New cottage/retirement home near Lake Michigan

[ovrszd]

"Too much maintenance"....... on James Hardie cement siding?
There is a technique needed to prevent sloughing along the bottom piece (where it meets a flashing), but knowing that, I like it.
I just sold my 13 year old ocean front summer home in Canada with "Hardie board" (Cabot solid stain), and the siding still looked like new.

I'm glad it worked for you.

 

[Citydude]

I have lost many hours of sleep pondering Smart Siding. When I do dose off my thoughts turn to nightmares about it.

If the warranty requires three coats of primer and paint on cut edges does it also require that on every nail? Isn't there a lot of room for error and failure?

Around here cement siding used to be the thing to do
Now nobody does it. Too much maintenance. Is Smart Siding going to be any easier to maintain? Isn't it going to rquire extreme diligence in regards to painting?

Very nice build Ed!!! Thanks for all the updates and pics!!!

We are planning on installing hardy siding when we build in the hills. What issues do we need to consider with it?

 

[EddieWalker]

We are planning on installing hardy siding when we build in the hills. What issues do we need to consider with it?

Be sure to go to the Hardie website and read their instructions. They are well written and easy to follow. The only real concern that I know about with Hardie is that it does not like to be wet for extended periods of times. The most common place for this to happen is when it's installed too close to the shingles and leaves build up, causing moisture to remain, and algae starts to grow. There needs to be at least an inch of space from the bottom of the Hardie and the shingles. It might even be twice that in their instructions, I can never remember for sure and go back there all the time to refresh myself on what needs to be done.

Another thing is that Hardie has no strength of it's own, so handling it is tricky because it likes to snap in half. It needs support in the form of something behind it like OSB or plywood. Since it is so brittle, you have to be careful on nailing it up. Too much power and the nail goes right through the Hardie. Same thing with nailing at the edges. Don't do it too close to the edge or it will break off.

Smart Siding is a really good quality OSB that has been made to look good, and it has a lot of strength to it. I really like it for porch ceilings!!!!

 

[Citydude]

Thanks Eddie. It's on lots of houses where we are planning to build for fire resistance ( heavily timbered forest) and low down stream maintenance.

 

[ovrszd]

Good stuff Eddie.

Additionally, if painted with mid grade paint, it doesn't last long before needing repainted. Especially noticeable at the joints.

My current house has top end vinyl siding. It's been installed 20 years. No noticeable fading. No buckling. No algae stains. I power washed it this Summer. First time I've done anything to it.

I think we're gonna try Tru Log steel siding this time. I'll start a build thread about it in a couple months.

 

[EddieWalker]

Any updates or finished pictures?

 

[ededic]

I need to finish this thread. Thanks for the prod.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Interesting. Just went thru the whole thread today.

 

[ededic]

Interesting. Just went thru the whole thread today.

Wow. Thanks, I went through it today again too and could not believe what we did in such a short period of time. I need to finish the thread as we are now living comfortably in the apartment above the shop.