28 year exterior trim carpenter here. I have installed more of this siding than I care to say. (Ohio)This is a installation problem. 3 things cause this. 1 not breaking the seams on studs to support them. 2 nails sank to deep into siding blowing the back out and coming loose later. 3 the installer nailed to close to the top cracking it and allowing it to fall off later there is a dotted line that shows you how far down to nail on each piece. Seen these things many times. The only real fix is either face nail it to death and deal with all the ugly nails or tear off and replace probably most or the the whole house. Hope this helps someone.
Jesse, where are you located in Ohio? I’m looking for a installer for Hardie Plank in Columbus. Thanks! Also what’s your opinion about going over original wood lap siding (Victorian home built in 1910) with Hardie plank?
@@JJ-pf7qo Really hard to say, but I have a friends home where the paint job still looks new (raining PNW) for over 10 years now. I would jump to bad or cheap paint conclusion. Really feel bad for this home owner, but then they could have "gotten what they paid for". It could also be there are better Hardie's these days, but I have never seen good paint chalking.
Hardi Board Is Great ! Built My Own House 20Yrs Ago Still Looks Great!!! Same Paint too. Paint Sticks To It Great!!! Fire Resistant Too, Thank God...Long Story!
I am really sorry for the owner of this house. This is not a Product issue, it is an installation and paint-job issue (this is why there's outdoor paints and some better than others). Cement board siding 101: Don't nail high, butt-join on studs. These things are way too expensive for installers to do this to home owners. Now, your method of fixing also sound problematic: To save this homeowner money on a project they probably already spent a lot on and got crappy install, Face-nail bottom below it. Not pretty but better than trying to rip out expensive boards. If as you say this install is less than 10 years old, those caulks are the wrong ones + nailing were probably not on studs which resulted in the excessive movements at joint. A well-done Hardie siding should not be problematic for at least 20+ years. No, I don't work for Hardie.
Great video from one painter to another! My experience is that since it was sold as “maintenance free” that it wad often painted with a low grade paint that lacked decent UV resistance. I’m curious about the broken nail flange though. Are you seeing most of those on 2 story homes with “Bildrite” sheathing?
That powdering paint is called oxidization. Everything painted will need to be repainted. A lot of tech coming out to help Hardie planks do better. Regardless, it still beats vinyl siding, wood siding, everything but maybe block, solid brick, or stone. peace
Exactly right. It's a bit picky about nail gun settings, and easy to crack, but if done right it will outlast the owner. It's crazy how people think paint should last forever on Hardie but only 5-10 years on everything else.
There is no such thing as "concrete siding". Also the loose plank is an installation failure. Beginning nails is fine with other siding materials le wood but James hardie is very clear about how the nails should not penetrate to far or have the head be below the surface. When he clearly says "the sun makes it brittle" referring the siding its laughable as the sun has no effect on cement or we would all be walking and driving on crackley and crunchy driveways and sidewalks! LOL In fact cement continues to harden over time and siding is more pliable when new and gets more and more brittle over the years making it harder to remove without snapping. Also the professional term for the paint condition visible here is"chalking" ...and that is due to UV degradation of the paint and is not an issue with substrate at all.
As a painter of 38 years experience I concur with what you wrote. Unfortunately as professionals in our trade we also have to put right the work of unprofessional builders, or as we call them in NZ "cowboys".
We live in Wisconsin. We replaced an entire side of our home which gets the most sun with all new fiber cement siding that company gave to us. We only did it a few years ago & already there are up & down cracks on some boards. How disappointing. My husband did a ton of research beforehand. Any idea? Thanks!
PAINT IS NOT CEMENT, it will fade ,crack, and chalk up after 20 years ,just like the rest of the paints out there. Even car paint with a clear coat will do the same. As for the lose siding, they used the wrong fasteners or it was the installer. If they butted the boards like the were supposed to do, there wouldn't be a drop there. I did houses over 30 years ago with this siding. NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. Thanks Hardie.
Unfortunately, James Hardie is not Concrete. James Hardie siding is a composition of Portland Cement, Water, Pulp and other trade secrets. By definition, Concrete is made of Portland Cement, Water, Sand and Rock.
