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dpb

On 04/20/2017 3:31 PM, wrote:
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?

....

One of the prime reasons was considering the cement board is the higher
fire resistance vis a vis wood. I don't know how much (if any) of Dad's
thinking was influenced by that; I think primarily he was looking for
low-maintenance and something that would stand up against the frequent
serious hail we have...the latter it has done admirably.

I've mentioned before, but at the risk of repeating it, we're sitting in
the middle of several miles in every direction of native grass in mostly
unbroken sections. If you saw anything of the massive fire outbreak in
TX, OK panhandles and KS in first week of March, that'll give you an
idea of the concerns we have every year before spring rains finally arrive.

When this was all actively farmed (and Dad hadn't yet retired when the
previous work on the house was done), that wasn't such an issue as there
were breaks of fallow ground that aided in containing any fires that did
get started instead of there being this expanse of fuel as now have when
so much ground was put back into grass beginning in the early-mid 90s
with the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

So, I don't think the fire danger was much on his mind then, but
certainly something that will stand up to the the hail while vinyl
simply gets shredded regularly around here, even the "new, improved"
varieties so beside it looking like vinyl, it's just not on the radar.

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