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)

 

[crbr]

Great thread... thanks for the info..

 

[FredH]

Previous post mentioned that Hardi panel was more expensive than T1-11 .

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-M...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053


19/32 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. T1-11 8 in. On-Center Fir Plywood Siding-15930 at The Home Depot

I think the above 2 links pretty much sums up that answer . 40 sheets to do my shop . T1-11 = $1598.80 . Hardi Panel = $1140.80 Saving $458
Fred H.

 

[MikeA57]

I agree Fred. I HP'd my old house before I sold it back around the turn of the century and it was a couple of bucks cheaper than T-11 back then too. I drive by that place every once in awhile and it still looks good. The current owners recently painted it but I couldn't tell that it needed it before they did it; but then I didn't get out of the car and go up to the house. Oh yeah, if you cut it with a regular circular saw, don't. It is a mess to cut that way and it took me coughing up blood to realize that I should have been wearing a mask.

:mur:​

Not one of my brightest moments...

 

[ttriff]

Our place built in 2003 is covered with HardiPlank.

Several weeks ago my weather station measured a wind gust of 110mph, no damage.

Given all the wild fires last summer I'm happy to have home covered with a cement fiber product.

 

[Scotty Dive]

I came across this thread and I thought I would add my recent expereince with James Hardie - We bought our current house 6+ years ago with hardie board already installed. Last winter with the ice dams we had - the board alongside the roof cracked and chipped out. I called hardie and put in a claim. An inspector came out from Ohio to Ct and reviewed the problem. When he left he said I would see a final report but the reason it cracked and broke is that it was installed incorrectly. The siding was installed tight up to the roof shingles and the water had no where to go and got behind the board and then when it froze it popped the board.

About 2 weeks ago I received a call from Hardie saying they were going to warrant my claim - so I am thinking they are going to send out some materials and I will have to install.....nope. They are sending out a crew from Ohio to replace the board and fix it around every window and door and roof area that was installed incorrectly. At no cost to me. So their product cracked because it was installed incorrectly and they are eating all of the expense. Wow...I sure am impressed

 

[beppington]

I don't know of any cons about Hardi Plank other than it is messy to cut.

Agreed! :thumbsup:

T-111 won't last more than 5-10 years in a humid climate like we have in East Texas. You can't seal it well enough to keep water from getting in the ends and then it swells and starts coming apart.

The T-111 here on my house in FL was installed in 1992 & is holding up just fine :thumbsup: Painted when new & then again at about 12 years old.

That said, I would definitely use Hardi Plank if I had it to do over. That stuff is awesome. I don't know if maybe it wasn't available yet in 1992, or I just didn't know about it, or maybe it was really expensive back then.

 

[wcampbell47]

We are about to build on the gulf coast which has led to more than one discussion about hardie plank. The builders I have spoken with always wrap the building in OSB first as the hardie has no structural integrity. If you break the plane of the cement covering the fiber that can void the warranty - lets moisture in which eventually damages the fiber. The weight of hardie prevents me from using it by myself - which most of my projects are done alone.

In summary - hardie has a great reputation with insurance companies because of fire retardation. By the time you add the cost of OSB and the labor to install a hardie sided building is going to be more costly than T111. The most expensive part of building smaller projects is the labor if you have to hire someone.

As for me I will stick to good old wood when working by myself. If someone is doing it for me and it makes sense insurance wise then hardie would be the choice.

 

[forgeblast]

What if you have t111 can you install directly over that?

 

[nhkabotab7800]

sure install right over t111 built in drainage chutes

 

[FredH]

For a House , I would install over OSB or something similar ,( plywood , etc.. , what ever was cheapest ) , for insulation purposes .

We built a 8' x 14' lawn shed the summer of 2010 and I just nailed it straight to the studs . Siliconed each vertical seam before we stuck the next sheet up . In the gabled ends , we siliconed the horizontal seams and then on the corners , We added 4" trim on both sides so the corners were covered . Studs were placed 16" on center . No warping or sagging showing any were .

Granted , It would be easy to hit it with something and break a hole through the wall , But the same can be said for using Dry wall inside a house .

Fred H.