Will painted Hardie board siding endure?
I have a house in Northern California with stained cedar siding. The south side of the house gets beat up by sun, wind, rain, and snow – a lot more than the other sides. I have to re-stain it every year to make it look presentable. I’m considering re-siding with painted Hardie board siding. Will that last? Is factory painted better than doing it yourself?
Any experience and comments are appreciated!
Scott
Replies
of all the sidings out there Hardie seems about as tuff of one as you can get...
no experince with the factory painted...
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!!!
Can't speak to the factory painted but I can tell you my painter has a love/hate relationship with the stuff.
He loves how it paints, loves how it looks when finished, hates the fact that he knows he won't be back for years and years to repaint it, unlike every other siding out there.
Check back with me in about 25 years. I'm about to clad a house in the Weiss factory coating applied to Hardi.
http://www.weissinc.net/fiber_cement.htm
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
Have a friend that lives on the water, bay actually. Lots of wind, rain, salt, sun, etc..... Looks like the day they painted it. No peeling, fading or other damage. IIRC they, (Hardie), has a particular type of paint they prefer for their product. Check the manufactures recommendations for paint requirements.
I would use it in a heart beat.
“Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem.”
Reagan....
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
-Truman Capote
People's misgivings about Hardi siding seem to be about how it looks. No one I can think of has had any legitimate complaints about its longevity or how it holds paint.
The look problem probably comes from the fact everyone chooses the 7" exposure. I know it's the stuff suppliers have in stock so it's the easiest to get but it has led to the generic sort of "blah" look.
In my neighborhood there are probably 20 rebuilt houses with Hardi (it's a teardown area) and only mine and one other went with another exposure width (6"). Both houses look completely different then the other 7" Hardi houses.
One builder client of mine (I'm an architect) built a whole neighborhood using a mix of 4", 5", 6" and 7" exposures and it came out looking great.
Runnerguy
Thanks for the feedback and exposure width point. I think i will look at how a difference in exposures will look.
It looks like fiber cement is the option I will move forward with.
Thanks, Scott
Another vote for small exposure. Then, the ratio of shadowline width to vertical exposure is close to real wood clapboards. This is 4" exposure (board is 5-1/4"). Corner boards are 4 and 5" by 1-1/2" thick. Wall is 8' wide X 8' at the eave.
View Image
Forrest
Edited 6/8/2008 8:03 pm ET by McDesign
Forest:
As the clapboard decreases in exposure do you think the size of the corner boards should adjusted?
I think it's got to with the scale of the building and what the visual goal is.
Forrest
Yea - I noticed that was a fairly narrow building you pictured.
I'm getting ready to do some houses with 4.5" & 5.5" corner boards with 5" exposure siding. The houses aren't real big but they are definitely wider etc than what you pictured.
I'm an unqualified fan of Hardi siding. The over use in subdivisions is a design problem, not the fault of the product. It goes well with stained wood or steel cladding. As you suggest, changing the exposure works well, especially on the older craftsman style houses we have here. There was even a recent post that showed it clear stained to look like wood that had a really interesting result. I like the stuff.
A little off topic but you say: >> People's misgivings about Hardi siding seem to be about how it looks. << Some of the homes I have done with Hardie seemed to show "waviness" on the clapboards more than others. (BTW - it was smooth - not wood grain). At the time I thought it was because cement board is not as rigid as real wood. A new thought is I'm wondering if using button cap nails on the sheathing paper may have contributed. I'm building some houses right now and am having the framers use staples rather than button caps. I'll be interested to see if it seems to help. Also somewhat off topic, you gotta make sure you don't have any bad studs. They show up like a sore thumb.
and make sure the wall's framing is flat...
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!!!
About a year ago NextLevel suggested I try installing Hardi with deck screws rather than nails. It is slower, but I don't do enough for that to be a problem. The boards snug down eliminating much of the wave. That won't compensate for poor substrate, but I was very happy with the results.
scottincalif.
Like every other fake siding made endurance with low maintenance is a trade mark.
However it will always look unreal..
Were-as your redwood siding was made from no longer available straight grain old growth redwood.. Not too long from now people will be tearing off their Hardie board to replace it with real redwood siding salvaged at a great cost from the few homes willing to sell it..
Not a chance. I've been installing it for many years and in spite of my explanations to customers explaining exactly what it is almost all of them eventually end up asking me what kind of wood it is. Never had a customer who didn't love the looks.
Hardie is a great product and paint is a sacrificial wear surface.
florida,
Keep telling yourself that.. I can't drive by a place with it and not notice exactly what it is.
Vinyl siding looks pretty good too and fools a lot of people.. as does phake stone and a dozen other treatments. They will never fool the discriminating person.. they are fine for those who hang Hotel art above the sofa because it's the right color or matches their carpet..