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OH NO “Nother Hardie Plank Question

edwardh1 | Posted in Construction Techniques on December 20, 2002 05:44am

Hardie plank inst sheet says you can buy them primed.
At the local Lowes box store the paint company rep (in the store that day by chance) and the Lowes employee in store paint person said it was important to recoat the primed hardie plank with another primer coat as the hardie primer was “too thin”.

Opinions anyone?

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  1. FrankB89 | Dec 20, 2002 05:57am | #1

    Actually. I agree.  I always re-prime fiber cement siding and, when a customer is willing, backprime it as well.  I don't know how necessary the back prime is, but it doesn't take long and, in the coastal climate I'm in, it's just another protective barrier. 

     FC siding does absorb moisture, which doesn't seem to hurt it over the long haul, but it makes it a little more "tender" to handle during installation.

    Another reason I prefer to re-prime is so that I know the paint product I'm putting on is of good quality.  Who knows what Hardie or Certainteed uses!

    Jules Quaver for President   2004

  2. carlsperry | Dec 20, 2002 07:44am | #2

    That is interesting.  I have never heard of that before.  We use the Certainteed stuff rather than the Hardie.  We always get our with the fiber tect finish on it and I have never thought it was too thin.  It takes paint well.  We are just starting a job using the pre finished stuff so we will see how good the quality of finish is on that. 

    I know Certainteed makes a big deal out of the fiber tect finish over the unprimed boards so I cant believe that there primer coat is to thin.  I used the hardie shingle side once and it was supposedly primed but you couldnt tell.  I liked the product and I would use it again. 

    It's to bad you have to buy 14 square of siding to have it pre finished.  It would be a lot more popular if it were more along the lones of 5 to 7. 

    1. edwardh1 | Dec 20, 2002 04:17pm | #5

      The Lowes here sells the Hardie by the piece.

      Can't remember but i think a piece 8 1/4 wide and 12 long is $ 4or $5 per piece. In that range.

      Lowes is the only choice here or drive 10 miles thru 30 min of traffic to a Home Depot (which I like0

  3. EricS | Dec 20, 2002 02:47pm | #3

    Bought my Cemplank "factory primed" and was satisfied with the job. Agree that it is sometimes difficult to tell whether the board is primed or not and the trick is to inspect the unprimed side and look for stripes left by the rollers in the mfg plant. An important thing to keep in mind is that the factory primer is applied under ideal conditions which would be tough to duplicate in the field.

    I brush applied one finish coat on the ground and another after installation.

  4. JasonMI | Dec 20, 2002 03:31pm | #4

    Well...you wanted an opinion...so here goes. Stay out of Lowes....oh! sorry...about prepriming. Yes, the fronts of the Certainteed product I've used was preprimed quite well; a nice solid coating that takes paint well. The backs, however, either were poorly/not done at all...which I like to have.

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