Which Siding to Go With...

[silky_green]

Hi,

My house is currently under construction in Orange County, New York, and I'm looking at alternatives to the standard vinyl siding. I wanted to go with James Hardie Hardiplank ColorPlus lap siding (the one that's pre-painted) but my builder is quoting me extra $21,000. Do you think this is worth it?

I really like the real cedar siding but heard it was a maintenance nightmare. What do you think? Would the cedar siding cost more or less than Hardiplank?

I read the article here on cedar vs. cement siding but I can't seem to decide.

I put together a matrix of Hardiplank vs. Cedar (with different categories, like long-lasting, durability, maintenance, insect/animal repellency, aesthetics, cost, insurance savings, etc., weighted by importance and scores applied to each), but still remain undecided. Can you help? I would love to hear your opinions on this. Any feedback would be helpful.

Thank you.

[doyle]

I guess the $21,000 figure depends on how big of a house you're building. The Hardie siding products would probably be your best bet in the long run. You can't beat the warranty.

[Rich]

That's for sure doyle.. hardiplank is a great option. Probably the only other thing I would consider would be color-lok siding - pretty easy to work with and very durable.

[doyle]

I might know it by some other name....but what is color-lok siding?

[Rich]

It's a type of compressed masonite material - has a plastic lip built into the backside for installation.
Huh - I was just looking for a website - and it looks like Masonite Corporation just halted all production of the product. Weird.

[doyle]

Hmmm, never heard of it. Guess it's just as well as there must be a problem with it.

[Rich]

Sounds like it was taking on water and swelling a bit .. which is never good :)

[grumpydasmurf]

Doyle the hardie warranty is crap. I didn't say the material is crap. It's pro-rated 12 years. After 12 years is craps out. Go with the Certianteed weatherboards fibercement. 50 year NOT pro rated.

Yes fibercement costs more than vinyl.

[doyle]

WOW...didn't know that. Thanks for clarifying. I'm sure silky_green will appreciate the info as well. For a $21,000 upcharge I would want a REALLY long warranty.

[Rich]

Yeah - at one point hardieplank had an upgrade warranty to 40 or so years. Been awhile since I've seen it so don't quote me exactly.

[silky_green]

Thank you for all of your input. Really good info. As far as Hardie warranty, I'm reading it now and it's a "50-year express limited transferable product warranty." It reads that during the 1st year, they will reimburse 2x retail cost, and 2nd through 50 years, reduce the coverage 2% each year. I guess this is what 'grumpydasmurf' is calling "pro-rated." Good to know this. I didn't even consider this.

I haven't heard of Certianteed weatherboards fibercement. I'll do some research on this.

BTW, the house is a 4 bdrm 2-story colonial about 3000 sq. feet w/ attached 2 car garage. Nothing fancy, standard colonial, i guess.

I guess no one really cares for Cedar, huh?

Thank you again for all your info. I'm still not sure which way to go but at least I have some more things to think about. Any additional info would be welcomed.

[kadoka]

How big of a house are you building? Just curious about the $21,000 upgrade cost.

[silky_green]

How big of a house are you building? Just curious about the $21,000 upgrade cost.

It's a 4 bdrm 2-story colonial about 3000 sq. feet w/ attached 2 car garage. I think it's 44'x30'. I'm thinking $21K is a lot for this. That's why I'm considering alternatives. But my builder is telling me that cedar will cost just as much if not more. What do you think?

[grumpydasmurf]

I charge the same for cedar as I do for fibercement siding. Cedar costs more for material but is much easier to work with. Fibercement costs less for material but is a pain in the butt to cut and work with.

21k does seem like a hefty upgrade for the house you described. Remember price isn't everything BUT I've done some entire houses for $21k.

[kadoka]

Grumpy

When you refer to fibercement, you mean the Hardiboard siding?

Bob