HardiPlank - Pros and Cons?

[budman72]

My house is mostly HardiPlank, two years, no problems.

Here's the con- When we built the house I wanted brick (no maintenance), the wife wanted siding because we needed to cut the budget. Our builder came up with Hardiplank, cheaper than brick and better than vinyl siding. Once it was put up and 2 coats of paint it cost more than the brick would have been /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Now I'll have to keep it painted.

 

[EastTexFrank]

You won't have to paint it very often. Stage one of my deck has been up for 7 years and looks as good as new. Around the rest of the house, the paint on the HardiPlank and panel is holding up well and that's been over eight years. Long may it continue. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[woodlot]

Does anyone have experience with these fiber-cement products with direct ground contact? Do they hold up as well as regular concrete or pressure treated plywoods?

 

[OkeeDon]

I have left some HardiPlank boards (around 8" wide by 12' long) lay flat on the ground for about 4 years. They had factory priming but no other paint. They were stacked; the bottom ones almost directly on the ground, and a few others stacked on top. All of them became extremely weak and brittle. The closer I got to the ground, the less likely it was that I could pick up the plank without it breaking or even crumbling. Summary: They do fine in their intended use, as vertical siding with the exterior adequately protected with paint. But, if they have ground contact for any length of time, they deteriorate. They are made of a composite of fiber and cement; I can only assume that with time and contact, moisture wicks through the concrete and gets to the fiber, which doesn't do well.

 

[Bird]

I've got one of those 7' x 7' Rubbermaid storage buildings that Home Depot sells. Of course it has its own "plastic?" floor, but I laid two 4' x 8' sheets of hardipanel on the ground, then assembled the building on that. That left 6" of panel showing all the way around and those edges have been crumbling, but of course for the use I've made of them, it's not a problem.

 

[PBinWA]

I recommend these tools for hanging the long planks by yourself:

http://www.malcotools.com/products/siding/fcg.htm

http://www.malcotools.com/products/siding/fcn.htm

Malco also makes a cool nail cutter for removing hardi-plank for repairs and renovations.

The Malco stuff was cheap enough to be well worth the investment.

DAP makes a good caulk for fiber cement siding called "SideWinder". Messy to work with - have some solvents around to cleanup with.

There are a few articles on The Journal of Light Construction web site that you might want to purchase too:

http://www.jlconline.com

I've thought about buying the shears but I don't have that much left to do on the current house. The concrete blade in the miter saw (my crappy miter saw - not my good one) works pretty well even though it is dusty. Blades are cheap and can be replaced easily.

 

[DocHeb]

Cool Tools. Thanks for the links, they are now in my favorites.

 

[James Kelly]

Installed HardiPlank about 2001 in an old house in Michigan.

Wherever snow sits against it, as on the siding adjacent a flat roof, the paint peels.
Where ice dams up on HardiPlank it simply disintegrates in layers.
In my case this was an area off the flat roof, one I had not paid proper attention to.
The main part of the siding, simply exposed to Michigan weather, is holding up just fine.

To summarize, it is a very bad idea for HardiPlank to be wet for long periods of time.

 

[Dave5264]

Interesting, never seen this up here, we have a predominace of Vinyl siding, durable, weather proof, lots of colour choices, different styls and textures, never needs painting.

whats the benefit of hardiplank ?

 

[grsthegreat]

I sided my new house in 1996 with hardiplank and it still looks like new.

I did the extra step of caulking every seam... top, bottom and sides... and this has really made a difference. I have actually only repainted the house one time since the original paint was laid down. The hardiplank doesn't expand and contract so the paint adheres and still looks beautiful.

If i had to do it again... i would reuse hardiplank in a heartbeat.

Oh, and the previous poster mentioned a good point. I had one board that had constant ice build up on it in the winter due to location below a step. It did lose a small layer from the ice. Since i saw that happening, i built a cover over the porch, and have had no further issues.

pros: no bug damage, no rotting, no expansion and contracting

cons: it sucks to install recessed outlets or lights (need carbide blades)