Trimming out is always a preference... Its like a similar feature to Belly Boards at floor transitions... If it was my home... I would either enlarge the trim board as to create a nice division ... But as I am looking at it ... I would most likely remove said trim board... Is it like this in the ELEVATIONS of the home?

Is something hiding beneath?

Are the vertical trim boards not long enough? who knows why he did it...

fee free to shine some light on the situation ...

Good luck with the build...

MSDG

www.msdg.design

The front elevations did not show this.

My original thought was that the cement backer board itself was not long enough, not the batten strip - so that is why they needed the horizontal batten strip to cover the seam - but I have not measured or asked yet.

If the joint and horizontal trim is necessary - is it placed in the right spot, or should it line up with some other architectural detail of the house?

My original thought was that the cement backer board itself was not long enough

That would be my guess too. Once painted all the same color it won't be obvious.

Looks like that was the size of the panel that they used. The batten helps to reduce water infiltration of the horizontal joint if left exposed. I agree with PPF that it will be less noticeable when everything is painted. Curious if the siding under the front porch is the same vertical dimension, but without a horizontal trim board?

I would go wider on the belly board... if not omit it...

bellow board ???

Might be too late, but any way to make the joint a feature? I like to do that where possible. Here, instead of just starting at the bottom with the standard 8' or 10' length and hapazardly letting the joint fall where it may with no apparent forethought or control, the joint becomes a feature for most of the first floor windows "sit" upon and then the longer pieces go up to the eaves from there.

A comment from another post I made a few months ago.

Someone had a 12' high wall with seams at 10'.

One key is batons need to be spaced evenly across the wall.

Painting the panel different from the batons where the pattern is would make it stand out.

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I've done this type of detail in the past. Showing a 12' high wall, battens with 12" spacing. Creating a modified pattern at the 10' joint line.

Pick one pattern and repeat, not random as shown.

This might reflect the grid pattern in the windows, or tie to some other pattern around the home.

This could be done at the top or bottom.

We have something kind of like that on our detached garage, the board that hides the joint aligns with/continues the trim on top of the windows. Like ARG's sketch but at top of windows rather than at the bottom.

Maybe you could do something like that just on top of the garage window and have it be the same width as the porch roof fascia and kind of die into that fascia? Or would that be weird?

We have this situation at our house. We have a horizontal strip of hardie covering our seams. We actually have two on the tall ends of the house....the first/lowest one is painted the same as siding color. Our second/top one is painted trim color and separates the siding material where we changed to Hardie shingles at the very tops of the gables. And ours looks to be wider than yours. I've seen both narrow and wide and IMO, they both look good.

I think it looks OK. I would have preferred ARG's option of making it a feature at the bottom of the windows. It wasn't something we were thinking of when the siding started going up and it wasn't called out in the elevations. Our architect said he typically doesn't do any horizontal board at all and the board and batten's just run together. I didn't like that option because I could see the small horizontal seam with the metal flashing underneath.

Thanks for the continued responses. All very helpful.

We currently have something similar to the image that PPF attached. Starting to wonder if we're only being critical of it because it stands out so much without being painted.

We think the horizontal batten strip or trim looks great when done within a triangular gable, but we've never seen it on a rectangular surface. It seems to look better when lined up with another architectural detail, such as a window molding or porch trim. Also think that a wider strip might look better.

Here are some mock ups I did in MS paint. Thoughts?

What color will the b&b be?

Have you asked the builder yet? What was specified? What is the vertical measurement of that wall? FYI: The Hardie vertical siding is available in a 4' x 10', but it's harder to work with (awkward and heavy) than the eight- and nine- foot lengths. The elevation drawing you posted is too small to be useful, btw.

PPF - The b&b will be the same color as the Lap - Hardie Aged Pewter

Sammy - The cement board used is 10'. While I don't know the exact height, the wall is at least 12'. We didn't consider the cement board size limitation and were expecting actual to look like the elevation.

Actually, per Hardee's instructions, it may be done correctly: "Do not bridge floors with panel siding. A horizontal joint should always be used between floors."

http://www.buildsite.com/pdf/jameshardie/HardiePanel-Vertical-Siding-Product-Data-1015262.pdf

I have the board and batten-style siding on my house, too (except mine uses cedar) but I have much deeper eaves than you.... Anyway, I got confused for a sec. :p

Anyway, see the dotted lines on your drawing showing the top plate and bottom plate? There has to be a joint there.

I'd put some paint on there -- maybe a 3' square and see what it looks like before I thought much more about it.

Presumably, the horizontal trim piece will wrap around the corner on the right and continue along the right hand elevation? I think it will be fine once painted.

Like you, I think arbitrarily adding lines with trim looks goofy, Justin. So, short of having the roof extended, I'd have them just do the simple horizontal joint (flashing only), and not use any trim. When it's all painted, it won't stick out like it does now.

I've heard a caulked and flashed joint will look much worse.

Sammy - THANK YOU for providing the installation instructions link. They seemed to have lined the horizontal joint up with the top and bottom plate that separates the floors - which does appear to be correct.

Here's ours. No trim board. You have to look closely.