House Siding

[kunk]

I'm planning on having the house sided this spring. I know nothing about siding and would like some input if anyone has any. I have masonite on the house now and it's garbage. Looking for something I never have to worry about, but don't know which would be best. Which is the best and how expensive is it? Which would be the best compromise between cost and durability? Any info would be appreciated so I know where to start. It's not a big expensive house so I don't want to go too overboard.

Thanks in advance.

[swanlakebud]

Fiber cement siding , looks great , 50 yr warranty , and you can paint it any color you want plus the paint won't blister and peel .More expensive than vinyl , but that stuff is junk [my opinion]and a

little less than steel .

Bud

[Roofer]

 Originally Posted By: swanlakebud

Fiber cement siding , looks great , 50 yr warranty , and you can paint it any color you want plus the paint won't blister and peel .More expensive than vinyl , but that stuff is junk [my opinion]and a

little less than steel .

Bud

Totally opposite for me. Fiber cement hasn't been out long enough for anyone to know for sure. I know the warranty is better than it used to be, but you may have to paint it. It's more brittle than masonite, but can take on water a little better with no paint. You will pay for it also.

I used steel for my own house, but I feel vinyl is almost as good, especially the newer stuff with foam backing. I have used it all, but fiber cement the least because it is too expensive for most people to buy and pay for the labor.

[Roofer]

I do agree most vinyl is junk, but that is because of cheap homeowners not wanting to pay for it or cheap builders/contractors. Contractors are more often the reason.

If you get a good grade vinyl .046 or better, it is very good.

I would get prices on high end materials for all 3 if you like and go from there. Very few siders want to put on steel, because it is alot less forgiving than vinyl or cement board.

The most important part is to get a good Contractor.

[Coach1310]

We put vinyl on our home this fall. We have a Premium vinyl with a .046 thickness like mentioned. It is a lot nicer than the previous vinyl that was 12 years old on our house. I can't remember cost exactly, but it is much cheaper than steel. If I ever build a house where I plan to stay I may look into steel or fiber cement, but I know I won't be in this home for more than 5 years so you could say I went the cheaper route. Happy so far, but I worry about fading. Hopefully it will fade rather equally so it isn't noticeable. Good luck. I am sure many on here have some experience and expertise to help you out.

[Roofer]

Everything fades, no way around it. I personally don't want to paint, that is why I got rid of the masonite(and won't do cement board), even though it was stronger than anything on the market now. Vinyl should fade evenly, but not on seperate walls of course because they don't get the same amount of sun.

Pricing

We charge $350 a square for vinyl

Steel around $500

Fiber is even more

Average house is 25 square or so. there may be some extras, so expect at least a $10,000 bid. Anything less, someone is cutting corners somewhere, if you know what I mean.

Being you have masonite, you will probably have a bid for soffit and fascia also. This will add about another 1/3rd to the siding price on average. I'm not trying to sell you, as we have plenty of work. I just don't like seeing people get screwed over.

Sorry if we are not supposed to post any prices. Edit as you like moderators.

[Surface Tension]

Roofer, listing prices is fine, in fact its useful information.

If your looking for no maintenance then I'd go steel or vinyl also. As said go with a quality siding. Economy siding might look good for a few years but it won't last. Along with using a premium grade siding, the guy doing the work is more important.

Most blistering is from moister passing through your walls and into the siding. If you house has blistering paint now it most likely will again is you change to a porous type siding. Back priming helps.

[Drew]

My 2 cents - Hardy, Hardy, Hardy. Vinyl will fade and steel will dent in a hail storm. Hardy on the walls and shakes in the gables

[kentuck_ike]

There is a class action suit (I believe in Portland)against one of the major cement board companies. The way I understand it were the siding buts together is taking on moisture and acting very similar to masonite, It may take longer to happen but it is. Cement board is the same base product as masonite. The only real difference between masonite & cement board is the cement, and cement doesn't do anything about moisture. I would have concerns.

just my thoughts.

[Roofer]

I agree with ketucky.

Hardi board is a brand name made by Certainteed, I believe. I also thought it was sold to another company. If you want to caulk and paint every so many years, it is a tough product. Just the same as masonite was if you maintain it.

[kunk]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate all the input. At least now I can have a half way intelligent conversation when I get estimates.

[walleyeseeker]

Hardie Board from John Hardy Co. states in their installation instructions NOT to caulk the butt joints and under the overlap. If you choose to use caulk, you void your warranty.

[Roofer]

Interesting......Right from the James Hardy HSOforum...

"James Hardie will assume

no responsibility for water infiltration."

"Caulk, paint or prime all field cut

edges."

[Roofer]

One more

"James Hardie products must be painted within 180

days for primed product and 90 days for unprimed."

I thought we wanted away from painting? This is what I don't understand. Why would a homeowner want more maintenance.

Don't forget that your insurance pays for full replacement on hail damage.

[Roofer]

Certainteed fibercement siding

"Caulk wherever WeatherBoards Siding meets the trim vertically at

the corners and around windows and doors. Caulk the butt joints at all cut,

unpainted ends. Follow the caulk manufacturer’s application instructions."

