On Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 10:17:07 AM UTC-5, dpb wrote:
Speaking of which, in classic thread drift, another issue is that dad
had replaced the original 3-1/8" siding (also SYP) with steel siding.
It survived the hail, but now the paint has failed and while it has been
repainted at least twice, it's a losing battle now and I'd like to
revert to something that looks more original than the 8" lap...I'm not
that eager to go back to wood for the painting issue but I see a
Hardie-board 12" wide plank with 4-plank simulated that in pictures
doesn't look bad. You have any experience with it and/or other
ideas/suggestions?
A couple of thoughts.
First, I haven't seen steel siding fail unless it was neglected. That being said, it was never used much around here, and our weather is heavy rains for a few months, then drought. Hard to screw metal up around here except for surface rust. There are plenty of farming burgs around here that have tractors and cars under the old oak tree that are untouched for 50 or so years, some more.
But if the siding was topped with latex or not prepped properly, that is a problem, too. When in doubt, I call Sherwin Williams technical division to get the right finish and the details on prep.
You may be beyond that. But personally, I wouldn't want to take off the steel siding just because of all the work.
I have back to different places where I have enameled steel doors, handrails, etc., and 10 years later they have a bit of chalk from the UV exposure, but the surfaces are still fine. So I use an "at least" 10 year life for my metal finishes, and would anticipate 15 for something like siding.
Second, to put any siding on, you will have to take the metal off, put a moisture barrier up, then follow the manufacturer's instructions. 99% of Hardie is installed incorrectly. Don't believe me? Go to the manufacturer's site, they have explicit instructions.
I personally will not put up the 12" planks. It is a product I cannot warrant. Here in S. Texas, it just doesn't work well. It sags under its own weight after installation, it is harder to install, and any tiny mistake you make (say you spall out behind a nail) and you will have a sag or the siding will open up. To compound that problem, most of the single floor houses around here built post 60s have walls on 24" centers which is not enough to hold that siding up. Think about it... a 12" piece of cement board 12' long that has ONLY SEVEN nails to hold it up across all twelve feet! And then too, with this product there is a lot of waste.
So I put up the narrower Hardie planks. The other good news about the narrower style is that you can sheath a wall with OSB, and while you need to hit studs, you can put as many nails in the siding as you need to make yourself happy, including nailing in the face of the siding from time to time if you get a bump or open spot.
As a sidebar, I put a product very similar to this up on a garage about 15 years ago:
https://goo.gl/M2uvi9
It came primed, I put it on over Thermoply, and painted it with 2 coats of an SW premium satin enamel. It looks great! I loved the install. Not too messy, covered a lot of area very quickly, didn't have to worry about nail depth, and any nail holes or cracks caulked up and disappeared when we painted. No special tools needed. I have a utility nail gun for siding/fencing/etc., that I used. But I could have easily used a framing gun with an adjustable tip (or good compressor) to shoot it on with galvanzied 6d or 8d.
There are a lot of variations on that product some 12" wide, some thinner, some shorter in length. Now they make it that is fungus resistant, mildew resistant, insect resistant, and is very stable even in humid conditions. I liked the fact the product I installed had a lot of definition to the face, and it was thick enough that it didn't follow every little bump in the wall when installed. Best of all for me, my client told me he just hoses it off once in a while and it looks great. I painted immediately after installation, my only prep besides caulking joints and filling holes was to blow off the siding with a nozzle to get the dust off, taking care to brush the joints a bit.
A good paint job on Hardie board should get at least 10 years with good paint, but too many times they fail prematurely. Often the product is not stored correctly (you won't know this...)and it will suck water into the board.. When you paint the moist board, the paint will not bond properly and the finish will fail long before it should. If you wind up using ANY cement board, I would advise to go to the Hardie site and download the pdf for installation and follow it closely.
Robert