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.

You'll save initially buying pre-finished siding, but it will cost in the long run. Proper installs require caulking that will need touched up with pre-finished along with the bumps and bruises that happen with shipping/delivery, installers, and other various trades. Touching up areas and trying to match it all up are difficult at best. Imo, it's cleaner and more reliable to have an on site finish applied by reputable painters.

Just want to pass on my experience with my owner/builder Hardie Plank installation. I prepainted approx. 600 sticks of primed HP in a heated shop with a Cloverdale covercoat flat acrylic latex. (If you don't prepaint then the primed overlap never gets sealed correct?) I had heard of the chalking problem with HP, and so restacked the prepainted plank with heavy plastic wrap between each piece. The rumour at the time (2008) was that contact with the raw back of the hardie plank caused the chalking on the front. I gave the installed siding a 2ND coat of the Cloverdale,,, all for naught, I got chalking and fading within five years!!!!! I suspect the paint quality, even though we asked for the longest lasting paint they had. At seven years commenced repainting this 2 story house and its five, 12 in 12, 33ft. peaks, with BM Aura, rrrrrrr. The real reason I am posting is a discovery I made when siding my garden shed with the Hardie. I took to sealing the cut ends, front and back, plus the lower drip edges and the upper overlap with some oil primer I had kicking around. Then painting the finished job with the remaining Cloverdale. A few years later the chalking appears where primed hardie got only the latex paint, just like the main house. BUT NO CHALKING WHERE THE OIL PRIMER WAS APPLIED!!! See attached photographic proof. So don't be so fast to discount using an oil primer on your Hardie Plank! I have now primed shed with the oil primer from Home Hardware as a test, and will update how it pans out. Sorry for rambling long, Quadlock owner/builder, Norm

I live in a city where ‘cedar mill’ is actually banned (ok just in the historic district). Why? Siding was always smooth on fine houses. Cedar mill is fine on a house that may have been built with rough siding, but since the machine age clap boards were cut and planed in factories so had a consistent smooth finish.