Actually I have seriously considered building a home of light clay and may do so someday. Ideally we should not be building with materials that will not, when we are done with them, be able to return to components that existed in the environment before we intervened. Stone, wood, metal, even ceramic or concrete can eventually break down to ancestor substances. Many plastics will not. The ones I personally object to most vigorously are the vinyls and the styrofoam-related ones. On the other hand, plastics can do wonderful things that other materials simply cannot match. My personal code is that they should be used only when they are the best material, and not when they are merely the cheapest. But I do not make decisions for others, or even want to. You will note that I said what I would do, not what Larimie should do. (In fact, it is just now that I am noticing what an old thread this is. By now the decision has long since been made.) As always, each person must make his or her own decision. It is a wide world, and there is room for difference of opinion. Rosefolly

I have Hardie Board on my 7 year old house and it's in good shape. But honestly, my next house will have vinyl. The Hardie dents, scratches and crumbles when water logged. If you take a piece off to fix something you probably have to replace it with a new piece - which will not match. None of those things are problems with vinyl. I think that using a pressure washer would be out of the question. Not only would you drive water into the seams but you stand a good chance of taking the finish off the Hardie. Good luck.

It really depends on how either style complements your house. My house is modern and has vertical, smooth Hardiplank: For my style house, I can't imagine going with anything other than smooth. Hardiplank is incredibly hard and dent resistant, so "blemish hiding" is not really an issue.

I would go with the first two ones, no driftwood.