Replies

1. 
   rlrefalo | Jul 28, 2009 11:44pm | #1

   Dat wood be ugly.... sorry.

   But seriously, if you want to make new cedar look old, carefully sandblast the soft grain away until it looks right.  Prime all sides twice and then paint twice. If back primed well, it will hold paint for a good long time.

   Rich

2. 
   bldrbill | Jul 29, 2009 03:30am | #2

   I recently built a freestanding garage beside a house with cedar bevel siding.  Due to cost concerns, the garage got fiber cement with a cedar woodgrain look.  If you can keep the exposure the same, most people won't know the difference.

1. 
   MikeSmith | Jul 29, 2009 04:36am | #3

   south.... mebbe... cedar shingles on the upper half of the gable ends... FC claps on all the lower areasMike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore

1. 
   SouthSideEng | Jul 29, 2009 02:18pm | #6

   Mike-Good idea. I have seen this done, and it works. But the gable ends in this case will be creased copper panels. The clapboards will be on the wall below, and that is where I am considering mixing materials.The problem I have with FC is that it is too consistent. In this respect, it is like vinyl. The result looks too perfect: The eye can tell very quickly when every edge is the same. The wall ends up looking colder, more artificial. With cedar, the natural variations is the wood, especially older wood, warm the wall. Most people looking at it might not be able to identify exactly what makes them like it or dislike it, but I think most people will respond better to cedar, for the reasons above.

3. 
   Mongo | Jul 29, 2009 10:20am | #4

   Take a look at the thickness of the butt of a cedar clap and a fibercement clap. Mixing them on the same wall might look a bit funky.

   And over time, I'm not sure how the evenly the paint or solid stain on the two materials would weather.

1. 
   SouthSideEng | Jul 29, 2009 02:10pm | #5

   Mongo - This is a good point.The bottom end dimensions are the same.Uneven weathering over time could be an issue. These boards are going to be painted. (NB: I think exterior painting is a bad idea, but I am locked in on this job. All of the clapboard—old, new, cement, cedar—will be six-side primed.) I suppose that the paint might hold better and longer on the cement. But with proper priming and vapor control in the wall, the paint on the cedar should last a long time. When it starts to fail, the entire wall could be repainted. I figure five years minimum.Any thoughts on expansion/contraction differences between the wood and the cement? I would keep each run of clapboard a consistent material, so no two different materials will butt into each other.

1. 
   Mongo | Jul 29, 2009 06:24pm | #7

   If your butts are the same thickness, that's good. The Hardie I've used has a thinner butt than the cedar I've used, that's why I asked.The painting versus priming, yeah, you're sort of forced down the Hardie route, which requires paint and forbids stain. Nailing schedule? Again, they conflict a bit. Cedar is usually face nailed, Hardie can be face or blind. But if you face nail cedar you want the nail to go through the butt of the clap you're nailing and miss the top of the clap that you're overlapping. When face nailing Hardie they want the nail to go through both claps. I'd face nail using stainless ring shanks, then you have the thought of pneumatic versus hand nailing. With two materials of differing density, hand nailing would be the safer option You'll probably have to drill nail holes at the ends of the planks so the hardie doesn't split.Expansion? I'd treat the butt joints the same, a slip sheet behind the butt joint. And where the claps hit window/door trim or corner boards, I'd treat those like Hardie, with caulk. Snapping the claps and gapping and caulking the Hardie would give too much difference from one course to the next. So it's probably be best to follow Hardie installation regarding gaps and caulking for both materials. So, I'd hang the claps according to Hardie gapping/caulking instructions, but I'd face nail by hand with stainless rings according to cedar clap instructions, only one nail per clap. I'd paint due to hardie restrictions.

1. 
   SouthSideEng | Jul 31, 2009 02:13pm | #10

   Mongo and Joe, Thanks for your notes.I stand corrected on the butt thickness—I don't know where my assumption came from, but I was wrong—the butts are thinner on the FC. Between that, the nailing problem, and the bevel mismatch, it is looking more and more complicated to try to mix. If it smells like a bad idea . . .I think I'll end up using FC on the rear of the house, and a mix of old and new cedar everywhere else. It may not be ideal, but I don't think it will be a disaster. I may even get a small benefit from the density of the FC in noise reduction from the rear of the house, which faces a train line.I am grateful for everyone's comments. This was really helpful in working through the idea, and probably saved me a day of learning by doing (and then undoing).Best to all,SSE

1. 
   Mongo | Aug 02, 2009 01:46am | #11

   you're welcome, I hope the project turns out well.

2. 
   designbing | Jul 30, 2009 01:39am | #9

   But the Fiber siding paint will probably last for twenty to thirty years. Do the south side as mentioned before in fiber and cedar everything else.Bing

4. 
   Framer | Jul 29, 2009 07:56pm | #8

   You must be planing on do one row cedar and one row FC because as far as I know, the FC isn't beveled, you can't butt the two together.

   Joe Carola