Oh, how I wish we could edit our posts.

It should have read acceptable alternative. He proposed a high end vinyl product which we immediately dismissed. We are in a heavily wooded area and we don't want any part of vinyl.

Hardie never needed a diamond blade.
Carbide with zero hook angle was always adequate (and the zero hook was what the special blades had).

I would put him on the 'no' list.

It is not a pleasant task to install Hardie fiber-cement siding so a contractor might downplay it. One did just that last week.

Fiber-cement contains crystalline silica which is considered a hazard by inhalation.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified occupational exposures to respirable crystalline silica as being carcinogenic to humans (Class 1). This classification is based on IARC studies of humans for the carcinogenicity of inhaled silica in the forms of quartz and cristobalite. Crystalline silica is known to cause Silicosis, a non-cancerous lung disease.

You shouldn't cut this stuff without wearing a well-designed respirator and if you are a smoker or have had previous respiratory problems, I would recommend avoiding it altogether.

Fiber cement siding has been around a long time. It used to contain asbestos and was harder to cut because of the higher psi content and density of the product. Now days it uses a fiber re-enforced concrete that doesn't require high density for it's reliability. It could be the contractor was elaborating on the sidings of the old days, but to be on the safe side, i would steer clear of this guy in the event that he was dupping you. If he's playing games now, what else later on down the road of the build?

What is important other than a respirator is to keep the blade sharp. My installer did not do either one.

My installer used regular blades but when dulled continued to cut the Hardi thinking caulk would smooth out the rough cut edges.

The caulk has begun to discolor and the mistakes are showing up.

I get a little ticked every time I look at my siding.

Someone saying "it's not what it used to be" isn't enough information to make any sort of judgement; pro or con.

I can't comment on the contractor statement but I do want to address one thing you said.

**He proposed a high end vinyl product which we immediately dismissed. We are in a heavily wooded area and we don't want any part of vinyl.**

Before you dismiss vinyl totally, I'd like to suggest that exactly BECAUSE you are in a heavily wooded area is a reason you MIGHT want to consider vinyl. Birds and animals leave it alone (as I'm sure they also do with Hardi) where they are very distructive to cedar. I would guess you might not be familiar with the look of quality vinyl products or might not have seen a quality install - forgive me if I'm presuming something untrue but many people are not familiar.

I'm not in the building process but we did just reside our 1936 colonial from a vinyl clapboard (which was a very nice product in its day) to a high end vinyl shake. There are no visible overlap seams, no butt joints and no calk was needed to camouflage anything (as lsst above is dealing with) because the product coupled with a thoughful install don't require it.

Vinyl may or may not be a product for you for any number of reasons but it may be worth a second (or possibly first) look.

Here is how the old siding looked, with overlaps typical of clapboard vinyl.

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Here you can see a bit of both - the shake has great texture and shadow lines

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Finished siding

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dlm, that is beautiful. I love the colors and the entire look. I only read this thread because we had considered Hardie plank for our second floor (over stucco on the first floor). We deal with many challenging environmental conditions in Florida and I've become a big fan of new technologies. I've also become wary of contractors who won't consider or learn about new ideas. For OP, we ruled out Hardie for design reasons but would certainly have used it otherwise. As has been said, the contractor may be speaking to his own limitations, not the limitations of the material.

Your house looks great, and I agree that those shakes are awesome!!! I showed a high end home yesterday (I'm a Realtor) that had them, and they looked fantastic...my client still wasn't convinced it was vinyl even after touching it...now that's a bit extreme, and he's not the most savvy guy in the world, but it really comes together nicely...the style of my home demanded (I thought) clapboards so we went with Hardie, but if we could have used shakes I would have gone with the vinyl ones in a second! Vinyl siding on the other hand...still looks like vinyl...

I still love my Hardi. I just do not like how the installation looks.
It took three different crews to get it right because my builder took the cheap route.
I would still do Hardi or fiber cement in a heartbeat. I would just make sure it is installed properly.

dlm2000, heavily wooded = fire danger. We are building in a forest. Even though we have cleared a large area, so that the trees are not right on top of the house, we still intend to build with fire danger in mind. This area is getting dryer and has recently experienced significant drought conditions. We would be fools not to take this into consideration.

Vinyl gives no fire protection. In fact, it will melt well before wood starts to burn. HardiePlank and other fiber cement products don't burn. That is why we don't want vinyl.

Your house does look nice, though. :-)

Well fire danger wasn't even on my radar - I guess we're conditioned to think about the issues that relate to our own specific areas. Obviously you know what your priorities have to be!

You do need to find someone who has a lot of experience with the Hardi plank etc. As to see a house they have done or two.

Our is Hardi Plank siding, Nichia Shingles in the gables (About 1/2 the price of Hardi and look better IMHO) with Miratech trim.

Should last as long as I am alive.

Thanks to everyone who posted to the thread. I appreciate information.

We put on Hardie board and batt siding ourselves over the summer. We also did a gable in the hardie shake. At first, we used $10 carbide blades, but were going through them pretty quickly. So, (fortunately very early on) we bought a $45 carbide blade, which was wonderful. It didn't dull, and it didn't fray the edges. A quick google search yields numerous tips for making hardie install easy, and we had no problems--I really like my siding. So, I second the idea that you have a less-than-desirable contractor. A note about the warranty on the board and batt from my supplier: you must caulk EVERY single seam, or you void the warranty. I think it took me (by myself) two weeks. I hope all that helps.

What material did you use for the battens, arewethereyet? Would it be possible for you to post a photo of your house. I am very interested in seeing Hardie board and batten on peoples houses.

muddy,

The battens are 1x3 pre-primed pressure treated. I'm not sure why that decision was made, as that was on DH's plate, not mine. I can try to figure out pictures in the next couple days if you'll bear with me. I'm still figuring out the new camera. :)

The only thing about my siding that I'm not crazy about is the caulking product we used. It was labeled as paintable, but it clearly didn't mean that it excelled in that department, because it is a PITA to get the paint to adhere to the caulk, which, since you have to caulk every seam, is everywhere. On the up side, once I experimented a little, I learned that spraying the house lightly 3 times usually did the trick. I am going to back and do touch-ups in the spring. As far as install was concerned, the PT wood was nice because its rough texture made it easier to caulk because I didn't need to try to make the caulk smooth, I just rubbed it to match the texture of the wood, if any of that makes sense... Will post pics ASAP.