Need any and all advice about replacing current siding...which is junk...with Hardie Board...I understand it now comes in colors which means it does not have to be painted....how is it chauked.....what goes under it...when studs in wall are showing....does it get wrapped...I can't find much info on it....is there danger of tearing up the roof if under boards with air vents that hang over are changed....Thanks I know nothing and need HELP

wonder if this is the product you're looking for?

http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/helpSupport_instructions.shtml

The boards you are referring to are the HARDI Color-plus panels. They are an excellant alternative to wood 50 year warranty and cost is lot more than vinyl. The typical paint coat is a two coat process and HARDI can also provide touch-up paint to match to take care of any smalls ooooppsss, that may come along. Vinyl siding is still a nice way to go as well, CertainTeed has a nice line of vinyl siding,check them out at www.certainteed.com I live in the East coast area. But I am in the Builidng Supply Industry, not big-box. You can't go wrong either way. It all boils down to, How much money do you want to spend....

The prepainted Hardiplank is about the best stuff on the market currently.
There is no comparable vinyl product.
CertainTeed makes a similar line of fiber cement called Weatherboard. I don't think their color line is nearly as refined as Hardie at this point.
The CertainTeed fiber cement is not as widely distributed as Hardiplank, but looks just as good when it is up on a wall.

I agree i think you picked the best siding on the market today.
Color plus comes in 20 colors and the paint has a 15yr, warranty.
I install this product every day. OSI makes caulking that matches all 20 of j.h. colors, you can get it were you buy the siding. You should check your local codes for house wrap. I like to use jumbo tex D-paper under my hardie. When you say you can see the studs are you telling me you dont have sheeting on your house? Are the air vents in the soffit ? area or are they on the roof ?

HI - I'd like to share our experience with fiber cement board (FCB). We went with the unpainted certainteed lap siding. Our house has the LP t-111 siding on it that is rotting. We had the contractor remove the rotted board, replace the areas with sheething, then he sided over it. We found that many of the areas of our home were only covered with the siding (not sheething and/or wrap), so in order to remove all of the t-111 siding, it would have had to been replaced before the FCB could be put up.

Our contractor worked alone on the weekends thru Dec and Jan and finished up in about a month. We had gotten many quotes from on the FCB and t-111 for the entire house (our house is about 2/3 brick). The estimates totaled in excess of $15K for the job. After some research, we found the total material cost was approx only $3K for 16.5 square (includes nails, trim wood trim boards, 4x8 sheets of fiberboard, flashing, caulking, etc). We found this contractor that was willing to do the work for approx $155/square. Our grand total - not yet painted - is under $6K. It will cost us approx $2K to have it painted this spring.

So, the moral of the story is - the labor costs that some of the siding guys are charging are out of this world. Buyer beware and do research!

Oh - and PS - we love the siding - we love the look of it. It has even quieted the house down quite a bit!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LorieK,

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