James Hardie Siding in Overland Park: The Best Fiber Cement Siding
We’ve been writing a lot about exterior painting in Overland Park over the last couple of months. While we do more exterior painting than anything else, that’s not all we do. We also install James Hardie Siding in Overland Park fiber cement siding products in Overland Park and Kansas City. So we’ll take a short break from writing about exterior painting, and briefly discuss James Hardie siding, it’s various designs and applications, and why we feel its the best siding product on the market currently.
What is James Hardie Siding
It’s a siding product developed in Australia that’s been in the USA since the since the 1990s. Their fiber cement siding product is found on millions of homes across the US. It is truly unique to the siding world, because it is not wood or even a wood derivative. James Hardie siding is concrete. Hardie takes this even further and breaks the United States into two zones (we’ll talk more about the zones in a later post) which is why it’s the top choice for Minnesota siding contractors and other extreme weather remodeling companies that work in similar climates as Kansas City. James Hardie engineers their fiber cement siding for the specific climate zone it will be used in.
Hardie siding comes in all the normal siding types we have in the Overland Park and Kansas City area including board & batten, lap, shingle, and panel. Pretty much any style of home you can think of, you could put Hardie Siding on.
What’s the Benefit Over LP Smart Siding or Vinyl
LP Smart Siding
LP Smart siding is an engineered wood product, meaning it’s still largely wood. We use LP smart siding and trim a lot, and they’re a great product. However because they are wood, they do require maintenace or the can and will rot. LP Smart siding comes in similar styles to Jame Hardie siding.
LP Smart Sided Exterior
Vinyl Siding
Vinyl is not wood, so it won’t rot, but it is susceptible to hail and heat. Hail wreaks havoc on vinyl siding, and while we don’t get hail often in Overland Park and Kansas City we see it enough that it’s a factor to consider. Vinyl is also really not meant to be painted. If you choose to vinyl, you’re stuck with the color you pick. We can and have painted vinyl, but due to the heat concerns and bond there are only a few colors of vinyl safe paint to choose from.
severe hail damage on vinyl siding
Vinyl siding is also susceptible to heat. We’ve seen vinyl siding warp from operating a grill too close to it. Also in some more interesting cases, if there’s a fire in your neighbors home, or near your home, vinyl siding can be damaged severly.
vinyl siding “melting” from excessive heat
How Hardie Compares
Like we stated earlier, James Hardie siding is concrete. Since it isn’t wood, it can remain submerged in water and not rot. Wood rot is not an issue with Hardie siding.
James Hardie siding is hard enough that it’s hail proof. When we first got involved with Hardie siding the rep we had showed us a picture of a neighborhood a hail storm passed through. The homes were mostly vinyl siding, and all of them were damaged like the picture above. The owner of one home replaced his siding the prior year with James Hardie lap, and it had no hail damage.
Concrete is also tough to burn. James Hardie siding will resist open flame and won’t ignite. Now this doesn’t mean that your home becomes fireproof if you reside with James Hardie. Heat can still transfer through the Hardie siding and if the framing or other wood materials get hot enough, they can still ignite. Check out the video below to see Hardie resist fire.
Another benefit to having Hardie siding on your home is that pests can’t damage it. When we’re painting an exterior in Overland Park, we frequently run into wood pecker damage or squirrel damage on wood sided homes. Wood peckers don’t like concrete and squirrels certainly don’t like chewing on it either.
James Hardie Siding in Overland Park
This post is meant to give you a general introduction to James Hardie siding. Over the next few weeks we’ll go into more details about design, colors, warranty, installation, benefits, and why it may be a good choice if you’re considering residing your Overland Park home. Check out our James Hardie Siding Page for a little more information and if you’re interested in a free estimate or to discuss your options, give us a call!