#1 Biggest Siding Mistake
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.พ. 2025
- In this Build Show Matt will reveal the #1 most common mistake he’s sees with Siding Installs. It’s an easy one to avoid if you know it! Also, Matt will delve into the 3 most common lap siding choices in America and tell you the pro/con with each one.
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Matt always gets a thumbs up but a big BravoZulu to him for pointing out letting the subs for HVAC & plumbing work prior to the electrical. That’s valuable info for the up and coming GC and they need all the extra guidance they can get.
Just had a siding contractor try to use Medium Density Fiber Board on my house repair. I stopped him before he could start and demanded he use James Hardie Fiber Cement Board like I asked for in the bid. I would have fired him on the spot but he already had my house opened up and rain was soon approaching. After the job was done, I had him turn in the produce receipts to find out he used Hardie Shower Backer Board for tile work. Clamed he had 17 years of experience.....of doing it wrong.
I resided with Hardi primed, 13 years later it looks as good as day one. Top quality paint helps.
I own a 110yr old millhouse that I'm currently trying to remodel and upgrade. I love watching Matt and learning about all the stuff I can't afford to do lol. But seriously I do enjoy watching and learning. Just wish I could afford half of it.
My house has Hardi, actually the whole subdivision was specd Hardi and all of the houses are 15 years old and still look as beautiful as they did on day one. Low pressure power wash the siding every couple of years and it's good as new. Nobody has had to paint their house yet around here. Really amazing product.
I am building my own house right now I used all concrete siding everywhere. My trade guys wanted to work before electrical and since I did the rough in wiring it was easy to do. Huge fan of the channel I don’t miss a video
I built a shed out of LP Smart siding about 10 years ago, has about a 6” overhang. Live in the northeast, lots of rain, snow, 95 degrees and down to minus 20 degrees, still looks new!
I like the workablity of the LP smartsiding, the fiber cement is very brittle.
alanwagen mine is holding up great, used high quality paint, initially, then just this year, I repainted it, not because it needed it, because we wanted a different color.
Emily Stornetta heah, it might have its place, but I would not use fiber cement in the northeast, holds water, then freezes, might work down south though.
Good thing you didn't submerge your shed in water for 48 hours!
Not exactly sure how that was a rational test by Matt
TheDarthJesus maybe if you live in New Orleans. But only a dumbass would build below sea level or in a flood plain or on a beach that gets hit by Hurricane every year.
Living in Iowa. 20 years ago Hardy was the premium GoToo siding. Now there are multiple projects that are having spalding problems. Especially around moisture laden areas such as dryer vents & bath fans. Seems in freezing weather it does the same to cement siding as it does to your driveway. Who would have thunk?
If you follow other intelligent building practices the importance of which siding you use is diminished. Joe Lstiburek mentions in a video “Conventional framing, plywood sheathing, self adhered house wrap and vinyl siding is not a bad wall”. I believe he was mostly speaking to vapor permeablity. But none the less if a guy of his experience says that. I don’t think it can be an all bad system.
While I don’t always share your point of view for our Midwest conditions. Your videos always make me think critically. Keep them up.
Matt
The majority of the homes we build are brick and stone. We do a few siding homes however. Always Hardie and NEVER LP. LP is OSB, Hardie is cement. There is no comparison between the two with Hardie being the clear winner.
Oh my so many good thing to hear from you Matt, order of trades so important. As a HVAC installer I like getting in between the plumbing waste water and the supply as waste water has to obey the laws of gravity.
Matt's videos are SO much more watchable at 1.5X speed.
Great tip... may never watch one in regular speed again
That's most TH-cam videos. Some are even watchers at 2x
@@jl9678 yeah the the TH-cam Creator's Manual probably says, "speak clearly and slowly" but I rev up almost all of them.
@@cliffordbradford8910 probably something like that . Even though science tells us that we retain more if the speaker speaks faster
@@jl9678 When watching the channel Solving The Money Problem I can only watch at 1.25x max. For Matt Risinger - 1.25x is normal speed! I think perhaps some creators speak "normal fast" and maybe edit before upload at 0.9 to get additional length? I can't help but wonder why Rokfin can do .1 increments but not YT!
