What is the proper method of splicing vinyl outside corner posts?

Question

My outside corners are tall enough that I must splice two pieces of corner post to attain the proper height.

If anyone can give me instructions, or directions to instructions, it would be greatly appreciated. I have Googled it, but everything is too vague to be of any real use, saying things like "the top piece must extend down over the bottom" or "just cut notches in the bottom piece to accomodate the top piece". Yeah, I know that, but what kind of cuts and where, exactly.

Any (useful) help will go a long way towards getting this project off the ground. As you may well know, corner posts are one of the first things to be installed. Thanks

Answer 1

The only cut you should make on the corner is at the nailing flange.  Remove 1" of nailing flanges from the bottom of the top piece.  Slide the top piece over the bottom piece, lapping 3/4" which should leave a 1/4" gap at the flanges.

The fit is tight and it is not easy to get the top piece over the bottom piece.  I have seen installers make additional cuts to make the pieces go together a bit easier, but this should be avoided as it creates pathways for water to get behind the siding.

A good resource for installation questions is the Vinyl Siding Institute's installation manual (http://www.vinylsiding.org/publications/... -- pdf file, so be prepared).  Many manufucturers adopt this as thier official manual.