On Thu, 20 Apr 2017 23:44:32 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 6:02:43 PM UTC-5, dpb wrote:

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.

Theoretically, the steel siding should last forever.
Sadly, it took years for the now available finishes to come around, and by that time steel siding had see its day.
On came thick gauge, thin gauge and medium gauge aluminum, and worse, vinyl. The thick gauge aluminum was the best of the lot. I paint some if it now and then, but not much of the good stuff was installed.

We have the same problem with vinyl here, it just doesn't hold up.
The hail storms we had last year in aggregate caused about 2.6 BILLION dollars in damage to houses, vehicles and structures.
It was anywhere from marble sized to softball sized, and in some cases the softball stuff drove all the way through roofs into the living areas of the house.

So the upshot is this: Hardie siding took a lot of damage, some of it shattered, some was hit repeatedly enough to break it and it fell off the walls.
You already know what the vinyl looks like from your own experience. But the fiberboard held up, marked with a few scuffs. It is so dense and so dead that the hail just bounced off.

They make a lot of different patterns of that stuff, and some Lowe's stores handle it.
I know how frustrating it is to be in your shoes as our "little town" is blossoming to about 2 million including its metropolitan area, and we have exactly two places that carry it.
BTW, when I put this material on on last time I did use the cementitious 1x4 trim.
It was on the entryway of a house, and I used this stuff and it looked great when painted.
Note the crack about using it to replace Masonite and Hardie. Since it comes in 16 foot lengths (!!) you can fly through and installation.

https://goo.gl/uHNHvl

Sort through this page and you can see examples of the different profiles and finished product. I understand that it might not be feasible to get it where you are, but I am just pointing out that this a a long way from the old masonite paper crap we used to use.

https://goo.gl/2Febj7

Keep us in the loop. I will e interested to see where you and on this and what your experience is with the final product.

Robert

Hardie siding can come pre painted with a first coat, just adding that
can be a time saver. Unlike some here I enjoy some plumbing stuff, but
painting a house nope not one bit.