I was remodeling my bathroom and had a trash pile in the backyard, which included the old bathroom mirror. The way it was laying, the mid summer sun reflected perfectly off the mirror and you could actually see the track of the sun as it rose and set from the melted and warped vinyl siding! Couldn’t believe it
I have installed both LP and James Hardy on many homes in the mid west. I even whent with LP on my own home. I can say if you read the directions on both they install about the same,right down to calling the joints. I like both sidings and will recommend both hands down over any other sidings in my remodeling business.
I built with Hardi and its the best! I also build outdoor cabinets out of it too, after 15 years its like new, it holds paint great because no expanssion. When build, forget osb use plywood, use hardi backer and plaster over it vs the powder with paper crap we call drywall, and hardi vs any else. Never build with a material that gets wet once it's ruined like OSB, drywall or cellulose insulation. It's cost to make is the lowest and that's what you get.
Renovating my house in Australia that was clad with hardiplank 36 years ago. All those years of the sun and rain beating down on it and it still looks good today.
Love both lp smartside and hardie and they both have their places to best be used.The one main thing you did not talk about is dent and crack resistance. Hardie is prone to cracking if not nailed perfectly and if something hits it like a ball it can dent/crack easily. When installed over a fur strip rain screen it will be extra brittle.
True. After your comment has been here 2 years already, he failed to reply to it. Everybody has a preference based on what they can afford. I have no problem with the LP Smartside product, but caulking the butt joints is indeed something that I don't care for so I agree with him there.
Handling butt joints is the same for Hardie clapboard and LP Smartside clapboard. Both products need to be caulked if a site cut end is used in the field. Alternatively the end can be properly sealed with either product and back flashed. This was one of the bothersome parts of the video: dunking the cut end of the engineered wood product in water while submerging the factory finished end of the Hardie. It's not honest. Neither of them are meant to be kept wet for long periods of time. Hardie will swell and deteriorate, possibly even more quickly than the engineered wood.
You are spot on with the trades coming before siding, however enless you are subbing out yourself good luck with a builder giving a rip about that! I think you can't go wrong with either LP smartside or James Hardy. They both have pros and cons. LP is probably the best for baseballs, or hail. Hardy is tough and has a leg up when it comes to fire. Both will have to be painted again down the road. I do agree on vinyl. After some hail damage dented the heck out of our aluminum siding about 12 years ago we replaced with the best vinyl we could find. with the extra budget we added stone 5' up in the front. The vinyl has held up well, but even with a no fade warranty there is fading on the south side of our house. Thanks for a great video!!
One day I'm going to sell all my rentals and hope that Matt lets me hire him to build my dream home
Don’t forget to hire Steve Baczek as your architect!
But I also agree, Matt may not be the best choice for a remodel!
Dennis Pope He said “build my dream home”, not remodel.
With unlimited budget, Matt might be a really good chooce.
Looking forward to that call Kevin! You e got my number Buddy. It’s going to be an amazing family house!
Lol
Matt charges $400-$700 per square foot. Your 3,000 square foot dream home will cost $1.2 million to $2.1 million plus land, plus landscaping, plus furniture. And it will be worth much less on day 1. Oh and figure $2k per month for property taxes depending on where you are. More in Texas.
Salam. I’m involved in construction in anyway but I really enjoy and appreciate ALL your videos! Thanx a million and looking forward to all your future videos. May The Almighty bless you and your lovely family. Salam
I meant to say “ I’m not involved in construction....”
Lp smart side is supposed to be painted on the end when you cut it
Hardie too
I think what this shows is that both are really acceptable at the end of the day. But hardie is overall a more stable product. LP has better installation spec...longer...less breakage..but hardie is more durable long term. I guess pick your horse
Submersion of siding for 48 hours is not real world conditions. And yes, end cuts are to be primed / painted which seals the end cuts. Both Hardie and LP require a gap at butt joints. Install your siding to reduce butt joints. I’ve got a 4000 sq ft house with under 20 butt joints for the whole house.
Every plumber and electricians response: Don't care, not my job.
