Hardie Plank / Hardie Board siding ???

[pharmvet]

Im planning on putting my home on the market. Its 3/4 brick with 2 exterior wall in siding. The siding has begun to chip and break (bottom row). Im considering replacing the existing siding with Hardie Plank siding. Does anyone here have experience with this material. I would like to hear your experience with it regarding durability, installation, etc. thanks

 

[Licklog]

We built our home in 2001 with Hardieplank siding and Hardie trim pieces. Could not be happier. It looks like wood, wears and holds paint as well as anything I have seen. Been ten years and all I do is wash the siding. I wish I had been smart enough to use composite for my decks, then I would have been happier.

I have attached a pic from last winter to give you an idea.

 

[Alan L.]

All of my trim on a brick home is hardy and I really like it. Its only been 4 years so not much of a durability test yet, but so far so good. Looks great.

 

[charliepff]

I have seen it from the fire department stand point. The resistance to flame is great. If I could afford to tear the vinyl off of my house and replace it with hardy board I would do it in a heart beat.

 

[CurlyDave]

Another plus for Hardie. I have had it on two homes and it is great.

The only real drawback is that it eats saw blades and produces copious amounts of dust during cutting. There is a special set of shears that look like mutant, overpowered electric scissors, for cutting the boards, but not the trim, that reduce the dust, but take quite a bit of skill to operate.

 

[dmccarty]

I put some Hardie siding on our shed barns. You are supposed to paint it but I never did since the sheds are temporary. They have been temporary for about five years and are holding up just fine even without paint.

The biggest pain is the cutting. I used a razor knife since it sorta works, just takes time, and it was cheap. At some point I am going to built a proper well house and will use Hardie. When I do this I will buy the sheers to cut the siding.

However, I saw an advert the other day for another tool to cut the siding. It looks like a very heavy duty paper cutter. I need to research it to see if it really works, is easy to use and is cheaper than the sheers.

If you use the planks there are some nifty gadgets that help hold and align the planks for nailing.

Later,
Dan

 

[9973720wb19]

have hardie on my 3 year old home in MD. it's great, looks new, no loose boards. we got the gray color and the contractor "field painted" a coat on it after install. however, I'm not sure that was needed.

 

[jinman]

Im planning on putting my home on the market. Its 3/4 brick with 2 exterior wall in siding. The siding has begun to chip and break (bottom row). Im considering replacing the existing siding with Hardie Plank siding. Does anyone here have experience with this material. I would like to hear your experience with it regarding durability, installation, etc. thanks

Dang Mike! It's a shame you are picking such a great product for the "next guy" to enjoy.:confused2: Too bad you didn't have it originally. I just had the whole south side of my house done with Hardie Plank to replace cedar siding that could not stand the sun's heat and drying. Watching the installation, the workers just cut the siding with a carbide tipped skilsaw blade (battery operated) and the siding came pre-primed. My contractor sealed every siding joint and along trim with sealant for an air-tight and water-tight seal. From the looks of the siding, I wish I had my whole house in it. I have no experience with longevity, but it sure comes with a great reputation from others. I think the James Hardie products all excel against sun, hail, and wind. Get a good contractor with lots of experience and you will not be disappointed.

 

[Bird]

Mobile homes (or manufactured housing, if you prefer) used to be bad about the siding rotting along the bottom because moisture got between the siding and the trim that held the skirting in place. But several years ago, our younger daughter bought a double wide mobile and I was surprised to find all the siding was hardipanel; never any rotting. And it was gray in color when she bought it; kind of a dull, slightly chalky looking, color. So she decided to have it repainted in a light beige color. I figured that change in color would require at least 2 coats for adequate coverage. However, she had it done with one coat of Behr exterior latex from Home Depot, covered completely and looked great. Of course she sold that place quite some time ago, but we were by there last month and it still looks good.

 

[sld]

That stuff is far superior to other siding products except maybe masonry.

I have the shears and they work great for straight cuts. I am still learning how to do the notches or holes for tricky cutouts.

Be careful, the dust it creates from saws is very bad for you. The shears produce no dust, just a curlycue of material as it cuts.

In the past, I used a jig saw. It ate blades pretty fast but the dust was a lot less.