OT--question for the carpenters on the board......

I know this is not tractor related, but I do have a tractor in the garage and need to protect it from the elements....

It"s been almost 30 years since I bent nails for a living, so wanted to ask about a current siding product.

Is Hardie Plank siding as good a product as it is made out to be....cost is North of $150/square.....and I need to replace the siding on the house.

Anyone used it or installed it? Comments would be appreciated.

Tim

We have started using it for Habitat for Humanity builds down here in south Houston. Usually it is a selling point benefit. I plan to redo my siding trim and soffets all in hardy. We normally hand nail it with volunteers, but you can use a framing gun if you set it right and get galvanized nails.

If you are going to do it I would buy/rent a hardy shear to cut the planks. The dust is toxic and the shear work fairly well. You can cut it with a special saw blade but it is very dusty.

If you are going to do all the siding you also might want to look into putting Dow blue board (or something similar) for added insulation and moisture barrier. We also have been doing this on the Habitat houses to increase the efficiency.

I've used it to replace some of the bad wood on my siding. I didn't do the work myself, but had it done. I don't have any complaints so far. I know that the squirrels don't like it.

I've used Hardyboard (clapboard style) on our house here in Virginia and am totally satisfied with the product. We bought it already painted from the factory. It has been on the house for about seven years and is holding up great so far. I used Hardy board 4' X 8' sheets (similar to the look of Texture 111) on a storage shed I built in Florida. We had to paint these sheets. It has been up for about four years and again is holding up really well. I'm totally satisfied with the product. Hope this helps. LOL.

As an insurance inspector, I'm seeing a lot of it on new construction. I frankly haven't seen anything negative about it.

If I were to re-side my own house, or build a new one, I'd definitely consider Hardi-Plank over vinyl.

I have used some and I don't like it much.

It is a lot heavier than other siding products, and installation is tricky. You really need a pneumatic nailer. You need to leave room for expansion between each piece and the next. It splits or cracks if you nail close to edges or corners so you need double studs or wide furring strips.

It has almost no insulation value, and I haven't seen any that's been on long enough to evaluate mold and mildew resistance. Any acidic element in the atmosphere would be devastating to the stuff.

I've had some repair on my house done with it, and closed in a side of my carport/garage using. I'm by no means a carpenter, but I think it's a pretty good product. My projects were done 6+ years ago, and with the original coat of paint, still look almost new.

Thats just a fiber cement board product isn't it? Been around at least since the early 80's, durable stuff. Rigid make a circ saw with a dust collector built it that works well with cement board.

I'm residing my house right now with Hardi-board. The stuff I had before (Omniwood) is rotting off. Installed in 1994. Believe me, this time I did the research, could find no negatives.
If you're going to do it yourself as mentioned before get yourself some shears made for that purpose. I bought one that I attach to a cordless drill and love it. The dust is very nasty otherwise.

I talked with their warranty claims department...the one thing that they exclude with the warranty on the prepainted is for fading.......

In the early 70"s there was a Mansville product called color-lok that was popular in my area.

It had a 25 year warranty on the paint....had some of this on a customers house that "chalked-up" after about 6 years....JM sent the owner 10 gallons of "cleaner" and that was all they covered with that warranty.

Tim

You must wear a resperator as the dust is very toxic. Must also provide a vapor barrier behind the board.

If it is going to split out at corners when nailed, suggest drilling holes for nails.

If squirrels don't like it, that's a big plus for me.

KEH

Truth be told the somewhat ugly asbestos siding shingles were a fabulous product that lasted for decades.

I always sort of thought of Hardiplank as being similar. Upon looking at some of it in the store however I often see damaged edges. To me it appears if there are thin layers bonded together, but I suppose I could be getting it mixed up with another siding.

Personally and from experience I would opt for steel siding, and I don't mean aluminum. I have it on my current home which I've now owned for 20 years and it looks as good as the day it was installed. My parents home has had it since the 1960s but theirs peeled. Not a problem to repaint after pressure washing as the actual siding is sound. Menards has opened stores now in this area and they carry it.

Just my opinion, and I'm opinionated at times.

Our home is clad in Hardiboard product and just
redid the barn and used the Hardi sheet product.
It's great! There's a few tricks in installing it and just use someone who's done it before.The
stuff is bullet-proof. What I like about it is this--with vinyl or steel siding you're stuck with whatever color you choose. With the Hardi type products you can paint them any color and later if you want--repaint another color. They hold paint like crazy.

The instructions tell you to drill a hole about 3/4" in from the ends to nail. Prevents corners breaking. Just pound your nails through the rest of it with a hammer if you want.

Just make sure the exposed ends of the siding are primed and painted. The problems that occurred with manufactured siding in the past were due to improper weather protection. People who thought they knew what they were doing were installing the product not per manufacturers specifications. Go to the manufacturers website and read all recommendations and install per these directions.

We"ve been using it for years. Hardi and now the Certainteed product (better pricing). My thoughts:

1. If you"re going to re-side your house, either go vinyl/aluminum or go fiber cement (Hardi). Wood siding can be a long lasting product but wood will require more frequent maintenance and requires very very good prep to get it right.

2. I can"t really recommend the pre-painted fiber cement products. Every time we have used them, we end up giving the exterior at least one coat to make it look right. Then the savings go away.

3. You will eventually need to repaint and the frequency will depend on many factors such as exposure, your location in the world, type of paint used, etc. The buzz used to be it would hold paint for 10 years - I tell clients expect 8 (here in the midwest), maybe less on the south side, more on the north side.

4. It is probably the closest to replicating a smooth redwood siding - and that"s where we use it a lot. Almost exclusively use the smooth product. Just not a fan of the fake wood grain. Their simulated shake siding and stucco look panels do a decent job visually.

5. If you have carpentry or trim carpentry experience and knowledge of weatherization/flashing techniques, you can probably do a decent job if you read up on it - and get the right tools. Wrong tools and you spend the day looking like Casper the Ghost.

6. We rarely use the Hardi trim boards. usually go with primed cedar or redwood (if we can get it). Just haven"t been happy with the workability of their trim boards and the cost is a bit more.

Overall, it"s my first siding choice if the client has the budget.

Good luck.

THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR COMMENTS!!!!!!

I am going to bite the bullet and go with the Hardi Plank....I did the homework on 2 other providers and felt overall, for my situation, the hardi plank would work out the best.

Now I may have to sell one of the tractors to pay for it...:>)

Tim