HardiePlank siding

[Steve]

Anyone have experience with stuff? Any comments on how it compares with other siding options, painting, installation, cost, etc? Thanks!

[BobK207]

I have very limited experience with

we were using it in lab envinronment to evavluate shear wall performance......I thought I would like the stuff since it was a cement / fiber product (no termites or rot)

but.....it seemed to crack a lot when we were nailing it

maybe it was just us but the product seemed brittle, heavy & prone to breakage

YMMV

cheers Bob

[Eric in North TX]

We are in the process of changing out our clapboard siding with hardie board, and so far I have 3 completed walls out of 8. I like it, it is a bit fragile, but once you learn its limitations it works ok. You never lift full boards lying flat, they can break, on its edge it is ok. cutting it is a challenge, it responds well to most tools, but the circular saw with a blade in backwards seems the best. A sawzall with wood blades works ok, but stock up on blades, they don't last long. You can score it with a utility knife and break it like drywall, but it has to be scored deep or it won't break straight and that process is slow though it produces the best looking cuts. They make power shears based on a drill motor, I haven't tried those.

I'm using stainless steel self drilling screws, and I prefer that to nails, as you can fix your mistakes and if you had to remove a panel to repair infrastructure, you would have a removable panel.

It holds paint well, and looks fantastic once painted. the 1 X 4 Hardie trim is nice too, that seems to be the first thing to go when made of wood, those will out live me. I use those for window trim and corners. We plan to make ceiling for the porch out of the Hardie soffit board, I haven't attempted that yet

[J.A. Michel]

I put the 8 1/4" pre-painted hardie on my garage. Cutting the stuff can be a challenge. Invest in a diamond blade, those work good. Don't nail too close to the edges, or you'll break them off. I hung my siding with 6D galvanized framing nails using a framing nailer. Overall, I am very happy with the siding. It looks really nice and is durable. After getting used to the look and feel of the hardie siding, vinyl siding just looks cheesy to me.

[Robert Allison]

I have a rule. I don't answer the same question more than 5 times per year. Since that exact question has been asked more than five times this year, rather than wasting my time answering it again, I will just refer you to Google.

Most of the 9,260 results discuss hardiplank, its benefits, its drawbacks and how it compares to other materials for siding.

[Eric]

Wasnt it Hardi plank that they had to recall and pay a big settlement on about 5-10 years ago? Eric

[Doug Boulter]

Eric wrote on 25 Nov 2006:

No, it wasn't. Wouldn't you want to be sure of that before you posted something like this???

Perhaps you were thinking about settlements made by Georgia Pacific and Weyerhaeuser in relation to their siding products?

[Robert Allison]

No. That was masonite siding and that was about 25 years ago. It is still ongoing.

[bacdafucup228]

Its best to cut hardie boared with electric metel shears like a porter cable or something.

[thetiler]

You don't understand. In this day and age if a person figures out how to use a computer and ask a question, you give them an achievement award, gold star, passing grade and much praise. Then you kiss their rear-end and pay them more than they're worth. That's the American way.

Seriously what's worse than stupid or lazy questions are stupid and wrong answers. My trade is tile contracting and as I read the anwers to tile questions, most of the answers are by non-tilers, and are _wrong_. What's even more amazing is how the questioners thank the wrong answerers.

About Hardibacker products: I've used thousands of sq.ft. of hardibacker underlayment, which is just a different shape and variation of the product. It's a great product and professionals who want a lifetime product use it. Because of my own experience using it for underlayment and knowing it's compression strength, how it's waterproof, and dimensionally stable, I used it to do the siding on my own home. It comes primed and takes paint very well, and doesn't dent like the former aluminum siding I had. Vinyl may be a good product, but seems cheap to me. The hardibacker is also pretty inexpensive, and the siding comes in many sizes- even though the box stores may only stock one size.

A Google search will reveal many tips on installation :-)

thetiler