Vinyl Siding Basics
Vinyl is one of the most popular maintenance-free siding materials for new construction. It's also one of the most manageable siding materials for do-it-yourselfers to install. Large home centers carry several styles and colors and most of the trim, accessories, and tools you'll need. Even more styles and colors are available at specialized building material suppliers.
It's not hard to learn the steps for installing vinyl siding. The biggest challenges for do-it-yourselfers are planning the layout and installing the proper trim for each area.
Choosing Vinyl Siding
The thickness, or gauge, of the vinyl is the key to its durability and cost. The thicker the vinyl is, the longer it lasts, the better it withstands damage, and the more stable it is. Of course, the thicker the vinyl is, the more it costs. The siding sold in most home centers is .040"-.045" thick. Premium brands are available up to .055" thick.
Since vinyl siding is intended to imitate wood lap siding, it is available in several profiles. Most common is a piece that imitates two courses of wood siding, with an exposure of four or five inches each. These are called D4 or D5 (the "D" stands for "double"). A variation is a "Dutch Lap" style (D5DL) which has the shape of a traditional dutch lap wood siding. A profile with three courses of 3-inch siding (T3) is also common.
Vinyl generally comes in a range of light to medium colors. Darker colors tend to fade and are generally not available.
Preparing the House for Siding
On new construction, siding is installed over the wall sheathing. On older homes, vinyl can sometimes be installed over the home's current siding. Keep in mind that vinyl needs to be nailed into solid wood, so if the home has aluminum siding or older vinyl siding, these will probably have to be removed. Going over existing wood siding or stucco is possible, although it's sometimes necessary to install vertical furring strips first.
If you tear off the old siding and apply new siding directly over the wall sheathing, you can improve an existing home's insulation and weatherization before you re-side. Fiberglass, cellulose, or foam insulation can be blown or injected into the wall cavities. House wrap or sheets of foam insulation can be applied over the sheathing.
House wrap is typically used on new construction. It seals a house against air infiltration but still allows the walls to breathe. It cuts down on drafts and air leaks, but it doesn't trap moisture inside the walls.  House wrap comes in large rolls and is stapled to the sheathing prior to installing the windows or doors. The seams are sealed with a special tape.
For existing homes, a common technique for preparing the wall surface for siding is to apply a thin layer of fan-fold foam insulation. The foam used is typically from 1/4" to 3/8" thick and comes in sheets that are 4 feet high and 50 feet long. The foam adds a tiny amount of insulation (not much more than R-1). It's really there to help even out an irregular surface so that the siding will lie more flat. It also adds some degree of protection against air infiltration (but not as much as house wrap).
Laying out a Vinyl Siding Project
There are certain guidelines for layout on a siding job.
The rows, or courses, should line up all the way around the house, around every corner.
The courses of siding should be level. However, if the house has settled or there are parts of the house that that aren't perfectly level (such as soffits), it might be better have the siding be parallel to the house (even if this means the siding won't be perfectly level.) 
Try to avoid having thin pieces of siding under windows, doors or soffits.
Houses that change levels—such as walk-outs or split-levels—pose particular layout challenges. If you start with a full course along the bottom in one area, as the level changes up or down you may end up with less than a full course along the bottom in other areas. In this case, you'll want to pick the most prominent, visible area of the house and start with a full course there, and let the cuts fall where they may in other areas.
Cutting Vinyl Siding
One of the beauties of vinyl siding is that you can cut it with inexpensive hand tools. Large-bladed tin snips can be used to cut the pieces of siding to length. Smaller aviation snips are best for cutting trim pieces to precise lengths and shapes.
That's not to say that there aren't power tools for the job, too. A standard circular saw fitted with a fine-toothed plywood cutting blade will cut vinyl cleanly and quickly. (It works best to put the blade in the saw backwards.) Professional siding contractors usually have a power miter saw on a large stand to make cutting go faster. Amateurs can build something similar on top of a sheet of plywood or OSB with some scrap 1-by and 2-by.
Long, horizontal cuts in vinyl are made by scoring the cut with a utility knife and bending the piece back and forth until it breaks along the score mark.
Nailing Vinyl Siding
 Vinyl expands and contracts with changes in temperature, so how the vinyl is secured to the house is important. It can't be secured firmly—it has to be able to move. So you don't really attach the vinyl to the house—essentially, you hang it.
You generally need galvanized roofing nails, at least 1-¼" long (or long enough to penetrate ¾" into solid wood studs.
 All vinyl siding and accessories come with slots to nail through. When you nail, you don't drive the nail tight. Some manuals specify that there should be a 1/32" between the head of the nail and the siding, but there's no need to check each nail with a micrometer. If, after you've nailed it, the piece of vinyl will slide back and forth, then you're OK. If not, you've pinned it too tight to the house.
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