[rick-l]

My wife and I did this a couple of years ago. I thought I could do it myself but holding a 20 pound flimsy brittle 12 foot long piece of siding was more than I could handle so wife had to get used to standing on an aluma-pole 30 feet up and holding / nailing.

We installed 500 pieces. It used to cost $5.25 at the big box and all of a sudden it went up to $8.25... WTF? Use a siding nailer and galvanized ring shank nails, you can't use a hammer to punch a hole with a nail, it will just disintegrate. The "hardi" blade for your circular saw only has 4 carbide teeth to reduce dust because the cement will cause cancer if you live in California. I bought some aluminum flashing and cut it to length and put it behind the end joints under the caulk.

To keep with the low maintenance theme the pvc trim (AZEK) gets very expensive. I built framing for Hardi-soffit. I would do something easier.

It looks great. We installed new windows at the same time.

The reverse the blade trick is to cut vinyl. I'm not sure I would install this over foam, it is hard enough to find the studs. You want the nail to be just snug but not depressing the surface.