Wood Siding Recomendations

[Raspy]

Beltzington,

I don't want to whip a dead horse here, but OK, I will. I went with Hardy on my house too. My main reason was that it is fireproof. It is also stable and maintenance free. As far as appearance goes, it has a wood grain texture pressed into it so I can pretend it looks like real wood. Cool.

 

[Budweiser John]

In today's world the quality of cedar being sold is just crap.
Cement board siding is relatively easy to install but requires a few specialty tools.
First off, Irwin makes a chop saw blade designed for cement board. Secondly Hitachi has a coil nailer that is ideal in that you can adjust the depth of the nail penetration. For rips, rake cuts, or other odd ball stuff I use a DeWalt 4 1/2 grinder with a segmented masonry blade. Google "bear clips" to find a really nifty plastic clip to hold and space the siding while installing. These clips allow one person to install full 12' planks solo. A little pricey but worth it.
Merry up the cement board with Georga-pacfic "smart trim" boards and create a building with a turn of the century look. Two coats of Sherwin Williams "duration" paint and good to go.

 

[MountainGuardian]

I am partial to board and batten siding myself, that is what is on my house, I love the look of it and the ease of putting it on. My house, the hay barn, horse barn both shops, chicken barn and rec building by the largest pond are all board and batten, much of it needs to be replaced so to save on wood cost I bought a Hudson bandmill. I figured I would 12k or more to redo the siding on the buildings and all told the HudsonHFE 21 Electric mill and setting it up with a concrete pad and building a 6x6 frame and trolley system ran me $3,600 total new. I have done a fair bit of board and batten siding so far, by the time I am done I will have everything resided for about 6k out of pocket and I still have the mill. It is going to take a lot longer to get all the siding done than I planned..... I keep getting distracted by the ability to cut whatever I want to build whatever I want, it is really kind of addicting....

I like board and batten because the whole design allows you put wood up before it is completely dried out mill it and slap it up. I also like the character of it even as it ages it simply gains in character. The one real draw back is that you will be replacing it about every 20 years or so, especially if you have a lot of woodpeckers around like we do.

I saw cedar mentioned and a comment about quality, you can buy cedar oil and apply it to any wood giving it much of the same long lasting qualities as cedar. All my siding is pine/fir and has been replaced twice over the last 50 years. The only change I want to make on my siding is to install rock on the bottom 3 or 4 feet of my exterior walls, I like the look and it keeps the wood well away from the soil, snow and plants.

Whatever you decide to go with, good luck and have fun....

 

[KennyG]

I think a lot of problem with cedar is that it's hard to install correctly. After I bought my current house, I had to replace a lot of the cedar half timbering because it was installed such that water would not fully drain from the horizontal surfaces. My contractor formed prefinished (match Anderson window color and the paint on the cedar) metal cap flashings to go over the top of the cedar timbers. You can't see them unless someone points it out but should protect the wood. A lot of work and cost though.

 

[farmer2009]

Has anyone used the smartside product from HD instead of the T-111?

 

[jrkaye]

Built my house in 1980. Mostly ceder with some brick. Restain every 10 years or so.
Still has that beautiful brown natural color. I did not want it to go gray.
I was expensive then, but I would do it again.
Good luck to you...

Our house was built in '82 but we didn't buy it until '08. It's Pier and Beam though you can't tell as the first floor has a wrap around concrete walkway and it's "Rockface" bricked. The master bed and bath is on the second floor (almost a stand alone look) and was cedar wrapped as all the soffit and fascia also cedar. Maybe treated once back in '82 then ignored. Talk about a mess; knot holes popped on the upstairs siding and the soffit and fascia warped and splitting. We wrapped the top in biege metal interlocking sheet and replaced all the soffit and fascia with Hardie Board and painted beige as well. Now the place looks great and fairly maintenance free except for landscape work and maintaining the gravel and caliche part of the driveway.

Had the owners maintained the cedar the problem wouldn't have been near as intense but they did nothing and in West Texas the sun and heat bakes everything during the summer months and the wind dries out everything very rapidly.

 

[EddieWalker]

Has anyone used the smartside product from HD instead of the T-111?

I like Smartside for protected areas. It's an OSB type product with a textured finish that looks like wood grain. It cuts and works the same as any other wood, but you have to be sure to seal the ends with a very good quality paint after cutting it. Just like all OSB, it does not like to get wet at the edges and over time, this is where you will have problems.

I use Hardie for my exterior stuff and Smartside for things like porch ceilings.

As for cutting Hardie, I just about every manufacture of saw blades has a Hardie blade out there now. They usually have three cutting teeth that go through the Hardie like butter. I have blades for my 7 1/4" corded saw, my 6 1/2" battery saw and a 10" blade for my table saw. Most of the time I just use the battery saw. With the right blade, it doesn't take much to cut it.

Most any coil nail gun has the ability to adjust how deep the nails go. You don't want to break or nail the lap siding too tight. Just snug.

For the trim I used to use my framing nail gun, but most of the time I had to finish off the nail with a hammer. Now I just use 3 inch deck screws for all the trim.

My parents are both in their 70's. While building their house for them, I showed them how to install the Hardie siding, and while I was out on jobs during the week, they installed almost all of it on their house. I do it by myself, but it doesn't matter how old you are, two people can do it easily.

Eddie

 

[sld]

I bought the shears that cut hardi plank like butter with no dusty mess. Just a curly cue that falls away.

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Built a 2500' house in '09 and used hardi lap siding, instead of cutting it I scored it with a utility knife and snapped it then took a rasp and cleaned up the egdes if need be. I like this stuff, takes paint pefectly, looks like the day I installed it and have absolute zero problems with it. No way I would use wood on the outside anything now days.

 

[Beltzington]

After a considerable amount of online research I believe the cost and upkeep of wood siding is reasonable. I am going to look into some of the treated wood products some of you have recommended.
I have several friends who have used Hardi board and I have helped install hardi board and believe it is a good product but I do not believe any reasonable person would say it can look this good.

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