I'm trying to decide on siding for a new house and am considering
Hardiplank with batten boards. My question is how I should trim the
windows, door, corners. Since the plank is flat should I just side
around the windows and doors first and follow with the harditrim over
the plank. Or is it the preferred method to trim first and butt the
plank to the trim? It seems like it would be easier/cleaner to trim
over the plank, but there must be a drawback to doing it this way.

Thanks, Mike

FWIW, my home had Hardie installed by the builder - they sided
first, then trimmed windows & doors.
BTW, trim is NOT Hardie, but Cedar - good choice IMHO - can be
painted just as well as any other material, or finished any other way
you may opt. It's also a whole lot easier to mount whatever you may
decide you want to (screens, awnings, etc.) later on if you're dealing
with wood instead of cement board.

Just my opinion.
NGA

wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm trying to decide on siding for a new house and am considering
Hardiplank with batten boards. My question is how I should trim the
windows, door, corners. Since the plank is flat should I just side
around the windows and doors first and follow with the harditrim over
the plank. Or is it the preferred method to trim first and butt the
plank to the trim? It seems like it would be easier/cleaner to trim
over the plank, but there must be a drawback to doing it this way.

Thanks, Mike

"Not Gimpy Anymore" wrote in news:9GBFi.33449
:

FWIW, my home had Hardie installed by the builder - they sided
first, then trimmed windows & doors.
BTW, trim is NOT Hardie, but Cedar - good choice IMHO - can be
painted just as well as any other material, or finished any other way
you may opt. It's also a whole lot easier to mount whatever you may
decide you want to (screens, awnings, etc.) later on if you're dealing
with wood instead of cement board.

Just my opinion.
NGA


And some folks are using composites made of various PVCs and some wood
fiber, for the same reasons. There's lots of ways to skin this cat, and
keep things straight and pretty. Do your homework some.

Patriarch

wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm trying to decide on siding for a new house and am considering
Hardiplank with batten boards. My question is how I should trim the
windows, door, corners. Since the plank is flat should I just side
around the windows and doors first and follow with the harditrim over
the plank. Or is it the preferred method to trim first and butt the
plank to the trim? It seems like it would be easier/cleaner to trim
over the plank, but there must be a drawback to doing it this way.

Thanks, Mike


Depends... if you want it to look like a traditional siding job up close,
rather than from the curb, trimming the windows first and then siding is the
way to go. Alternatively, if you trim over the siding you could chalk the
laps to eliminate the gaps. Doing neither would leaves a gap at each lap
that doesn't appeal to me.

I trimmed my house with the Hardi 5/4" trim and then sided it. I also
cheated the courses so that a full width course is above and below
windows--a trivial amount was needed. It looks like a good wood siding job
from the curb and up close most people wouldn't notice that the siding is
thinner than wood so the shadow lines aren't quite as pronounced.

I've posted a relatively close shot of a part of my house on rec.woodworking
so you can see a job done in all fiber cement with the courses cheated and
the trim done first.

John

wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm trying to decide on siding for a new house and am considering
Hardiplank with batten boards. My question is how I should trim the
windows, door, corners. Since the plank is flat should I just side
around the windows and doors first and follow with the harditrim over
the plank. Or is it the preferred method to trim first and butt the
plank to the trim? It seems like it would be easier/cleaner to trim
over the plank, but there must be a drawback to doing it this way.

Thanks, Mike


After thinking about this a bit I'm wondering if you meant HardiePanel
instead of Hardieplank? That would be a different issue... trimming over
HardiePanel would probably be OK.

John

On Sep 12, 5:22 pm, "John Grossbohlin"
wrote:
wrote in message

oups.com...

I'm trying to decide on siding for a new house and am considering
Hardiplank with batten boards. My question is how I should trim the
windows, door, corners. Since the plank is flat should I just side
around the windows and doors first and follow with the harditrim over
the plank. Or is it the preferred method to trim first and butt the
plank to the trim? It seems like it would be easier/cleaner to trim
over the plank, but there must be a drawback to doing it this way.

Thanks, Mike

After thinking about this a bit I'm wondering if you meant HardiePanel
instead of Hardieplank? That would be a different issue... trimming over
HardiePanel would probably be OK.

John

Yep it's HardiPlank. I'm assuming since the panel is 9x4' and there
isn't any overlap that the trim over plank is the way to go. Also is
Hardi better than Certainteed. I see they both sell similar products.

wrote in message
ps.com...
On Sep 12, 5:22 pm, "John Grossbohlin"
wrote:
wrote in message

oups.com...

I'm trying to decide on siding for a new house and am considering
Hardiplank with batten boards. My question is how I should trim the
windows, door, corners. Since the plank is flat should I just side
around the windows and doors first and follow with the harditrim over
the plank. Or is it the preferred method to trim first and butt the
plank to the trim? It seems like it would be easier/cleaner to trim
over the plank, but there must be a drawback to doing it this way.

Thanks, Mike

After thinking about this a bit I'm wondering if you meant HardiePanel
instead of Hardieplank? That would be a different issue... trimming over
HardiePanel would probably be OK.

John

Yep it's HardiPlank. I'm assuming since the panel is 9x4' and there
isn't any overlap that the trim over plank is the way to go. Also is
Hardi better than Certainteed. I see they both sell similar products.

I'm assuming you meant the HardiePanel which comes in sheets vs the
HardiePlank which is lap siding... As such, I'd go with installing the trim
over it. It would be a nightmare trying to scribe the sheets to fit around
the trim... no matter how plumb and square you think your structure is you
need to be able to cheat things!

You can get fiber cement trim thinner than 5/4" so doing that shouldn't be a
problem.

RE brand, I'd go with whatever one is available from a reliable local
dealer. In my case it was James Hardie material... Alternatively, shop for
price and worry about the service later!

You don't mention how much you need, but you might want to check to find out
if the material ships in standard units vs. per piece. I found that buying
full units resulted in a 20% price break. Though I had some left I came out
way ahead in cost.

John