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Hardie board vs vinyl siding

J

jCarroll

Well-known Member
Location
mid-Ohio
This is gonna cost me a tractor, so it's not OT.

We have a 40 yr old house with T-111 siding that the woodpeckers love, and paint doesn't stick on very long.

Current "thing" is Hardie board - granted it looks good, and it costs more. Is it worth it? Give me answers that go beyond "it's only money" - and your house ought to look good - and what the wife wants is what it'll be ...............

Any functional issues? After the sale concerns?
 
Hardie board will sustain impacts better and not have all the cavities behind the surface for insects to reside. It doesn't buckle or fly loose in the wind either.
 
I put on Hardie siding, not the sheets, but the individual boards. It takes a very long time, much longer than vinyl. Its also important to flash under each butt joint, and paint any cuts. Read the installation manual. It looks sharp.
Josh
 
I HATE vinyl siding!!! Don't like to work with it, it's not natural, uses petroleum, etc. I wouldn't have it on my house. My opinion isn't worth much because I'm biased.

Larry
 
Each has advantages. I went with vinyl because I won't ever have to paint it. I used the thickest grade available, .048" I think and it lays flat and looks good. Contractor grade is thinner and will look wavey. Proper installation is also key. The nails have to be loose enough for the siding to move with temp changes. Labor cost is the same for both and I think it is false economy to waste labor on cheap materials. If I had it to do over I would use insulated vinyl more for the added rigidity but it wasn't on the market at that time.
 
For what its worth...
About 15 years ago we got tired of having to paint every 4-5 years(paint aint what it used to be due to tree-hugger regulations, lead etc)
Got a good vinyl man and used the best grade of siding material. Did vinyl and put in insulated vinyl windows.
Have never looked back and after 15 years have had absolutely no problems with it. Had to remove from a wall last year to do a remodel/addition project. Looked great underneath. (We had the composite or masonite siding when we built back in 1988 and covered that with vinyl).We've been through 2 hurricanes here in NC (Fran and Floyd)since we did the vinyl and never lost a single piece
Remember.. you still have to paint if you do Hardy Plank siding. Do not use the cheap grade of vinyl because it WILL look cheap.Like anything else, you get what you pay for.
 
Hardie is a brand name for cement-fiber based product that is extruded into many different shapes. You can use woodgrain, smooth, beaded edge, vertical, panels, even now they have a Cedar shake lookalike pattern.
Cons-Has to be stained or painted.
Pros- Won't rot
Won't burn
Won't allow insects to eat it.
Good stuff. JMHO after working with and around it for years.
 
I put the hardie board on mine several years ago. Love the stuff. You'll never have to worry about running out and chasing off woodpeckers again. BTDT It is tough, holds paint well and makes for a pert near fireproof house from the outside.

I used the planks for siding and boxing. Used the vented soffit panels and for my three foot overhang I used the 4x8 panels. It is very dusty sawing and I would recommend a dust mask and a special saw blade. Check out their website for detailed instruction's.
 
We had vinyl siding put on over the old siding. It looks great, has held up, but has a draw back or two.

It can break. I"ve got about 4 places to mend due to a hole probably caused by the mower throwing a stick or rock.

We"ve had a couple of pieces come loose due to wind and have to repair that.
 
Don't have hardy board but did look into cement board product at one time. I think climate can have an effect.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0715472023112.html
 
I used Hardie on both if our houses & 1 garage. Love the stuff. Put it up with a properly adjusted nail gun, use a diamond edge saw blade & it will look great. Wife & I did ours easily.
Takes paint well, won't burn, once it's up very hard to break, now after being up for about 15 yrs still looks as good as new. AND it will help cut down on noise from the outside .
Think of vinyl as a dinosaur of building materials.
 
I have Hardie board on my home siding since we built in 2002. I live in northern MD on a hill and windy as hades. Thats why I chose Hardie instead of vinyl, it holds up better in extreme weather & wind. Only downside is that it needs painting. I use top quality paint but on walls that take all the sun & heat the paint still fades after about 5-8 years or so. If money was not a problem I would get brick, at least price it up to compare.
 
