Drilling Holes In Aluminum Siding

Repairing small aluminum holes step 1 clean the area around the hole in the aluminum with a sponge soaked in warm water mixed with liquid detergent.

Drilling holes in aluminum siding.

The siding is fire resistant providing a high level of protection for a home. Although the siding does not require drilling pilot holes you may need to run wire or cable through the siding necessitating drilling a hole. Whether you want to fix your aluminum siding or mend your aluminum boat you may want to know how to repair holes in aluminum. The least expensive twist bits are made of high speed steel hss and these basic bits are just fine for most metal drilling tasks.

The foregoing not withstanding aluminum siding is a singularly durable exterior product and those whose homes are ensconced are loath to give it up. In fact most drill bits for metal are manufactured to drill through a variety of materials including wood and plastic. Learning how to repair a hole in aluminum. Nail holes in aluminum and vinyl siding are tough to repair without replacing the entire piece but a squirt of color matched caulk from a siding supplier will solve the problem for a lot less money and aggravation.

Vinyl siding is easy to penetrate but there are places you want to avoid within the profile of the siding. Hardieplank is available as ready to paint or with a color layer. For siding that has two sections called ship lap there is a rib running horizontally in the middle of the piece. Trying to place the screw through that middle rib can be awkward.

Aluminum siding used to be all the rage some 25 years ago but now the more modern vinyl siding has followed in its footsteps. The main difference between drilling aluminum and harder materials noted jason hout global dhm deep hole machining product and application specialist for sandvik coromant co fair lawn n j is that the shear point of aluminum is low enough that it can be sliced by the tool s cutting edge as opposed to being pushed out. Almost any general purpose twist bit will do a decent job of drilling holes in metal. When using a hole saw to drill the hole in aluminum siding keep the saw slightly tilted to one side to reduce the chances that the hole saw will bind while cutting the hole.

How to drill into siding. If you notice that the saw binds pull the hole saw away from the siding tilt the hole saw in a different direction and restart drilling the hole. Installing a surface mounted item such as a mailbox or running a new pipe or line into an existing home usually requires drilling through the siding.