@@509tyler it's not exactly "real world" per se, but in my region it's not uncommon to be at 100% humidity with rain for 3 to 4 days straight. I shit you not, I have seen wood fail in months if not 2 years in this environment
Interesting that James Hardy no longer recommends caulking the butt joints. They used to require a 1/8" gap and caulk similar to the composite material shown in the video. But this was before they offered it pre-painted. The early version would also absorb water. If you have an older installation with a gap and are repainting or are installing the composite siding, the way to make the caulk joint disappear is to apply two coats of caulk. The first is thin and acts like a backer rod that doesn't come flush with the surface. Once it skins over, apply a second coat that is slightly proud of the surface and run your putty knife parallel to the siding across the middle of the butt joint. This results in the caulk taking on the wood grain texture of the siding and the seam will be barely visible when painted.
I know Matt just talked about lap siding options, but glass reinforced fiber cement GRFC can also be made like stone veneer.
Can have large panels with interlocking joints and lower weight than stone.
Who make a glass reinforced fiber cement product? Hardie products are getting extremely hard to find let alone purchase. The price of Hardie is also discouraging. I noticed Matt didn't discuss steel siding that he used on a house in Austin that he uses as an example of a 100 year wall.
@@jpvill4th As far as I'm aware, only small shops. @fauxrock has a TH-cam channel showing off their products.
Hardie uses cellulose for the fiber, which is cheaper than alkaline resistance glass but not as strong. GRFC is harder to produce at scale than cultured stone (no glass, so thicker), but it is possible. Boral has some products that use a pozzolan (fly ash) instead of cement, but I don't think they use fiber.
In Texas that’s how it is. The framer paints and roofs and tiles . The landscape guy drywall’s and does plumbing
Engineered Wood Siding can easily catch on fire like plywood and it can also rip apart during an Earthquake. Fiber cement is also notorious for cracking in seismic zone so it doesn’t farewell with earthquakes or stucco either- to many cracks in homes in California.
PVC siding does not rot and can be fire resistant so that is also a cheaper option like LP Smart Side at Home Depot.
But clearly HARDIE is excellent, superb with naturally beautifully designed homes.
Hardie is outstanding and super smooth siding, lasting duration for decades that will preserve the home for many generations to come.
Amen! I was a plumber in another life, and it drove me crazy when siding went up before the plumbing.
I have redwood siding installed back in 1986 using asphalt paper as the WRB. The only rot was due to improper flashing. Control the water and you control the rot. Any product will work if the installation is done properly. Next house will be real wood installed with rain clips.
I really like your channel and your dedication to building science and technology. I am retired now but spent my entire working life engaged in the architectural side of things in Australia where I specialized in building technology. I find the techniques that you demonstrate to be extremely sound but quite different to the way we do things here. So much so that most of the materials that you demonstrate are simply not available here. The Zip system is a case in point - not only is not available here there is no local equivalent. I am pleased to say however that the products of James Hardie are most certainly available. James Hardie is an Australian company which expanded into the USA market. We don't use much siding (cladding) here for domestic construction as almost all new houses are brick veneer.
Richard Martin do you remember how James Hardie fought tooth and nail the claims of those dying of asbestosis?
@@rossmcleod7983 Yes Ross. It got enormous coverage here and certainly Hardie's name was very tarnished over the whole affair. They weren't the only ones of course but they were certainly the biggest. It ended up costing them multiple billions in compensation. In their defence, they have moved on from those days are are a major force in the industry throughout the world.
I'm in an extreme fire danger area, and I appreciate that you mentioned the fire aspects of the siding. I used to think the vinyl siding was awesome, until I saw what happened if a fire got near the house. Most decking and siding manufacturers don't even mention the fire rating of their products. Of course water protection is still the top issue, but I need anything I use to not be something that will catch on fire easily. All those foam insulation products seem so nice, until I find out they are an extreme fire danger.
Hardie and LP smartside are both good choices. In Florida I used Hardie, but in Colorado LP was the better choice. I would encourage people to look at all the advantages and disadvantages of each product in comparison, which were not covered in this video.
Why was LP better in Colorado, because they get less rain?
@@bobbygetsbanned6049 Yes, dry climate and more houses are multistory, which gives LP an advantage for installation.
