Replies

1. 
   Soultrain | Mar 10, 2006 06:24pm | #1

   I found this on Google...

   http://tinyurl.com/eerqn

   
   

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   Edited 3/10/2006 10:25 am ET by Soultrain

2. 
   freestate1 | Mar 10, 2006 10:00pm | #2

   Yes, HO's can still file claims under the class action lawsuit settlement.  There are loads of little companies that have sprung up to help HO's file claims.  Of course, they charge a fee based on the recovery amount.  However, HO's can easily file a claim directly and avoid the middleman's fee.  Here's a link to the website set up by the court.

   http://www.masoniteclaims.com

   In my area, they are paying out a little under $5.00 sq. ft. for lap siding.

3. 
   Roger6 | Mar 10, 2006 10:01pm | #3

   I have had Masonite or a similar brand (not really sure of mfr.) of lap siding installed on my house since 1984. I painted with 2 coats when it was installed. In 2003 I repainted it. Partly because I wanted to match the paint to an addition so I repainted the addition along with the original. I have not had any problems with it.  Perhaps the older product was better than the stuff made in the 90's.  When I built my addition in 1999 I had to order the material as the lumberyard did not have any in stock.  Today in 2006 both the 80's and 99 siding look good. If I was doing from the get go today I would probably use one of the cement based products, they look like a good thing. Roger 

1. 
   drbgwood | Mar 11, 2006 08:31am | #4

   does it ever rain where you live?

2. 
   DanH | Mar 11, 2006 04:49pm | #5

   Lots of "masonite" siding was not made by Masonite. Most of that stuff is carp. Masonite made several different styles and grades of stuff over the years, and, especially at one point, they were trying to compete with the cheap stuff and made some stuff equally carpy.But Masonite also made some very good stuff. We have "Woodsman" style Masonite on our house, installed ca 1991, replacing some junky stuff that was all swollen and peeling apart. It's still as sound as the day it was installed.Hardboard can be "tempered" or "untempered" (and probably some variations in-between). "Tempered" means that it has been saturated with a resin and then heat-treated to turn the resin into essentially a plastic. Untempered is really not conceptually much different from very thick paper.The old stuff we took off was tempered poorly if at all. The Woodsman stuff was well tempered, quite hard and, in fact, we pre-drilled most of the nail holes, since starting a nail in the stuff was a challenge.Interestingly, part of the problem with the bad stuff appears to be the paint. The more poorly tempered stuff was introduced in the late 60s, and some of the first homes (there's one up the block) with this did OK. But then Olympic and others introduced "flat" latex house paint (Overcoat). This stuff had essentially zero water-shedding ability -- the water went right through it. In many cases, had the homes been painted with a good quality satin paint they'd still be in reasonable shape.Note that prior to the introduction of the (typically 10-14" wide) soft hardboard siding in the late 60s, there were other styles that held up quite well. These were generally smooth (vs "rough sawn") surfaced (though there was also a "split shake" shingle), and a least has surface tempering. They also generally had oil paint for the first couple of coats. Many homes with these styles are still in halfway decent condition, though the siding is >50 years old.

   If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people

   happy?

1. 
   edwardh1 | Mar 11, 2006 06:06pm | #6

   A realtor told my adult son that masonite (on the house he looked at but did not buy) was a "good building material" but it must be "protected from water".Same for cardboard i guess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!wood is a 4 letter word.