Question on siding

[rwilner]

About to break ground on a 48x24 3 bay with attached mudroom.

Question on siding: my house has the original cedar planks from the 1930s. I've been told the new cedar is not properly dried and won't hold paint...I'll be repainting every 3 to 5 years. No thanks...

Can anyone corroborate this?

What's the best alternative? Looks like there is the Hardie fiber cement with a 15 year warranty and something called "LP smartside" with a 30 year warranty. Nice thing about these is the finish comes baked on, so no material or labor cost to paint. Downside is they make a color. Thats close buy not exact...and I'm not looking to re-side my whole house right now.

I have no love for vinyl.

Any experience with any of these products?

What would (did) you guys do?

 

[stafford]

If it were me I'd go with LP Smartside. I's great to work with and as you stated it has a much better warranty. I put it on my small shop and some scraps left over of course and I left it in a pile out in the weather for over a year before I burned it. It got rained on a lot and snowed on several times. The stuff was just as good as it was when it was brand new. Buy the siding with just primer and go to the paint store and get paint to match your house and paint it. Buy good paint not the cheap stuff, it'll last much longer and goes on like butter. I don't think you'll be sorry. I've worked with hardy board and don't like it at all. Whatever you do, good luck and have fun.
Stafford

 

[Falcon67]

X2 - I have used both. Hardi is good, but it's a ***** to saw, better to snap if possible. Hardi eats any kind of cutting tool for lunch quick. It can also sweat on rapid temp change. that said, it holds paint really well and is tough stuff. I have scraps laying out back of the shop on the ground for the last 5 years, you could wash it off and nail it to a wall. I did panel without backer, because it's a shop. If you did plank you'd need to skin the building with OSB. Verify that by reading the Hardi docs.

The old shop used LP Smartside. I hung it right on 24" OC studs and no backer, that building still looks good after 18 years. It also holds paint well, the trim takes 2-3 coats to color. I used Smartside trim on my shop because I got tired of buying 3 packs of carbide saw blades to cut Hardi for trim.

I actually have Smartside trim on the back of the shop around 3 windows. It's just pre-primed 1x4. I just remembered that I never got around to painting it. 5 years, no paint, no problems/rot/anything.

 

[rwilner]

I am leading towards smartside. Thanks for replies guys.

If I buy the preprimed and paint it - how long until I have to repaint it?

Keep in mind I'm in new England so it's 90 degrees and humid I'm August, then buried under 3' of snow for Jan and Feb.

 

[CNGsaves]

Do yourself a favor if you use the "Smartside" siding . . . .
. . . . . PRIME paint the entire backside and all edges before you install (2 coats)

Also paint any cut ends with primer and topcoat before installing.

For last couple rows, put on even more primer and paint on back side and edges as water will deteriorate the "wood" over time.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

If it were me, I'd go with Hardiboard concrete siding which lasts forever. Use a DeWalt shearer to cut it like butter.