Vinyl is not final, mold, mower throws a stone and you have a hole. It's cheap and very easy to install.

I googled hardie board, cement board siding. I was going to install celetex's version. Very difficult to install. Class action lawsuit because it traps moisture and you get mold between the cement board and the house.

Aluminum siding is very expensive. I have 2 rental houses with Aluminum. Never had to remove mold. It dents instead of getting holes like vinyl. Replacing damaged vinyl is easy. I had to repair some hail damage. Had the orginal siding in a box. Well, vinyl siding fades and the insurance company won't replace all of it, just the damaged piece. So you end up with multi colored siding.

My house is brick. Put it on myself. Never had hail damage, holes, cracks, dents, very little mold issues.

So if brick isn't an option, I would go with white vinyl. White siding doesn't bleach like the colored. Buy extra, because the pattern and design will change. I have 15 year old dutch lap vinyl and can't extra.
George
 
Ok learned something new today. I have heard of cement board.

I would not want anything you have to paint !!
Paint just doesn't hold up.

I have seen several Amish houses where they are putting steel pole barn type siding on the outside walls with the ribs horizontaly.
I have seen some company advertising steel shingles made to look like regular shingles so maybe they have siding too that looks like normal siding ?
 
Saw one guy who bought extra vinyl siding, and installed it (loosely) on the 4 sides of an outbuilding- So it would fade at the same rate as that on the house. If he broke a piece on the east side of the house, he got a piece off the east side of the outbuilding, and it matched perfectly.
 
I chose Hardie plank when I built my house in 1996. I love the stuff. I don't understand those who say it needs to be re-painted often. Paint really sticks; it has been 17 years and I've never re-painted, just wash it with a long-handled brush and water hose about once a year. Don't know if I'd use a power washer. There's some light mildew occasionally (as there will be on just about anything), but I just wash it with bleach.

Only thing I'd do different: I'd run a bead of caulk along the bottom of each board where it laps the board below, and I'd fill all the cracks where the facia boards cover the end-laps. Keeps out spiders and other bugs. If it weren't for the spiders and the mess they make, my house would look like new all the time.
 
I have done vinyl siding a few times and quite honestly, I'll never do it again on my own house. I hate the way it warps and bows in the heat; never quite looks right to me. I'll do cement board or Hardie next time for sure. I also hate the way spiders and bugs get inside the J channel and you have to spray them out.
 
We plan on taking off 7 year old vinyl next spring and putting on steel lap siding, any complaints on steel? We put white pole shed steel horizontally on our cabin 12 years ago and it has worked well, but it's a cabin in the woods.
 
This post has been interesting reading as I'm always open to something new. Hardie board sounds like a viable product if I ever need to re-side.

I've had vinyl for all of fifteen years and have had no trouble here in Northwest Iowa. We do have our spring winds that gust up to 40-50 MPH and nothing has come loose. We are cooler than the southern climates so that might have something to do with it. I also chose the best quality vinyl available at the time. I wanted to go with steel siding but at that time steel was twice the money and I just didn't have the funds for it. The old wood lap siding was getting holes in it big enough to see the sheeting so I had to do something about it. I removed all of the old siding and lined the house with silver bubble wrap. I was told not to put black felt under the siding because of the heat factor in the summer. Anyway, for the climate my house is in, vinyl has worked well for me. Jim
 
If it is warping and bowing in the heat it wasn't hung correctly.

I have vinyl on my house and garage and I wouldn't have anything else unless I found a load of old ceder siding to put up. I used a "commercial grade" Georgia Pacific brand that has about 9 years on it. Still looks very good.

I had one end of the house damaged with hail and replaced it all. Best thing is to have different colored trim so you don't have a continuos color going around a corner. Our "corners" are white and the rest of the house is a light yellow. Since the old siding wasn't butted up against the new siding seeing the fade difference in color is very hard.

That or I'd go with white. There will be soem fade - but how much whiter can it get?
 
