16vCorey wrote:
Yes. They make a tool that you can pull the bottom lip and unlock it from the other pieces around it, but if it's already broken, you might just cut the old piece out to keep from damaging the pieces around it. Make sure you do it on a hot day so the siding will be more flexible, otherwise you run the risk of cracking the new piece.
The tool is called a zipper tool (or an unzipper tool)
Cutting up the damaged piece won't quite work, because you will need to get the piece above it unhooked from the damaged piece, so you will still have to unzip it.
Corey is right about the warm day though.
You can probably get it done without the zipper tool (though they are only a couple of dollars). If you look up at the bottom edge of the piece above the damaged one, you will see about an 1 1/2 inch notch at the end. Pry a screwdriver or needle nose pliers up into this notch and pull/ pry down the bottom edge of the piece you are trying to unzip. It will take a little effort. After a few minutes of prying around, it will pop loose and you will be able to unzip the entire bottom edge. Then lift the panel, pull the nails on the damaged piece, and bump the damaged sheet in a downward motion with your fist or the palm of your hand. It will pop loose too, and unzip just like the first piece.
Nail in a new piece. The trick will be re-zipping the piece above to your new one. This is where the zipper tool REALLY comes in handy. You are essentially trying to bend the hooked bottom edge of the sheet down until it latches into the sheet below it, then zip it back together from one end to the other. It will take a little manhandling. Don't be afraid- you won't break it (as long as you picked a warm day like Corey said).