"All WeatherBoards Siding, Soffit, and Trim is sealed with CertainTeed’s

FiberTect Sealing System. You have up to 24 months to apply a finish coat."

[BoxMN]

 Originally Posted By: Coach1310

We put vinyl on our home this fall. We have a Premium vinyl with a .046 thickness like mentioned. It is a lot nicer than the previous vinyl that was 12 years old on our house.

Happy so far, but I worry about fading. Hopefully it will fade rather equally so it isn't noticeable. Good luck. I am sure many on here have some experience and expertise to help you out.

We too put on .046 vinyl, 25' lengths so on our older house with bumps out here and there we only had one side that had any seams, and that was just three of them due to windows, etc. It looks great, better than our alum did. But our alum was old, and it totally did fade as well, but from long ago material...

We also put the form fit "insulation" behind it. I am sure it isn't much, but they rated it R5-6 or something like that. Mainly it helps the rigidity it seams like. We got it in "premium" colors, an olive color, with tan shakes on peaks. It looks great. We also got garage done, but used only a 3/8" foam backing on garage instead of form fit. The guys mitered the corners around windows, and it looks really nice. If I recall "Roofer" said once to make sure to have that done (I think it was him). Glad they did.

We briefly looked at hardie board, and we are building cabin this usmmer, but I want completely maintenance free unless it gets damaged. My brothers 4 year old, very nice and $$, house with the fiber "whatever" is already needing paint or stain or whatever he will need to put on. Not for me any more... I want totally maintenance free, and now with new siding and new windows, I have nothing except my door jams to paint ever again

Good luck with whatever you go with.

edit: BTW kunk, I am in WBL, and noticed you are in hugo. I am not a contractor, but if you are interested in vinyl at all, and wanted to see the type we did, I can give you my address or a send you a picture. Also, ours is 4.5" reveal, so a bit wider than standard. Leave your email or a way to get hold of you. Or my email might be in my profile, not sure...

[walleyeseeker]

After completing the latest continuing education for my license, the sales rep/teacher specifically said not to caulk any butt joints or under edges. I personally don't care which way you do it, water will still get in eventually.

[Roofer]

I believe you. I take the classes every year also. They are normally put on by building inspectors. They try to bend the rules in their favor to look like they are right when in fact they do not warranty anything, so why can they make up rules. Caulking the seems will not void the warranty.

There have been many times where inspectors are wrong, they just don't like to admit it. Sometimes you do have to bring them brochures or installation instructions to prove a point, because you know, they do have the big shoulders in their area. That is until something goes wrong, then it's blamed on the builder.

[Tom7227]

About 15 years ago I had to replace my masonite siding. I spent a lot of time looking around and checking prices. I ended up with steel siding in large part because of the concerns over denting with the aluminum. I have been happy with it except for an issue where the siding meets the roof of my garage. For some reason the paint is peeling off there. I don't know if it has to do with the heat generated from the dark colored roof or what. This fall I tried to fix it by cleaning it off and painting it with spray paint. Or course that didn't work, probably because the paints weren't compatible. I was told by a contractor that the manufacturer would only stand for a partial cost for the material so it wasn't worth even checking out.

I would suggest one other thing if someone it going to reside the house. When we did it I had the contractor put up 1 inch foam insulation. It was the blue stuff, not the white stuff with the beads. It added about $300 to the cost of the job and added a lot of R value to the walls. The house has 2 X 4 construction and so there wasn't much to begin with. Some energy expert said that this method would add insulation to the areas where the 2X4's were and give a much better result. The contractor was going to wrap the windows and so all he had to do was to shim them out to get things to match up. It made for a much tighter house. Check out the costs and give it some thought.

[11-87]

Take a look at some of the prefinished Cement Board Sidings..

You can get a good Diamond Kote Paint, and save yourself some labor by not painting right away.

[stick]

Has anyone used any of the LP Smartsiding? I am well versed in the manufacturing process of this, and as I understand it they just went to a 50 year warranty. It has mildew and critter resistant chemicals in it and has a primed resin impregnated paper coating on it. I have been planning on using it on a few siding projects I have coming up.

[JAR JAR]

If you are looking for a prefinished product, try looking into the Certainteed Color Max prefinished fibercement siding. Very reliable product with a 15 year paint warranty. Do a search on line about the product .

Prefinished fibercement seems to be the way alot of people are turning to. This product also comes with prefinished fibercement shake styles.

Jar Jar

[King Canada]

I was involved in building 30 or so houses that were sided with Smartside. We had no issues at install and 2 years later. I was very skeptical about the product but after using it to that extent I came to view it as superior to the fiber cement siding. I am old enough to have dealt with the catastrophic failure of LP's earlier siding product and I think they got it right this time. Email me at [email protected] if you have more questions.

[BigWadeS]

good info everyone thanks for the tips as I will be in this market shortly as well

[anyfishwilldo]

I have installed tons of Hardie siding. IMO it is the best siding out there. Yes, it needs to be painted but Sherwin Williams has a paint called Duration that has a lifetime warranty over cement board. I have never caulked the joints. What I have found that worked great was to put the black window tape behind the joints so it overlaps the course under. Water can not get in that way. I have alot of contacts in the business, if you need some more info or an estimate, feel free to email me.