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My daughter and son-in-law are buying a house that is yet to be started. One of the options is the siding. 1) Hartland brand vinyl -textured, thicker than the cheap stuff; or 2) Hardiplank (cement type siding boards). The Hardiplank is a $13,000 option. It does look nice and I suspect it is a lot more quiet in the house with this stuff and also wards off hail better. Hail, though, is covered by insurance and I guess they would not get an insurance premium reduction if they chose the Hardiplank. Hardiplank also requires painting – on what kind of schedule I don’t know. Can anyone shed some light on improving the odds of a sound decision. Thanks.
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John,
You might want to do a search for Hardiplank. There was been a lot of discussion about it. From what I've read on this board, I would want to be sure that the material was back primed and that cut edges were primed before installation.
Rich Beckman
*Structurally, aesthetically, with regard to longevity, and to maintain a sense of personal honor, hardiplank and other cement board wins over vinyl every time. Not even a fair fight.Why don't you see if you can get an insurance break based on hardiplank's fire resistance?Don't add to the vinyl scourge. Be proud, don't let money decide it.
*$13,000 is a lot of money, but looking at Vinyl siding everytime they open the front door will make it seem cheap when it's too late. Joe H
*What is the long term maintenance expense for the HardiPlank (Painting, caulking, etc)? A few suppliers offer it here in Central PA but I haven't seen anyone use it.
*I am going to use hardi-plank siding myself and it seems to me that I read something about a 15 year guarantee on a paint job if done right. There was a thread around here about hardi-plank as well. And check out their web site!
*I don't know anything about hardiplank, but what's so terrible about vinyl? You don't look at a house when you open the front door, you look at it from a distance that you can see the whole house in a proper perspective. From such a distance, I think vinyl does a fine imitation of the real thing when installed well. And unlike the real thing, it will generally look the same 10 years later as it did when the contractor cashed his check, with almost no maintenance. If you are still in the house in 20 years and you want to update it, you can take the initial $13,000 you saved, plus all the money you saved on maintenance over the years, and have the place completely resided in a different color and/or style. If you don't need to go top end on all the finishes, but want an attractive, clean, low maintenance house that will stay that way, vinyl should be a consideration.
*Rich,What does vinyl look better than? Only thing I can think of is, cheaper vinyl!I can spot it from a long distance...
*I've come to the conclusion that you aren't going to convince someone who thinks vinyl looks fine that it really doesn't. Either you find it objectionable or you don't. I can't abide by it. I can't make up your mind for you. Hardiplank will certainly be sturdier and quieter and detail out like wood in the trim and such. And if the fall bonfire gets out of hand, it's not going to melt.Steve
*I don't know about other areas of the country, but when I origionally ran across hardiplank and started using it, the difference between it and vinyl was negligible. perhaps that has changed, I wouldn't have a clue what vinyl goes for these days since I would never consider using it! There is no way to make it water proof! you might as well just leave the siding off and live in your house with just tyvek, since that is the only thing keeping the rain, snow, etc. out of your walls. As long as you maintain the distance from the house that Rich is talking about, then he is pretty much right, it looks "ok". of course keeping yourself that far away from the house will make it kind of tricky to live there I'm thinking...One more note, while I was in Texas, there were a number of houses where the vinyl siding was deteriorating seemingly due to high exposure to that unrelenting Texas sun. People were claiming that it was being caused by the u.v. rays, I don't really know if they were right or wrong, just that it got so brittle you could push your finger right through it in places.
*Wow, I'm defininetly in the minority here. I guess its just a matter of personal taste and where you're using it. The houses I've fixed up had grey asphalt siding and old banged up gold aluminum. So for me the vinyl turned an old ugly dirty looking house into a clean attractive house. I guess if I was building a custom home in an upscale area or renovating a Victorian painted lady, vinyl would seem like a cheap alternative.I live in Chicago, where we get the extremes of heat, cold, wind, rain and snow. The stuff seems to hold up pretty well here. Its done a fine job of holding the weather out of my houses. I know plenty of people who live in $300 - $500,000 houses here who have vinyl and none of them has yet to tell me they wish they had something else.
*Hi-I guess I am in the same camp as Rich here. Is the Hardiplank an additional $13,000 option? Ouch. I live in Minnesota where the "no maintenance" vinyl is awfully nice. Just about every house has this stuff- its cost effective, looks nice, and holds up under the elements, never needs paint. I haven't seen this stuff busting apart in the extreme cold or heat. I suspect a lot of the negativity towards vinyl from some of these guys is seeing (or better yet the involvement in) improperly installed vinyl. Make sure the contractor nails it on with the appropriate gap, nails it on center with the framing (cause' if its just stapled to Bild-Rite it pops out and gets loose away from the wall) and that it is allowed enough room on the end to expand and contract. If it does get a hole or break, a simple unlocking tool and a nail puller will allow you to replace that piece.Hardiplank is nice stuff, but you gotta weigh the costs...Also, bird poop and eggs from the neigbor kid rinse off nice and easy from vinyl...Good luck!Brian
*The premium cost is simple. If you want to buy a Yugo, then buy a Yugo. But in three years don't expect the reliability, warranty, or routine maintenence of a BMW. I install alot of vinyl siding, only because my market insists it. However, slowly but surely, fiber cement will take over unless the $ of cedar plummets. Best of luck to the kids... They can only learn from their mistakes.
*John, The brand of viynl siding you mentioned is the key for a successful end result. Ask the supplier about the gauge [you want a minimum of an .044 - .046 is even better]. Some of the big-box stores sell viynl as thin as .038 and .040. A tip off in some cases is that the cheaper siding will not have the surface color all the way through to the back i.e. to make the siding cheaper the manufactures use re-grinds and fillers and then co-extrude on the surface finish. I have had good results with Heartland Heartech siding in the past.
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My daughter and son-in-law are buying a house that is yet to be started. One of the options is the siding. 1) Hartland brand vinyl -textured, thicker than the cheap stuff; or 2) Hardiplank (cement type siding boards). The Hardiplank is a $13,000 option. It does look nice and I suspect it is a lot more quiet in the house with this stuff and also wards off hail better. Hail, though, is covered by insurance and I guess they would not get an insurance premium reduction if they chose the Hardiplank. Hardiplank also requires painting - on what kind of schedule I don't know. Can anyone shed some light on improving the odds of a sound decision. Thanks.