If you go LP smartside, get the Diamond Kote product. Long lasting paint already on it. And you don't have to use the butt joints. They have a color matched metal piece to cover the front and back. If you use their calking at the very ends, it is much better than regular calk. Where I live, fire isn't an issue. But hail is. And from what I've seen, the LP Smartside handles hail better than JH. I'm not sure if he had LP in that bucket, but from other YT videos, LP doesn't swell when in water.
if the various trades are conscientious about their penetrations they can make tighter holes/openings after the siding is in instead of the carpenter having to calculate and measure where to cut the hole - plus the trades can strategically locate a hole so it won't hit onto a lap, but between laps, or into the trim. It's all about having the right subs!
Just put hardie siding on a granny flat out back. So much work! Did everything above board. If you use this stuff, be prepared to bend and make some of your own metal flashing. Was able to bend the stuff from depot and lowes, just a lot of work. It looks great! All penetrations caulkable. I made a trim for all the electrical with metal over because you'll never get a water tight cover to work with the angle! Good luck
Any Hardie siding needs the back and edges primed when installed 18-24” within grade. It WILL wick water over time. The instructions from Hardie state this. “Failure to do so voids warranty”.
not one builder in america primes the edges of any cut,wood or hardy ,as a painting contractor we are called in after its all hung and ready for paint
@@excelerater Correct, no contractor paints anything as they go.
I MET A FORMER HARDIE REP WHO DID NOT RECOMMEND IT
@@GARRY3754 As a roofing contractor I see it falling to pieces all the time. Especially around dormers. Or becomes so brittle if you touch it boom
Travis Edwards it is amazing. I have been working on 100 year old homes in Detroit and the great cover up of aluminum,trapping moisture around overhangs etc...just text book wrong. Wood could be kept in shape if needed to be. I saw a 150 year house house with original siding, really gave me pause and think. Times are changing I know. I use PVC fake wood but hate cutting it. Peace and be safe.
I put beveled siding on my 16 ft walls, on my shop out back, almost 20 yrs ago, cut them myself on my sawmill, red cedar on the back, Cypress on the front. Holding up great.
Hello Matt. I used 4x8 sheets of LP Smartside to replace the T-111 plywood siding on an exterior wall of a garage. The T-111 rotted. I did my own sample test of the LP Smartside by placing a few pieces of it in a bucket of water kept outside. After at least 7 years those pieces of wood are still intact - no separation, delamination or disintegration of the material. LP has done studies of their material in Hawaii and say that the destructive formosan termites don't affect the wood and also it holds up well with the large amounts of rain and humidity there. In your video you didn't mention that the fiber cement product is brittle and will break if hit by an object; rock, baseball, etc.
Just a lowly electrician and technology integrator here... who happens to work on multi-million dollar new construction projects. Please, please, please don't tell people that the electricians and "AV guys" need to go last. While the conduit we use is smaller (for the most part) than duct work and pluming stacks/vents, we have the most prominent and visible openings of all the trades. You should have your electricians and technology integrators on site first to layout recessed lighting, fixtures, speakers, TV, touch panels, etc, etc... and -WORK WITH- the HVAC, plumbers, designers, clients, and even carpenters when possible to ensure the best result for your client/home owner. I can't tell you how many times recessed lighting, or speaker layouts have had to be significantly compromised because of duct work or plumbing runs that could have been changed with proper communication before hand.
Also please install mounting blocks/slabs for your trades when using irregular exterior finishes like lap siding or natural stone...
We do pretty high end stuff (up to $1k/ sq ft). I have a lighting plan, a mechanical plan, and the fixture layout, and a coordination meeting. We have the electrician box the job first, at same time as plumbing fixtures are located (and we do have the structurals coordinated with the fixtures before start of framing). Then it is plumber first (due to gravity), then mechanicals (ducts), then electrician runs wires, then the LV/ comms wiring. Flat finish blocks with full head flashings and sealing are mandatory, for any irregular siding surface. In masonry, we have a flex whip left close, and box the receptacles as the masons progress. Lights, they must be pre-set (typically) per plan.
Believe it or not, there are some of us who are organized, and run our jobs for the least pain and best overall benefit for the entirety of the subcontractors. I get some guys bitching the first time through, but then they get to the end and find they never were stuck rectifying other trades missteps. All good, after that.
Great points!
