What to look for in Home Exterior Siding
What to look for in Home Exterior Siding
and Why We Chose Hardie Products for our Home Exterior Siding
This post is sponsored by James Hardie® but the opinions expressed here are my own.
Building or remodeling a home can be a challenging and emotional time. It’s not lost on me how many choices have to be made in a short span of time because we have been through it ourselves (twice).
It’s not just a house, it’s your dream…And you want to make good choices that will stand the test of time.
Choosing exterior siding materials can be a fun process though! This is where you get to decide what your house will actually look like! That is exciting!
Picture your Dream Home
When you picture your dream house’s exterior, you may immediately think about the looks…but your thoughts quickly, almost imperceptibly, go toward durability and long-term maintenance too, don’t they?
Exterior siding needs to check ALL the boxes!
Our siding choice
When I designed our home, I envisioned Hardie® Trim battens all over the exterior. However, our city required 80% of the first floor to be masonry, so I had to carefully plan and decide where we would see and appreciate our Hardie® Trim battens the most. I opted to use it for the front porch and large gable above it, as well as a few other prominent places such as the dormers.
As a Home Designer, I love the timeless look of board and batten. But as a homeowner/busy work-from-home mom, I knew I needed a low maintenance option. Hardie® products immediately came to mind.
What is Hardie® Siding?
Hardie® siding products are made of fiber cement, which means it looks like wood, but it gets its hardness and durability from cement, and the fibers throughout strongly bond it all together. Because of it’s cement base, it won’t rot, swell, or be eaten by insects!
Why we Chose Hardie® Siding
Even though I believed Hardie® products would be our best choice, my husband wanted to explore other options just to be sure. He considered and researched several different exterior options before finally landing on Hardie® fiber cement siding for the following reasons:
Style is easily the one of the main reasons we decided to go with Hardie® siding products for our home.
Whether you want to give your new home authentic charm or update your older home with a lower maintenance material, Hardie has a product for you with their collection of colors, profiles, textures and widths.
Choices include:
- Hardie Plank® lap siding which is overlapping horizontal planks
- Hardie Shingle® siding with shingle profiles in both straight and staggered
- Hardie® Panel when paired with Hardie® Trim battens can create a board and batten look.
- Hardie® Trim which can be used to trim doors, windows, and cornices.
You can really have fun with your design and use several of the options to add interest and character to your home’s exterior.
I love the look of Hardie® Shingle in a gable combined with Hardie® Trim boards below and all trimmed out.
Styles you can achieve with Hardie® products are limitless…I can imagine Craftsman, CapeCod, Tudor, farmhouse, coastal, traditional, modern, and more!
Remember that Hardie® products are fiber cement, not wood even though it looks like many of it wood counterparts.
And since it’s cement-based, it resists rotting, cracking, swelling, fire, termites, and rain, wind and snow too!
Knowing our family is protected and safe from whatever crazy weather is happening out there is a good feeling.
My husband also really liked the 30 year non-prorated substrate warranty for his peace of mind.
You are doing your research, and carefully choosing products for your home because you want it to last, right?
Years from now, I plan to be rocking in the rocking chairs on this front porch, probably with a few (more) gray hairs and I know my Hardie® Panels will still be standing strong and looking just as great as they do today.
If you’re a person who has better things to do than replace rotten or chewed up wood on your house every few years, (surely that covers everyone), then a low maintenance exterior product is a must.
Having a low maintenance home exterior is good for the bottom line too, and shows in your return on investment. Home buyers don’t want to buy a worn-out looking house with wood rot any more that you want to live in one. #JamesHardie #JamesHardiePartner
Hello! I’m Jessica, wife to Cody, and mom to 2 boys and a girl, who are SO lucky because everyday with me is like an episode of carpool karaoke! They get a ride and a show! (What I lack in talent, I make up for in loudness and enthusiasm). I have a background in architecture and designed this home that we just built in a small Texas town. We self-contracted the build…and we are still finishing up a few projects. Oh! And our Floor Plans are available on this website. Most days you can find me on Instagram @the.old.barn so come say hi!
Are any of you homes available as a model home ?
What color is the siding you selected?
Hi! Did you use Hardie smooth board and batten? Is the trim/molding above and around your windows made of Hardie?
Yes, the trim around windows and doors is Hardie Trim. To get the smooth on the panels we used the backside, which is smooth, facing out.