Ok I am about to buy a new to me house. Its 2 story but almost perfectly square plus a garage to the side. It needs new siding, the siding on it is the original I believe, looks like the 111 type stuff. Definitely needs to be replaced.

Here is my dilemma, do I go back with the 111 type siding for reduced cost of materials, and pretty easy to do myself. Or, do I go with all hardie plank including trim, soffits, and fascia? If hardie is your answer, any idea on relative cost of materials per foot? Some other questions I have:

1. could I add some of the radiant barrier foam board insulation under the siding either type?
2. I am reasonably handy, could I do it myself?
3. Any special tooling needed to work with the siding, other than special saw blades?
4. What type fasteners should I use living on the coast with the high humidity and salt air?
4. Thoughts on the ROI for either siding if planning to only live in this house a few years?

Any help or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

not sure I can answer all your questions as I have limited working knowledge with the hardie plank. Last summer, we (construction crew portion of a mission trip, all white collar type guys) completely re-sided a rather large church in Longview Washington with hardie plank including all fascia boards (didn't re-do soffits) and painted it ... in 5 days. We used an air nail gun, 7 1/2 circular saw with appropriate blade and guides for proper spacing. The only specialty things we had were scissor lift and a high lift due to the height. For the most part there were 3 of us working as a team, one on the ground cutting and handing the planks up to 2 of us on the lift that were spacing and nailing in place. The guy on the ground was merely cutting ends when needed and notches around the windows & exposed rafters once we got up high. below are a few pictures of the beginning and finished project.




1. yes, we added a moisture barrier and I suspect you could add a radiant barrier or the foam board insulation.
2. yes, with a little help from 1 or 2 friends.
3. air nail gun, properly set to drive nails (not too hard or it blows holes in it), we re-touched nails with hammer if a bit light on the hit.
4. galvanized nails.
5. hardie plank should last a lot longer but not sure of cost comparison between. might increase value of the house for re-sale down the road to offset.

oh yeah, we did overlay over the original siding but removed all the 1x4 trim boards where old siding joints were.

We put the same siding on our camphouse as PMK used. It wasn't difficult. If you do it right you shouldn't have to worry about doing it again.

i hung Hardie plank over insulation board on top of original wood lap siding.
Used decking nails and a palm nailer. 15 years ago, no problems.

Did a big patio enclosure with it.
Nail gun is almost a must.
Buy plenty of saw blades, it eats them up.

Go with the Hardie Plank, I have Hardie Panel on my garage, paint it and your good for 25+ years.

Our ranch house has hardi-plank. I wouldn't use anything else.

I resided our old house with hardy lap siding. Two story house, brick on the front and three sides with siding. I made a few mistakes, but it wasn't that hard.

-the house had the t111 siding on it. It was soft in a few small areas, so I ripped it all off. In hindsight, I would have left it on and repaired the small soft areas. House wrap then side right over the t111. I had to replace all the sheathing which was a real pain and cost a lot of time and energy

-I used galvanized nails...but they were way too long.

-I put the trim on and then butted the siding up to the trim. My thought was that I didn't want to have the spaces in the laps when the trim was put on (if that makes sense). I ended up having to caulk all of the trim where the siding met it. Should have just ran the planks all the way to the corners and then put the trim on.

-Nail gun is a must and spring for the fiber board blade for both the circular saw and miter saw. It will eat through regular saw blades.

-Rent some scaffolding or a lift. I tried to do it with ladders and it was a real pain. finally rented some scaffolding and I wished I had done it from the start. Worth every penny.

-This is not a one man job. You'll need at least one strong helper (the fiber cement planks aren't light) and two would be better.

-As far as ROI...I don't think you will get much of a return on your investment. Buyers seem to be more concerned with how it looks vs the material used. It can help with heating/AC bills and I believe some insurance companies offer a discount.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Thanks guys for all the input. I am still up in the air about which way to go, but leaning to the hardi plank.

My Hardi Plank install is starting today. I'm in for about $9.25 a sq. ft. installed. My house (built in 1991) is mostly brick but do have some small areas of 111 (garbage siding) and was starting to show its age. We are also getting fascia and soffits replaced and adding gutters. ROI is approx. 60-70% based on other home owners I spoke to. Buyers will put a value on quality of materials and installation. We went with the primer coated HP instead of the factory colored. Final paint will be a Sherwin Williams 25 year Super Paint.

Thanks gunner. Are you adding any insulation?

I'll add that when you are cutting it wear some sort of dust mask or something.

VERY good point. Learned this a little late in the process. I was blowing clay boogers for a while. Prolly got mesothelioma too.

have hung a few miles of hardi, some tips

1. prime it on all sides before you hang it, it will act like a sponge if it gets wet for any reason on the back and paint can peel.
2. there is also 4x8 sheets of hardi, much easier and cheaper to hang/cut.
3. it will blow out (break) very easily, turn the compressor down as low as you can and still drive the nails flush or it will break out on the back.
4. use the blue board on top of your t111 then tyvek wrap it before siding, you will thank me for this. blue board comes in 1/2" (foam board) and adds a ton of r value.
5. if you use the lap type make a guage so you have 1 1/2" lap over each pc, less and the back board will break on the edge when you nail, 2" is the min. I used.
6. cut only with hardi blades in your skill saw, other blades will cut it but not nearly as well and the dust is worse with more teeth.
7. set a fan to blow away from you as you cut, keeps the grey buggers to a min. dust mask is mandatory.
8. only pick it up vertical, if laying flat (like you lay it to cut) it will break easily.

Great advice, Hopalong

Also when you set up your saw horses put some boards the same length as the siding down on top of them. If you go with the lap style then I would use a 2x8 closest to the side you are going to cut from and at least a 2x4 opposite if you use the 4x8 pieces. The 2x8 will make a great table for cutting your 1x4's and 1x6's also. When you get to the top of a wall or up around windows and doors you will be cutting/ripping out a section and when it is laying on the wider board it makes it easier. Just set the depth of the saw to where it barely cuts a clean cut all the way through the material. Back when I was framing I always had a small pair of vice grips in my nail bags that I would clamp on the front of my saw for a rip fence if I needed one.

You can also order the lap siding pre colored with different textures. They also sell clamps that make hanging the lap siding easier.