On most of my jobs, lighting fixture placement supersedes duct placement. Especially recessed grid type arrangements. Best
Love Matt and the channel but he is SOOO biased towards James Hardie and he always has been. We have installed millions of board feet of both hardie and LP siding and with proper install there are no issues with either. You DO NOT have to caulk joints in LP siding. They make “H” clips that are little aluminum or composite clips that mechanically flash the joints and are color matched to pre finished siding where there will be no caulking in any butt joints And you cannot even tell the clip is there unless you’re right on top of it, not to mention LP is 4 feet longer than hardie and will have 25% less joints already (Plus any walls 12’1” - 16’ long will have zero joints with LP and a joint in every course with hardie. Also you would have to prime a cut end grain before dipping in a bucket of water for that swelling test because the install instructions clearly state to prime all cut joints in the field so that bucket of water test is not practical. Hardie is a great product and definitely has a much longer track record for being a great product but for every advantage of hardie there is an equal advantage to LP as well.
Well said! If anything in your house is going to be under water for more than 48 hours your going to have just more than siding problems. One of the most ridiculous test I have ever seen done with LP siding!
@@ernestcantu6751 : Of course I agree with your comment because I said the exact same thing 4 days ago.
@@ernestcantu6751 The 48hr test I think was an (erroneous) example of prolonged exposure to moisture over the course of years or decades. However you're right, it's ridiculous. He didn't give the LP a chance to dry out either, as it would in practical application. He also failed to mention that Hardie is also installed using butt joints which *will* shrink and require caulking after 10-12 years. Hardie is also only available in 12ft lengths whereas LP is available in 16ft lengths, reducing or eliminating butt joints. Overall, many many issues with this video from a practical and objective standpoint.
If you check out his responses to comments on this video; he admits that he has future paid videos planned for Hardie, but supposedly this isn't one of them.
This, along with the video about that spray foam system he was given $1000 in materials, and free equipment rental for by the manufacturer (that he claims wasn't a sponsored video) makes me question how many more of his videos are paid/sponsored without him being forthright about it.
DIDNT mention it was Brittle !!!!
Please do video about soffit and fascia. I am renovating a 70s split level. Left existing brick exterior and replaced the aluminum siding with the Cedarmill cement fiber board, lap siding. Will paint entire home when it cools down. I am a diyer, and would love some soffit/fascia direction. Love your content. Thank you Matt!
Hidden vent vinyl soffit gives the most air flow looks great and is available in lots of colors.
@@gceurve1 Thank you for the information!
I like fiber cement siding and LP. He definitely needed to mention the strength differences between the two. Cement products are much more brittle than LP. In Texas, where he lives, they can get some pretty crazy storms where extra strong siding might be a good choice.There are trade-offs between every siding option. Great tip about waiting for the trades to be done before siding goes up!
Carpenter bees will LOVE your wood soffit!!! They will make holes and tunnels everywhere!
I've installed a descent amount of Hardie siding. I had a fire on a wooden deck that had several pieces of Hardie siding on it. When the fire was put out, most of the Hardie siding was turned into fine ashes.
I used Hardie on a remodel in 2002. It wasn't pre-painted. Sometimes when I'm back in Minnesota, I'll drive by the old house. It still looks great. I used lap siding on the body of the house and Staggered shingle look on the gable facing the street. My neighbors liked it so well, that a couple of them copied me as the original houses (tract post war housing) all were sided with cedar shakes. Fast forward to 5 years ago, I built a Deltec home in South Dakota. When I was researching Deltec, they used Hardie, but right before we purchased, they switched to another provider that they claimed was just as good as Hardie. While it looks great, I found differences in thicknesses and width of the product. Handling was more difficult as it would easily snap. I did find that Hardie that was close to the ground or continuously would delaminate. I found that were I used it to cover the treated lumber on my steps to my deck. I live in a very high fire danger zone so I'm glad I have fiber cement. I"ve seen LP smart side taking off in this area. I think its popular because it's lighter, stronger during handling and can be sawn or drilled with conventional tools. I used specific saw blades including saber saw blades and Rotozip ceramic bits as well as my diamond blade in my angle grinder. I put pieces of 30# felt under the joints lapping onto the course below. Ripping 10' sheets for the soffits was hard on my table saw. In fact it toasted the motor. Fortunately, It was a Rigid saw and HD replaced it no questions asked.
What about metal siding?
Metal gets my vote 👍
Just do vinyl, it's final.
