Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
You lean on the house to pull a weed and your hand comes away white, like you just wiped a chalkboard. Up close, the panels by the driveway carry a row of round dimples from some long-ago hailstorm. One corner piece is pulling away from the trim.
The siding has been there longer than you have. Now it wants a decision.
Why so many Long Island houses wear aluminum
Bellerose Roofing and Siding, which serves Floral Park and the rest of Nassau County, says aluminum is still on a large number of homes there, particularly those sided in the 1960s and 1970s. The aluminum that went up through the 1970s and 1980s, Bellerose says, is now dented, chalking and failing at its seams.
Suffolk has its share. Siding Long Island shows a 1972 raised ranch in Huntington whose original aluminum had reached the end of its life, and another raised ranch in Smithtown with aging aluminum.
The InterNACHI life expectancy chart gives aluminum siding 25 to 40 years or more. Do the math on a house sided in the 1970s and it is well past the short end of that range.
Chalk on your hand and dents that stay
That white powder is the factory finish wearing away. Diamond Vogel, a paint maker, says the coating on aluminum siding is not indestructible. It erodes, chalks and fades, and in severe cases the metal itself is exposed and oxidizes. Its test is the one you already ran by accident: rub a palm on the siding and check your hand for chalk.
Bellerose adds that once aluminum fades, the original color is gone for good unless the siding is repainted.
Dents are the other giveaway. Bellerose says aluminum dents easily in hail and high wind, and the dents cannot be popped back out the way a fender can.
Loose seams matter more than dents. Once aluminum separates from the house, Bellerose warns, water gets behind it and into the sheathing, which on older homes is often the original wood.
Paint, patch or replace
Each one fits a different wall. Bellerose says painting makes sense when the panels are structurally sound and only the finish has failed. Professionally painted aluminum lasts about 7 to 10 years in Nassau before it needs another coat, depending on sun and how close the house sits to the water. Diamond Vogel says every trace of chalk has to come off first, and bare aluminum should get a direct-to-metal primer.
For a damaged section, Bellerose prices aluminum repair at $5 to $7 a square foot, about $1,000 to $1,400 for a 200 square foot area. The hard part on older Nassau houses, Bellerose says, is matching the existing color and profile, so a repair may use panels that are only close enough to blend. Our siding repair page covers matching and when patching stops making sense.
If the panels are dented, pulling away at the corners, or headed for repeated paint jobs over the next decade, Bellerose says new vinyl is often the better long-term value.
Covering it over versus tearing it off
Some contractors will hang new siding right over the aluminum. The Vinyl Siding Institute’s installation manual allows re-siding, with conditions: nail down loose boards of existing siding, replace rotten ones, never install vinyl over rotting wood, remove gutters, downspouts and light fixtures, and fur out or remove uneven original siding so the new panels sit on a smooth, continuous surface. The manual also says the siding maker’s own instructions win wherever they differ from general industry practice, so read the installation guide for the exact product on your quote.
Long Island Exterior Co., in an April 2026 cost guide, calls going over the existing layer rarely the right approach. Its reasons: it adds weight, traps moisture, hides rot and structural damage, complicates future repairs, and adds thickness that throws off the trim around windows and doors.
Tearing off also shows you what is underneath. On some older houses that is a layer of asbestos cement shingles, which the Vinyl Siding Institute says is regulated, so the contractor should call the environmental agency or building official before re-siding over it. Our asbestos siding guide covers testing and New York’s removal rules. With the old metal off, the walls also get a fresh weather barrier, covered on our house wrap guide.
Where the old aluminum goes
That pile of old panels is worth something as scrap metal. Gershow Recycling lists aluminum siding among the materials it buys, at yards that include Valley Stream, Freeport, New Hyde Park, Huntington, Lindenhurst, Bay Shore, Riverhead and Medford. Long Island Exterior Co. lists removal and disposal of one layer of existing siding as part of its vinyl price.
Get three answers from your contractor in writing: whether disposal is included, whether the aluminum goes to a recycler, and whether any scrap value is credited to you. If a container will sit in the street, our dumpster permit guide covers the town rules.
What Long Island contractors charge to replace it
We found no Long Island company publishing one all-in price for taking a house from aluminum to new siding. The figures come in pieces. Siding Long Island says removing old aluminum or asbestos shingle siding adds $1.50 to $3.00 a square foot. Long Island Exterior Co. puts removal and disposal at $1 to $3 a square foot and says houses carrying two layers, such as an older layer under an aluminum overlay, cost more to strip. The new siding is priced on top of that, by material, in our siding cost guide, and the vinyl siding page covers vinyl, which Bellerose says often makes more long-term financial sense than repainting old aluminum.
