailing slots, each clip having a nail perforation through which a nail can pass,

f. each said nailing clip having a top edge turned in toward the wall and overlaying the top edge of its associated course of siding,

g. and having also a bottom edge providing a downwardly extending projection spaced outwardly away from the top portion of the associated course of siding and dimensioned to receive the short upturned locking strip of the next higher course of siding,

h. and an integral projecting member on said nailing clip extending from the body of said nailing clip through said nailing slot.

2. The invention according to claim 1,

i. said nailing perforation being opposite its associated nailing slot.

3. The invention according to claim 1,

i. said nailing clip having a top projection extending upwardly from the end of said inturned top edge and in contact with the wall to which the siding is to be attached,

j. said nailing perforation being in said top projection.

4. The invention according to claim 3,

k. said inturned top edge of the nailing clip and said integral projecting member both being slightly longer than the thickness of the top edge of the siding, so that when the clip is nailed in place, the siding is loosely held against the wall.