We did our garage with 7.25" Certainteed lap siding a year ago, replacing decayed Masonite. I'm delighted with the finished look and will likely use the product when we build our next house. It takes paint well and really does look like wood from a few feet away.
Certainteed has very clear instructions for fasteners. IIRC, it was
6d or 8d galvanized siding nails or stainless steel screws. We blind nailed our garage by hand, using screws only in the gable peaks and other places (like the ends of planks) where we could not nail to a stud. Sheathing is 45 yr old 1/2" ply, and we replaced all the trim with pine.
The stuff is tough to cut and nail. Since we were doing just one garage (28x22 with 8' walls) we did not want to invest in diamond blades, shears, etc. We used a cheapo 5 tooth carbide blade designed for fiber cement in a skill saw-- two of them actually, as the first one was shot about 2/3 through the project. These ran about $15 each and cut cleanly but made a lot of dust. If I were doing another such project I'd get shears. Nailing was a chore too-- we ended up predrilling all the nail holes as otherwise we'd end up bending the
8d nails or spliting the siding trying to get them started. Next time I'd rent a nailer; Certainteed specs fasteners and guns in their product literature (see "weatherboards" on their website and find the .pdf).
I researched these products a lot, and though none of the local pros are installing fiber cement (it's all crappy vinyl around here) I imagine they will eventually. The finished product looks much better than the three new houses adjacent my 1958 cape, and importantly to me, it looks age/style appropriate. When I build our next place I'll probably go with either the Certainteed lap siding or the board and batten product, depending on what style we go with for the house. I'm sold on the product for sure.
-Kiwanda