Cement Board on a custom house..

[93097004xx]

I’m lucky enough to own a very nice and finely built custom house constructed in 1988.

Front of the house is brick. Back of the house is first floor brick second floor rough cedar.

All the trim work on the outside of the house is cedar as well.

Contractor is trying to get me to use cement board however I just feel like it looks cheap and is not in place on a custom house..

Opinions or expertise welcome

Thanks Tony

[URY914]

I'm in the process of installing cement board planks on my addition. Wood grain finish. People have been using them for years on all types of buildings. You'll never worry about them again. What is it that looks cheap about it?

[Mark Howard]

I use Hardie products on custom homes often, but normally as accents and not the entire home. It all depends on which product line you choose and what matches your home style. I would agree the Hardie Cedar Shakes look cheap compared to real shakes. I do not recommend the pre finished Color Plus Technology Hardie products as They have had some issues with the finish chalking and fading. Overall it’s a very good product when properly installed and painted.

If you have cedar shakes, nothing beats the appearance. A good cleaning and they usually look new.

[Halm]

We custom built a William Poole design in 1994. The entire exterior was Hardie in white. We have been gone from that house for 20 years now, but when we drive by, it looks as good today as when we moved in.

[Dantilla]

I like working with cedar. Cuts easily, smells nice. Hate installing Hardie siding.

That being said, I've been building a carport/wood shed/storage building and will use cement board siding, as I'm in a fire-prone area.
My house is sided with...... Kindling!

[MBAtarga]

Nichiha is another brand of cement siding that has deeper grain pattern than Hardi. My 2300 sqft shop is sided with it.


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[LWJ]

Homes in my town are expensive.

Cement board is not a problem if done well and tastefully.

You should see two awful new homes near me that sold for 1.4 and 2.3 in the last year. They are so cheap it will make you cry.

I wouldn't sweat it.

[Zeke]

It would help it you posted your location as the weather patterns do have something to do with siding choice.

That having been said, I have seen some CB that looks great. How well it's installed has a lot to to with it.

[NutmegCarrera]

Check out LP Smartside. We have built two houses with Hardie cement board, and they were OK. Current one is LP Smartside, and the contractors did a great job. House is coming up on 4yrs old and still looks like the day it was built.

It’s no mansion, but it works for us.

[RWebb]

big issue is whether house is in a fire zone

nearly all of Calif. is or will soon be a fire zone...

[RSBob]

Our house was built 20 years ago using cedar siding. May expensive. I have had to prime and repaint four sun facing sections three times just because the grade of the wood was inferior. I built a shed for my lawn tractor and outdoor equipment using cement board. Looks really good, no paint issues, no termites and will out live me.

Had my rental done with cement board and it came out great. No reservations and was indistinguishable from the other townhome exteriors. No reservations.

[Reg]

Whenever anything is supposed to be something it isn’t you might consider it as cheap or a knock off. I wonder if that is what the OP was thinking. I’m a wood guy so when I see vinyl or cement trying to look like the real thing it looks like a substitute. I suppose in some aspects the cement board is better but why not give it a unique look rather than simulated grain to look like something it is not?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by 93097004xx

I’m lucky enough to own a very nice and finely built custom house constructed in 1988.

Front of the house is brick. Back of the house is first floor brick second floor rough cedar.

All the trim work on the outside of the house is cedar as well.

Contractor is trying to get me to use cement board however I just feel like it looks cheap and is not in place on a custom house..

Opinions or expertise welcome

Thanks Tony

You got 30 years out of real wood, will you even be
alive in 30 years to see it need replacing?

Just me, but I would stick with the real thing.

For the record, I've had cement board on several of my projects with good results.

However, 10 years ago I visited a clone home McMansion subdivision (Michigan) that was only 5 years old. Many houses there had the same siding problem, western sun facing elevations were the worst with as much as 1-inch gaps between siding joints exposed.

Only theory I had was it could have been installed soaking wet and shank. This would not explain the continuous shrinking. Bad batch from Hardi more likely - it can happen (rare).

About 35 years ago in South Carolina I saw the Georgia Pacific failures with mold growing on the siding, huge failure and lawsuits.

I put up a small area of cedar shake siding 25 years ago on my south facing back porch on the second floor, and it still looked good 8 months ago as they torn the house down for an apartment complex.

Still looked good despite two screw ups on my part, no layer of building felt between each course and grabbed paint instead of tinted primer - single coat.

May have helped that both sides of wall were cold because it was an enclosed porch.

Stick with real thing.

[berettafan]

Never cared for the cement board siding. Always hear it mentioned as a high end material but wouldn't use it myself.

[red-beard]

Our neighborhood is a "higher end" community. Hardie wood is very common. With the moisture/humidity here you need something that will not rot. My house is 16 years old and the Hardi stuff is in great shape.

[RWebb]

termites also dislike cement board (at least for now...)

[fireant911]

Tony,
We used hardie board on our home. My wife specified a pattern of both of horizontal and vertical (I am certain there is a specific name for each but I do not know although our builder had no problem understanding what she was after). We both love the way it turned out. Here is a side view of our home.

[RWebb]

Looks nice!

Does it look good up close?

[pdxfj]

The siding that was originally on my house (built in '46) was 8" cedar lap. Decades of improper care and who knows how many coats of paint took its toll.

I decided to replace it with smooth 8" Hardie lap siding and not use corner boards (as seen in pictures above) but to keep the original look of the house and use corner caps. Not a fan of the wood grain stuff or the corner boards.

The difference wasn't too noticeable unless you get up really close. A bonus is my homeowners insurance rate went down a fair amount because I got rid of the cedar siding.

There are others around me who also went with Hardie products on their houses and were able to keep the original look. In some cases very similar to the picture Daryl put up.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by fireant911

Tony,
We used hardie board on our home. My wife specified a pattern of both of horizontal and vertical (I am certain there is a specific name for each but I do not know although our builder had no problem understanding what she was after). We both love the way it turned out. Here is a side view of our home.

The bottom is bat and board (or board and batten) and the top is a lap siding. I can't see well enough but I'll call it 'bevel lap'. There's shiplap, clapboard, channel lap and some variants of those.