I didn’t think you should caulk the end joints on hardie siding. A gap should be left and the cut end painted to protect and allow for expansion. The nail fixing flange does not hold the plank up it just keeps the siding flush against the timber batons. I’ve seen people plaslode nail these and crack every nailed flange which eventually fails. Something is very wrong with this installation and you’d need to strip off a length and see the batons and spacing and if the wall was flat and the correct nails were used and how deep they were nailed in, or maybe if screws were used and countersunk heads used which is a big no no with this cladding.
Hi Garrett, We are about to buy a house which is built in 2013. All 4 sides of house is cement board but most of them has cracks on them, cracks begin right from the nails. Do you think those can be replaced and repaired without replacing all rows?
Ezgi...see what brand the siding is. There was a class action lawsuit against Certainteed, which has since sold off the fiber cement siding business. The boards were made from fly ash as opposed to silicate. Hardie uses silicate. The certainteed product would crack in the middle of a board once it started drying and shrinking. I had the certainteed product installed on our new build in 2013. I had to file with the suit and get reimbursed for the complete house. I replaced all the bad siding with Hardie boards and pvc stealth trim. The cut off for the suit was 2013 and its now closed. Any claims past a certain point in 2013 required filing a warranty claim instead. I would check on the brand and warranty first. It may come down to having to replace most, if not all, of the siding. Good luck.
We filed a claim against Hardie Board for the exact same faults as shown in your video. They have rejected our claim saying it was not material failure but installation failure. Two other houses in our small subdivision filed claims and their claims were accepted. I will be following up with Hardie Board because I feel it is their responsibility, they rejected my claim just two days ago. Almost every house in the neighborhood, only about 15/20 shows the failure of the paint. I was so hopeful for a moment that you were in Flordad so I could have you come out and do the work!! We're in the Sarasota area of Florida - want to go to the beach?
Haha, if I had a dollar for every time somebody offered a stay in their FL home when I ALREADY live in FL. Transplants just assume everybody lives someplace else. 🙄 So in the case of the install in this video it was not installed correctly. The painter pontificating about cement plank siding doesnt realise the VERY common mistakes made when installing that cause those loose plank failures.
Double nail it. Typically you just put nails in the top that gets covered up but the manufacture recommends that in high wind situations that you double nail the bottom
That shit was not installed right also the paint failure I can guarantee was because the owner ordered it primed and they painted it later but when you order the planks pre painted you won’t have this problem for 15 years at least
so after 15 yrs you have to paint it again? what the hell.. all these hardie sales mans are crooks. I thought they are 30 yr warranty and maintenance free all that shit.
The siding looks like it is oxidized from the sun most likely. If you have an experienced pressure/soft washing company in your area then I would call them to fix the siding oxidation issues for far less money than painting would cost. An experienced company will use a chemical with soft washing and safe a lot 💰.
I think you meant cement siding, could not be concrete because as far as I know, that does not exist as concrete is made up of sand, gravel and cement. I agree it is a bad install.
It depends. If you want primed go with primed hardie (usually the planks are yellow) if not, you always have a choice of hardie PLUS. In other words it’s already painted. As an installer, hardie plus is a hassle to install but the results are amazing at the end. 👍🏻
Many of you guys in the comment saying its installation problem. Maybe it is for the falling pieces but! What about the powdering paint???? Is paint falling also installation problem? I'm looking into doing the siding and leaning more and more towards the insulated vinyl. Paint failing like that is NOT maintenance free. HARD PASS on this.
Please realize that many comments here, at least the ones I read, seems to be people who have experience with these things. I didn't get the sense that commenter are trying to promote cement boards or paint. The fact remains, a good outdoor paint tends to last longer and resist UV better. That's fact! If your paint is not good, plus painting on an unsuitable surface, it does not matter, that paint and job will fail sooner than projected. Focus on the quality of installer much more than the product (yes, quality product is also important) but a sound product can get destroyed in no time by a shitty install. But I have seen low quality product last because the installer was meticulous. Just my 2 cents.
Right, no wait, you're talking about a different product that has no cement in the formula. I think it was Masonite that produced a cellulose fiber hardboard siding that absolutely requires regular maintenance to avoid water intrusion.
