JH Fiber cement board Mold/Maintenance issues???
patrice607
13 years ago
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cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
13 years agolkplatow
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Dangers of Hardie/Cement Exterior
Comments (19)This is not exactly on-topic but close enough that I think you all will be interested. I recently learned that one of the big things causing mold is improperly installed house-wrap. It isn't rocket science to put up Tyvek or other air/moisture barriers properly but apparently a lot of builders don't pay any attention to the house-wrap specs. They just slap the stuff up and put siding over it and the owner is no wiser... until they start having mold problems. Dupont - who makes Tyvek - has gone to the effort of making "housewrap specialists" available in all areas who will come out to your build-site for free and advise on exactly HOW to properly install Tyvek. I know this because when my builder's sub put the Tyvek wrap up, it didn't look right to me - way too many staples and those that were used looked too small, lots of patched together pieces, lower sections over the top of upper sections so that water would be funneled between the layers of Tyvek, vertical seams with no taping, etc. etc. etc. So I went to the Dupont website and pulled up the specs for Tyvek house-wrap and read them. Needless to say, this precipitated a major fight between me and my builder who insisted that his sub had put Tyvek on "hundreds of homes" and that "he knows what he is doing" and "there is more than one right way to put it up" and "I'm the builder, you should trust me to know what I'm doing" etc. In desperation, I contacted Dupont and they gave me the phone number of their house-wrap specialist in my area. I called him at 4:30 PM and he told me he would meet me at my house at 8:30 the next morning. He arrived and took one look, and immediately told my builder "this will NOT do, your installation voids our warranties and if you slap hardiplank over this mess, it'll be a wonder if the homeowner doesn't have mold problems inside of three years." Since my contract requires my builder to follow the specs of manufactured products so as to not void any manufacturer's warranty, that gave me the clout I needed to get my builder to make his sub do it right! The Dupont house-wrap specialist stayed at my site about 3 hours that morning advising the subcontractor and his workers on exactly what needed to be done to fix the job. He then made 2 more trips to out to inspect and finally sign off on the Tyvek installation. Since he had to travel nearly 40 miles (one way) to reach my house, I figure he put in close to a full day assisting with my build. And it cost me nothing so I know there is no way Dupont could have made any profit whatsoever on the house-wrap that went into my house. On his third trip, I asked him WHY Dupont would bother. His response was that it wasn't just my house that was affected but potentially every house that my builder and that sub and even any of his crew worked on in the future and that Dupont saw educating these people as the only way they could protect the integrity of their product. I have to say, I was impressed and wanted to share the information. I'm now reading the installation specs on every product that goes into my house and watching to see that they are followed and, if they're not, I'm going to be calling the manufacturer pronto....See MoreCertainteed Perfection Shingles stained (fiber cement)
Comments (13)bobber, We considered using these on our build. Certainteed's website is horrible, but I think what you are referring to are the Cedar Impressions (link below). There are high resolution photos of these shingles. My husband and I are contractors (plumbing) and I used our business information to get some sample boards ordered direct from the company. IMHO, they LOOK really nice stained. However, if you are concerned with how they FEEL, they are almost plastic-like vs. cement-like. I was disappointed in their color choices and found that there are companies out there that will paint/stain ANY color you want, same warranty, for much less than it would cost to paint. If you are looking for what WE were looking for, it was the two-tone stain, correct? You will NOT find this with the Certainteed product. They use a cedar mold to make the contour/shape appear wood-like, but they only use one stain color to my knowledge. Also, the Perfection Shingles/Cedar Impressions are NOT fiber cement! They are a polymer... and quite obviously so when you see them up close. Just my 2 cents. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Certainteed Cedar Impressions...See MoreSidings - Concrete Fiber Board vs. Cedar
Comments (9)We have had hardieplank on our house since 2005. It was the pre-primed hardieplank and we painted it after it was installed, so I can't speak to the durability of the Hardie factory finish. But as far as our siding goes, there has been no problems with peeling, swelling, or any other issues - except for being slightly dirty, the paint looks as good as the day we painted it (wish I could say the same thing for the wood trim on the eaves). We get snow here as well, though not usually high enough for long enough that it would sit high against the siding for weeks on end. But we do get snow and haven't had any issues. As far as installation, Hardie had a few specific instructions that are apparently ignored by a lot of installers. You want to make sure they prime any cut ends -- our contractor just kept a quart of cheap primer next to the saw and as soon as he'd cut a board, he'd slop some primer on it. Also, any butt seams (where two boards join together to make one "long" piece) should not be caulked but rather should have a piece of flashing behind them to keep water out of the seam - our guy used small pieces of aluminum. Finally, you need to keep the hardie several inches off any rooflines (of porches, etc.) -- I think at the time the guideline was 2". And yes, this does look a bit gappy and it would look better lower, but as our contractor said, you can have it lower and rotting and no warranty since you installed it wrong or you can have it higher and have it be fine. We opted for the latter and I don't even really see the gap anymore. We used a rainscreen behind our hardie for other reasons (our house was being resided as part of a mold/stucco remediation and we knew the wall cavities weren't fully dry yet so wanted to provide as much airflow as possible), but I'd imagine that that also provides extra protection against any kind of moisture issues. If your cottage is small and you are concerned about snow, that might be something to look into. It didn't cost much to add and would provide extra protection against any moisture issues. I'll link to the whole story of our house below if you're interested. There are some pics of the siding install, the rainscreen, and the finished product. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Our house...See MoreNichiha Fiber Cement and Carolinacolortones Color
Comments (46)the back is just the white PVC. Sides also don't matter. Apparently NuCedar has to go underneath the trim, or is mitered at corners, so you never see any sides. I read somewhere someone complaining about that, saying that is like vinyl siding and it looks worse rather than butting up against trim. .However, NuCedar has PVC pieces you clip in place on the side the trim so that it does look like the siding is butting up against the trim. I love cedar. I live on Cape Cod and cedar is the siding of choice around here. But it is high maintenance, and I do not want to maintain my siding and trim. Cedar should be washed and stained or sealed every 3 - 5 years! No way. Not doing that....See Morelakeaffect
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