The climate here in Houston is pretty tough on siding. I guess I first heard of it about 20 years ago. It has become the siding of choice for most situations, and people building new or remodeling ask for it specifically. It comes pre-painted or primed. Our house had some of the GP siding material on it that was re-called, except ours was, of course, not in the lot that was recalled, although it failed in the same manner (swelling due to moisture adsorption). We had it taken off and re-done with Hardie board, should never need to worry about it again.
I have used it for a storage building, and it is not difficult to work with. Cut with a circular saw with carbide blade. You should use a dust mask. Otherwise about the same as other siding, just a little heavier to handle.
 
We built 5yrs ago. I know its not the question you asked, but we went with seamless steel siding. No maintenance and it looks great. We just pressure wash the house once a year or so.

I have no carpentry ability, so what ever we did we were hiring done. Overall cost was about 10-15% higher than what we were quoted for hardie board. I don"t know if it is worth it or not, but we like it.
 
when the vinyl gets mold and if it gets near a match that's when you will appreciate the hardy board . hardy board is the best stuff since brick .
 
Speaking of mold, we have have mold on our vinyl on the north side of the house where an evergreen on the northwest corner of the house shades the late day summer sun. The mold on the north side was only where the tree shaded it so not all of the north side molded. I cut the tree down last spring so that might solve the problem. I don't know if any other kind of siding would mold or not. The old wooden siding did not mold.

I get the idea different various types of siding are site-specific. What doesn't work at one site will work at another site. Jim
 
A lot of the Hardie board around this area is blistering and peeling... I don't see anything all that great about it myself. I find a lot of it pretty ugly as well.

Rod
 
There are other brands of concrete board siding, but they are all heavy and difficult to work with. I've used it. You don't want to put nails or screws near the edges or corners because it will split or crack. Primer is very important - if what you buy comes primed that's a bonus but get it painted quickly.

Once you get it up it's really good.
 
I have lived here for 21 years my house has t-111 it was painted before I bought the place and still is in good condition. All siding has to breath or it gets wet and you have trouble. They putting plastic on the inside and outside of the framing it caused mor damaged than it saved in heating and cooling.
Walt
PS my house is 142 years old and stil in good condition the walls breath and keep the moisture out.
 
Built our house with Masonite, lasted 16 years and turned to cardboard, re-did it with Masonite, friend and I did it ourselves, it's fairly cheap and I was raising 4 kids and didn't have the funds for anything better, another 14 years or so and it turned to cardboard. Had Hardie board professionally installed by a relative in 2009, I love it, it's quiet and never moves with the heat and cold, never hear the creaking as the sun goes down, the joints never move. I went with the pre-primed but painted it myself so I could stick with the same 3 color paint scheme we had. We have 4x8 verticle in the front and lap on the 3 sides, would do it again no question.
 
Some of our lumber yards here in the dakotas won't sell the stuff. It turns chaulky, won't hold paint, and eventually crumbles away where the paint don't stick. The company producing the stuff won't stand behind it and stiffed everyone who had problems. Class action law suit. Out of business etc. etc. Do your homework. More than one company producing it.
Used to be the only thing going 10 years ago. Now the chickens are coming home to roost and the word is out on its long term lack of durability. Your results may vary depending on your location but up here its a bust!
Every other quality mentioned by others is true, but if it won't hold paint then what good is it?
 
A lot of people call cement board siding Hardie Board. There are a number of different brand names out there. Some better than others. After trying 3 different manufacturers, we settled on the actual Hardie Board. We use the pre painted stuff and like it real well. We use a drill with a nipper attachment on it for cutting it. No dust and cuts fast. Use care in how you nail it. Don't overdrive the nails or nail out of the nail line they put on it. The prefinished stuff looks as good today as the first stuff we started using 5 years ago. They have matching caulk colors as well as joint covers and trim pieces. We put a flashing strip under each joint lapping it onto the board under it. We measure each lap and chalk a line for the top of the siding to get it hung straight. Goes on fast and no painting when done.
 
Ditto to that!! You get what you pay for in siding quality, and the best siding will give problems if not installed correctly.
 
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