My wife and I are building our forever home. We’ve got a piece of land that is in the woods. We’re spending the money to make it accesable and usable, i.e. road and utilities. We want it to be a comfortable home in a natural setting. Our initail mindset was to build a stone and wood home. However, I’ve been turned on to the James Hardie line of products. My question is this. Would we be sacrificing the integrity of what we want to create in this setting by not building with wood and instead using the James Hardie fiber cement products?
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Replies
Wood + termites = lunch.
Wood + 20 minutes to nearest fire station = toasted termites
I love wood, but in an application like siding, fiber cement is
far superior and can look nice as well. If you can afford ####genuine stone veneer, it's beautiful and will last a couple
hundred years. Brick is also nice. I would probably not build
a house again with wood siding because the advantages of fire
resistance and low maintenance are so great. I live way out
in the country. The nicest houses being built out here use
cement siding and standing seam metal roofs. It has a nice
"country" look if the architecture is appropriate.
I assume you know that the fiber cement products are not structural but are finishes (siding, trim, etc.). Being in the midst of the Pacific Northwest, I'm a died in the wool wood guy...logs, heavy timber, open beams, all that kind of stuff. But I've grown fond of the FC products (plank, shingles and trim) for durability, paintability and a clean appearance. They can be incorporated into the kind of structure that I like and be an asset if done with taste and planning. IMHO you're not sacrificing esthetics, but incorporating a durable, low maintenance feature into your home.
Some people would bitch even if they were hung with a new rope.
Would maintaining the integrity of your vision include having your house consumed by wildfire or eaten by termites? How about eaten by fungus? Your call.
Edit 06/06/02.
As I read this now it comes across trite and flippant. Sorry. Looks like I was having a bad day.
Edited 6/6/2002 10:20:28 PM ET by 4LORN1
I really like the Hardie products, siding particularly. I think it would be the way I would go if I were building a home in the mountains. You will definitely spend less time and money on upkeep. Good Luck!
Speaking of Hardi Planks, I am planning on redoing the facia board with this stuff.
Will this allow me to skip cladding it with aluminum or vinyl ?
Is it common practice to install the gutters directly to the hardi planks ? (The hangers would be nailed onto something more substantial, ofcourse.)
Is it common practice to install the gutters directly to the hardi planks ? (The hangers would be nailed onto something more substantial, ofcourse.)
IMHO (gutter hanger) - please put a 2x backer behind the hardi plank. Gutters should be hung with spike and ferrule 4' oc. Screw hangers (with min 1 1/4" screw) are my 2nd choice.