Planning on replacing your home siding soon? Before making any decisions, check out the benefits of James Hardie siding. At Paramount Siding and Windows in Denver, we offer a full range of home siding in different styles and materials from high-quality brands. The fiber cement siding offered by James Hardie is particularly popular with Colorado homeowners. When deciding which type of siding to install on your home, it is important to consider the level of protection from the elements you need, maintenance requirements, cost, and aesthetics.
What is Fiber Cement Siding?
Some common materials used to make home siding include wood, metal, vinyl, and stucco. Most homeowners are unfamiliar with home siding made from fiber cement, and they may be missing out on the many benefits of James Hardie Siding®. Also called fiber cement siding, or HardiePlank, it’s composed of a mixture of cement, wood fiber, and sand. This combination results in an extremely resistant material that is ideal for the creation of durable home siding panels. Fiber cement siding has actually been used to protect homes for over 100 years now and has proved itself a worthy competitor to any other form of siding.
Engineered to Last
Every type of home siding has some fault or weakness associated with it. With wood, it’s termites and rot, whereas metal runs the risk of rust, and vinyl can be prone to warping in hot climates. Fiber cement is a composite material that has been carefully engineered to resist the typical degradation faced by your outer protective layer. The proportions have been carefully calculated so that home’s there is enough wood fiber to add flexibility and reduce overall weight, but not enough to run the risk of termites, mold or flammability. Unlike real wood siding, fiber cement is not prone to splitting or cracking over time.
Fiber cement siding is more than five times thicker than vinyl siding. This highly durable material will not melt, warp or sag when exposed to high temperatures and direct sunlight. Your fiber cement siding can be expected to last more than 50 years without the need for heavy maintenance or replacement. HardiePlank often outlives its owners and is a smart investment if you’re planning on living in the home long-term, want an advantage on the housing market.
Low Maintenance
One of the biggest benefits of James Hardie siding is the fact that it requires little maintenance compared to another siding. Eliminating the risk of your siding sagging, cracking, or getting infested by termites or mold means there is less time spent on siding maintenance and less money invested over the years. Due to its specially designed properties, fiber cement siding is suitable for use in all types of harsh climates. Heat, humidity, harsh temperature fluctuations and snow are all withstood by fiber cement siding. No need to worry about paint cracking and peeling, as this material will not expand and contract in response to temperature changes.
Adaptable Appearance
When homeowners imagine their house clad with a fiber cement material, they usually envision some kind of industrial looking, drab, gray panels. This image could not be further from the truth. Fiber cement has the advantage of being created with molds, so can be made to look like wooden clapboards, stucco, cedar shingles and much more. The thickness of the material allows for more freedom to add texture, with grooves, decorative embossing, and realistic wood grain effects. Really, choosing fiber cement siding means you can have the appearance of virtually any type of siding while avoiding the higher costs and demanding maintenance.
Each variety of fiber cement siding is made with the appearance in mind. The fasteners used to hold the panels in place can be completely concealed, so you can easily avoid the common issue of ugly and rusting nails sticking out from your siding. Yet another of the benefits of James Hardie siding is that it can be painted if you want to change the color at some point in the future. Having the siding primed and painted in the factory can afford the extra advantage of a 25-year warranty, but it is also easy to repaint at a later date after installation.
You can opt for vertical HardiePlank siding panels or horizontal lap style. There are plenty of pre-cut decorative panels for gables, fascia, and the trims around windows and doorways. For historic homes, fiber cement is a great option to use in the restoration of specific exterior designs. There is a huge range of styles and sizes available to match your home’s original siding and help bring it back to its former grandeur.
Easy Installation
Fiber cement siding is easily installed directly onto the exterior wall sheathing, or on top of rigid foam insulation, depending on the climate protection needed. For DIY enthusiasts with the right tools, it is possible to install your own fiber cement siding. James Hardie offers detailed installation instructions on their website, but be warned, making a mess of the installation can cost you in the long run. If you are not completely confident in your abilities, it is better to trust a James Hardie expert like Paramount Siding & Windows.
Overall, fiber cement siding from James Hardie offers incredible value and versatility. Compared to the cost of other siding materials, fiber cement is definitely more affordable. It also beats vinyl siding when it comes to longevity and is much cheaper and easier to maintain than wood. One advantage that vinyl has over fiber cement is that vinyl can sometimes be installed over existing siding. For new fiber cement siding to be installed, it is necessary to remove the old siding, which can be costly and messy.
Reduced maintenance, durability, and customizable styles are just some of the benefits of James Hardie siding. If you own a home in Denver or the surrounding metro area and are interested in a quote on fiber cement siding for your home, you can contact Paramount Siding for information. Our team of certified and insured professionals would be happy to help you.