My gargage project is done and I spent last week painting the siding. It got me thinking:
Do we really NEED to paint Hardi-Plank / Hardi-Trim ?
Obviously we do paint it to make it look good, but technically speaking what is the reason for needing to paint this stuff?
It is cement and fiberglass right? And being non-organic it shouldn’t rot or swell, right?
Any one know a solid reason: protection, sealing, ?
TIA
Replies
I expect that Hardie products will perform similar to the older fiber-cement siding and shingles.
The shingles on my home served just fine, unpainted, for over 60 years. To be fair, the shingles did get discolored over time, as the pores trapped dirt and dust. Except for a few places -like near the ground- the discoloration was minor, though.
A visit one night by some vandals changed all that. Simply put, there was no way the paint was going to come off. This was enough to assure me, though, that the stuff would hold paint! So, I proceeded to paint the house.
Be advised: use a primer, as the material soaks up paint like a sponge.
An unexpected benefit to painting the house was the immediate difference made in how the inside felt on a hot summer day; the white paint captured far less solar heat than the light grey cement shingles did.
if the MC of the siding is allowed to increase and it freezes it expands slightly causeing delamination that allows more/larger volume of water penetration during a thaw that then freezes hasting the FC's demise/erosion...
leave some of it in ground contact during winter... it destructs... unpainted it swells and delaminates over the winter and becomes some what brittle...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
No, it uses cement and WOOD FIBER.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.