For a retirement home in Lewes, Delaware (coastal damp, not too hot or cold) that a small custom builder will be doing for me, what are the pros and cons of the new low-maintenance trim materials — Hardie-type fiber-cement trim, Azek-type plastic-sawdust trim, or wood covered with vinyl from a coil. The siding will be Hardie Shingleside shingles, the trim will be extensive (wide window/door trim, screen porches, water table, cornerposts, cornice and soffit), and the trim will be white, so if it comes that color from the factory, that would be best.
The builder only has experience with the vinyl cladding, installed by the siding sub along with vinyl siding. Hardie trim would seem a natural since I am using Hardie shingles, but around here the high-end production houses that use Hardieplank siding all use some kind of synthetic wood for the trim.
My father was a builder for 55 years and I worked in the trades when I was young, but the wood has gotten lousier since then (The trim on my current 11-year-old production-built house is rotting away like it was cardboard.) and the wood substitutes have gotten better, so our old-time experience is pretty useless here. Thanks for any advice.
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I think that all the products have their pros and cons. I have not installed any fiber cement trim because it is not commonly available (to my knowledge) here near Philadelphia. Fiber cement siding is just starting to catch on here, and I don't think that the trim is popular enough to be stocked yet. I just used Azek (cellular PVC) for the first time for cornerposts on a shed dormer. I was cautiously impressed, but it is a new product and I won't use it in any quantity until it's been around a little longer. The product line that it is replacing (RoyalWood, I think) was a recycled plastic bag composite. I used it for one small project, but when I went to get more, all the local lumberyards told me that they had turned in all their inventory and were waiting for the Azek to replace it. Not exactly confidence inspiring. Wrapping wood with aluminum or vinyl is fine, but it has to be done very carefully or it will wind up rotting the wood behind it. You will also have a hard time making it look just like real wood trim. My preference for now is PrimeTrim by G-P. It is not perfect either, but I have used a ton of it, and it seems to hold up well and it installs fairly easily. The main problem with it is its tendency to "volcano" around fasteners. Some careful filling, sanding, and re-priming can take care of this. Try searching for PrimeTrim or "prime trim" in the archives for further discussions.
Thanks. Didn't find anything on Prime Trim in the breaktime search, but found the GP site with Google. It looks like it's the stuff they are all applying around here. The guys using it refer to it as "synwood" or "simwood" and I couldn't find anything on it at all before this. I like that it comes in all the dimensions that we are likely to need and we can use the same product for the whole job.
I just built a new home in Milford Delaware and used 7/16" Harditrim throughout, from 4" to 12 " (nom) widths, all painted white. I packed it out with 1"x pine where needed for reveals, etc. Looks great, no problems. The siding is also shingleside (individual shingles). My thinking was all exterior materials are now the same product and will require the same maintenance.
When I was painting the Shingleside on my house, my wife asked why I hadn't been smart enough to take a roller to the edges of the shingles before I unbundled them and nailed them to the house.
Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
I did that and it worked well. I also painted the entire shingle before it was installed.
Thanks for the info on your experience with Harditrim. The more I looked into GP's PrimeTrim, the more it sounded like it was made the same way as that pressboard siding stuff I had on the last house, which I went to bed every night praying I could sell before that siding all swole up and disintegrated. Did you paint all sides of the pine backing like it was regular trim, or is it protected well enough by the trim design and caulk?
I wish Hardie had the option of factory finish on its products like most of the real cedar shingle makers do now. I will be getting the pre-primed version. I guess painting it first is the way to go. You can do a better job, but somehow it tests my patience, and then you have to keep paint and roller handy for every time you make a cut.
I didn't paint the pine, it is completely covered. If it does get wet from time to time it should be ok, that's why I didn't use osb or plywood. I prepainted and then painted again after it was up. This way I didn't have to cut in against the siding and the nail heads got painted. As for cuts, I painted the raw edges after it was up, there weren't too many. Stay away from pressed wood products in Delaware's climate.
I don't know about the Shingleside, but you can buy prepainted FC clapboards from several aftermarket vendors. Maze even makes prepainted nails to match the more common colors. Ask around at several siding suppliers.Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
Thanks Greg, you've been very helpful. Andy, it you've ever heard of prepainted FC shingles (not clapboards), I'd love a reference. BTW, I discovered in this thread that I seem to be "Ken" if I enter Breaktime from the laptop, "Kusterer" if I come in from the home computer. Those are my two names, but I don't know how what I did to make that happen. Probably nobody but me noticed or cared...