Patrice -- there are tons of pics of our siding on my website, along with the whole story of why we were residing (and re-roofing) a 6 year old house in the first place. We went with the smooth lap siding and used a 4" lap to simulate the siding on old clapboard houses. The siding was hung pre-primed and we painted it on-site with SW Duration Exterior. I believe I included some closeup shots of the installation details (metal flashing behind joints, how the hardie needs to be cut short at any roof-wall intersections, etc.) These are all things your installers should already know, but you might want to make sure they are doing them right, because if not, JH won't honor your warranty (they'll blame any problems on the installer and rightfully so, but that won't help you). If you don't want to sift through the whole saga, click the Show All link and go to the very end -- the last set of pictures (#382 and on) was posted after the siding had been up 4 years so you can see how it held up. Here's one: Good luck with your decision. Here is a link that might be useful: Our house...

I realize these comments were from several years ago but I too have this issue and, I am not a slob and I live in Massachusetts where heat and humidity are limited to a couple months a year. However, I will begin to use a toothbrush to clean this area regularly. Although the mold has become visible it is very hard to reach. I never have known anyone to need a toothbrush to clean where the sink and counter-top meet but I am going to begin using a toothbrush regularly to reach this area. I would think twice before getting another under-mount sink. The black mold that builds up is disgusting and almost impossible to reach. I am going to replace the molding today with the mold resistant caulking someone mentioned in this thread and see what happens.

The short story is we chose radiant because it worked the best with the floorplan / material choices we made. The long story is how we got there. We had the choice of a basement, crawl space, or slab. Basements are common in my area because of the required 3' footers - it doesn't cost much to go deeper and have a basement. Financially they make sense, but I don't care for them. They are cold, dark, and low ceilings feel oppressive. Crawl spaces are nice to allow access, but the floors were crazy cold in winter and the amount of humidity could also turn into a mold problem. We chose a slab foundation before we had land, and it worked out since the land we built on would not have supported a basement. Our slab has xps foam board under and along the edges for insulation. Our floor plan is completely custom that I did in autocad myself. All the common areas are on the south side and open. The bedrooms and bathrooms are on the north side. With an open floor plan (some of it 17' tall rooms) and concrete floors it makes forced air ducting more difficult. My experience with forced air is that it blows dust and curtains, feels like a cold draft across your neck when it first kicks on and forces the cold air out before the heated air, and is noisy enough to have to raise the TV or conversation volume when its on. Choosing radiant floor heat with separate zones for the common and private areas seemed like the perfect choice for heating. But we do use our air conditioner for 6-8 weeks and the floorplan layout was critical in being able to use a wall unit to comfortably cool the whole house. I was planning on finishing the concrete with coloring and waxing of some kind, but my husband became friends with a person who polishes commercial concrete floors and we had him polish our floors. It looks wonderful, and is easy to clean. The radiant heat is quiet and even heating with about a 2 hour lag time. I also thought it would be warm on my toes, but I learned that it's not - even in the middle of winter, and want to make sure others are aware of that so they are not disappointed. It's not cold, but its not warm either. Our upstairs is a quality pad and carpeted which feels nicer to my bare feet than the cool concrete. Each house and owner is different so I hope you find the best solution for your situation.

Hi friends! Forgive me for taking so long to update but... It was months waiting for the "weather to change". First week of December I was told to expect someone coming to repair the garage ceiling, "take care of" the mold yada yada yada. Two young men came. They worked for three hours & gone. I'm thinking they've completed what they're told to do. I went down and saw....a patched, with visible tape showing job and mold still on the ceiling. A neighbor saw it and said it wasn't finished as in another step will come after it dries. A couple days later the two return and work for approx three hours thirty minutes. They were having a great time that's fer sure. Laughing, talking non stop & some sort of tech gadget playing music at a tolerable level. I was literally thinking maybe I should have what they had for breakfast! Nonetheless, the work is finished. Later I went down to check it out and found a just fine repair and that they'd painted over the mold stain probably with Kilz or something. It appears they painted several coats but the mold is still visible thru the coats of paint. Plus, it's obvious there's two shades of white on the ceiling. Gah! I walked around and saw the other couple places were untouched and the moldy closet was even more moldy. I could've called him and discussed this but mentally, I couldn't. That evening I decided I'm not talking to him again. Some lawyer can handle it because I'm done. The moldy garage is just one of several expensive issues I'm dealing with. Next day, my generator guy comes around. I give him an update of the moldy garage and other things and add that I'm done. A lawyer is in my near future. He suggests I call the "state residential builders commission" & ask someone what's the protocol. I have to write a letter called a "right to cure" to the builder giving them 30 days to fix what's broken. Uggggg. Mid December my garage flooded. Again. Not from flood tides or anything like that. From rain. Lonnng story. I've been printing pages and pages of correspondence, budget summary, SOW, contract. I'm told "the more details the better". So time consuming. That's pretty much it. Thank y'all again for your advice and ideas. Having y'all's input is priceless!!!! The first pix are of wet cinder blocks just after the ceiling repair. I photographed the spots daily and they slowly dried. I have no idea what caused that!! Very mysterious.