House siding

ejmpnu92 · Jun 10, 2016

I just discovered that the house I bought in Sept. has nice holes in the siding. Yeah, ok, I was cleaning out the gutters and my elbow went beyond the paint.
So now, I am on the hunt for siding and it seems to be scarce outside the big supply places.
My insurance/mortgage company does not like cedar, so that's out.
Looking for hardi or concrete siding.
If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
It will be a good summer project for me.

Caveman Jim · Jun 10, 2016

It depends on your taste, wallet & HOA?
I would go with the Hardi plank siding but take your time caulking the joints, some houses I've seen are hideous looking due to bad caulking...
Good luck with your summer project, mine will be filling my 2 freezers with slime rockets (fish)...

clearconscience · Jun 10, 2016

I'll be re-doing my deck and staining my fence.

Good luck on the siding.

Member 5605 · Jun 10, 2016

No caulking hardiplank. They need to expand and contract. Proper hardiplank installation has a metal flashing behind every joint to eliminate the need to caulk the seams.

Source:
http://www.jameshardie.com/d2w/installation/hardieplank-hz5-us-en.pdf

I'd vote for hardiplank. Do it once, do it right and that's good for a long time.

I have a wall I need to redo on our house. Some drunk person apparently did it before we bought the house. Whole house needs to be redone actually. They caulked 95% of the seams meaning there is no flashing behind them like it's supposed to have.

OLDNEWBIE · Jun 10, 2016

You must have the old crappy LP Louisiana Pacific Siding like on my house. It's still made and supposed to be a lot better now.

Never got around to replacing it, just patched, caulked and painted the worst spots over the past 10 years.
Thought a lot about what I would replace it with and as the attic area would need plywood sheathing 1st anyway, I was going to go with T1-11 or whatever they call it now on the sides and back of the house and maybe hardiplank on the front.

The only drawback with hardi I can think of is a seismic disturbance could crack or break it where a wood or wood composite might flex.

Never really investigated it though.

BaggerRyder · Jun 10, 2016

Had parts of my house resided a couple years ago. Bad construction in early 2000 caused leaky Windows and open seams that were allowing water penetration. All spots with new siding were replaced with Hardi but they also sealed seams. They used a sealant with a very high flex rating. Can't remember the specific brand. Maybe OSI? They left gaps between each board to allow for expansion and contraction but sealed those seams. Whether that's the norm now or not I am not sure, but haven't had any leaks, rotting, or seals break.

Jamie6.5 · Jun 10, 2016

You might want to check and see if there were any class action settlements involving your brand of siding.
There's been a number of them over the years and a lot of homeowners got paid.

Caveman Jim · Jun 11, 2016

Dyjital said:
No caulking hardiplank. They need to expand and contract. Proper hardiplank installation has a metal flashing behind every joint to eliminate the need to caulk the seams.

View attachment 296801
Source:
http://www.jameshardie.com/d2w/installation/hardieplank-hz5-us-en.pdf

I'd vote for hardiplank. Do it once, do it right and that's good for a long time.

I have a wall I need to redo on our house. Some drunk person apparently did it before we bought the house. Whole house needs to be redone actually. They caulked 95% of the seams meaning there is no flashing behind them like it's supposed to have.

Good information to know!!! Probably lazy or even ignorant contractors....

jbett98 · Jun 11, 2016

The new and improved LP wafer board type siding is mostly resin and it doesn't have the problems like the old stuff that grew mushrooms and fell apart after a couple of years.
I hate working with Hardi-Plank products and don't recommend it for inexperienced homeowners.
Plus it only comes in 12' lengths and the LP products are 16' and very easy to cut and handle by yourself.
I made a couple of jigs to hold up the next piece of siding and it also served to correctly space the lap exposure.
I found some heavy metal banding that was used to wrap some concrete pipe for shipping and bent the pieces together in a vise for a tight grip on the last fastened board.
You lay the next board on the upper tab, then nail the siding at least one stud from the clip so you can lift the siding enough to wiggle the bracket off the lower piece.
They do sell a plastic version of my gadget, but I made this way before that came onto the market.

The third pic shows my second version with it's straight tab that helped you pull it away from the piece of siding, and the upper tab that holds the next board had a bent lip that kept the loose piece of siding from slipping off while you made adjustments before nailing.

PaulB47 · Jun 13, 2016

The only drawback with hardi I can think of is a seismic disturbance could crack or break it where a wood or wood composite might flex.

Hardi is pretty darn flexible; ever see it installed? The stuff just works. Pay attention to Dyjital on the application.

OLDNEWBIE · Jun 13, 2016

PaulB47 said:
Hardi is pretty darn flexible; ever see it installed? The stuff just works. Pay attention to Dyjital on the application.

Never seen it being installed no, have see broken bits laying around afterwards.
How does it handle impact? Like if your 6 year old starts swinging a baseball bat at it?
It looks pretty awesome weather wise.

ejmpnu92 · Jun 13, 2016

Thanks guys, this is not my first rodeo with owning a home. I thought I might get a couple more years out of the siding. In a previous life, I used hardi, both the full 4x8 sheet and the lap style. It is not as easy to find here, ie at a low cost option. I did some more tear down this weekend, found some old termite issues(no live stuff fortunately), found a vent that is strategically located about 4 inches below my drive way (fun, now get to re-do the driveway). Removed and replaced the bad wood. One good thing, the old cedar siding is still there, so have a decent backing to attach to. I am thinking that I might use the faux stone sheets on the lower end of the wall and then build up the lap from there.
Supposedly this was inspected and approved back in '95. As someone with a long history in remodel and construction work, I am surprised this was allowed.

jbett98 · Jun 13, 2016

If your income depends on Realtors calling you back, then your inspection better be to their liking.

Mark W. · Jun 13, 2016

5" revel smooth surface Hardie Plank is what I am using. if you do Hardie plank buy a good shear Mine has now done 3 homes and I still haven't had to sharpened the blades. About $125 for a good shear but well worth it in the long run and they sell like hot cakes used.