@@augustreil No way Jose.It's plastic so it wil eventually disintegrate from UV radiation.
@@stlkngyomom, I have a rental with 35yr old vinyl, no disintegration yet, so...
@@stlkngyomom Telephone cables hanging up on poles are made of plastic too, and they don't disintegrate from UV radiation.
That's why the first question you ask as a siding guy is.... Are all your penetrations / waterproofing complete on all elevations? I'd never schedule a crew without getting a definite yes, with back up questions and a walk through. Every builder will tell you it's 100% ready over the phone. Then you get there, point out multiple things, and delay for another few weeks for them to actually be 100% ready. Cheers bud from Van BC 👍
We used hardie boards on our house and just want to give anyone whos thinking about using it, be careful when your mowing the lawn around it. I cracked a piece off the bottom with the wheels. The hardie boards are only 2 years old 😭
Joe Q, yes, while not going to rot or decay, impacts like your mower wheel are more real world likely than parts of your siding sitting in 6" of water.
Eric Gillhouse it will absolutely rot and disintegrate anywhere the paint is missing or allowed to break down whatsoever
Although in general I would agree that there is a proper sequence in the trade scheduling, it is also important that the trades are using the correct tools for the work. At the. Start, you were pointing out various inconsistencies. These seemed to be due to the siding being installed after the other roughing. EG : the cutouts in the siding appeared to be from the siding person trying to “fit” the siding around the electrical box and the pipe. As opposed to the plumbing contractor being able to use an appropriate sized hole saw to Center the pipe so a minimal amount of caulking would be required. The same goes for the electrical box. If the siding is installed first, the electrical box can be centered in the siding plank and not near the top making caulking and sealing easier especially with the use of a detail vibrational saw to cut through the siding, then cut the air gap layer in an x pattern and finally cut the sheathing. Most of the problems comes with developers and general contractors insisting on speed rather than quality. As to which siding is best, this must be considered from the basic location of the building site. What major conditions need to be addressed to build a house. That can last for generations? Do you need to address Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods. Wildfires?
A general contractor should want to be the builder that have their houses standing after a serious emergency hits the area. An. Example is while in your location, it is rare for you to have to address a serious tornado, the use of single brick and fibrous cement siding will do nothing to stop flying debris from punching through a wall.
This is one of those times when I have a problem with what Matt has become. FTR, I'm a fan of LP Siding. And Matt failed to mention (wonder if on purpose?) that the best practice installation for LP siding is to use aluminum flashing behind the vertical seams instead of caulk; a fifty year minimal maintenance if any installation practice.
The reason why I said "wonder if on purpose" above is that I'm sure it had to do with them GIVING Matt the product for FREE, other than doing this and possibly another video PROMOTING their product... ie. a sellout.
Don't get me totally wrong about this. I'm still a fan with a lot of what Matt does. But just take these types of plainly advertisement videos that he puts out with a HUGE grain of salt for your own good. He's clearly doing them more for HIS OWN benefit than he is for yours.
Case in point... When a competitor put out a clearly one-sided ad bashing Zip products, Matt addressed it in a video; rightly so imo. But in this video Matt seems to be doing the exact thing to LP Siding that that competitor did to the Zip product. Just saying...
Just lost all respect. Seen many more complaints with fibercement than LP.
@@stim7578, Both are junk in my opinion.
Then you have to use their special paint on the edges. He's also a builder, not a carpenter.
Matt’s correct. I’m not sure how many times it has to be proven to us that wood particles and sawdust particles make a terrible siding option. I’m currently ripping off some old Georgia pacific siding from a flip house that has turned into soggy cardboard.
As with most of Matt's content, COST is largely ignored. Vinyl is used constantly up here in Minnesota. It's incredibly stable through hot summers and cold winters. Yes, it can sag if installed improperly. Yes, hail storms will destroy it... But it's inexpensive AF! What was that comment about breaking into someone's house with a scissors? I hope that was a joke.
Also, no mention of stucco? It will outlast nearly everything and is impervious to nearly everything.
i’m an electrician in N Texas and we always went before the a/c and so glad we did. Electricians that go after, i tend to see they run wires over the duct work. I know it’s wrong and anyone working in attic later on could possibly trip on wires since wires are not laying on top of ceiling joist
Matt, I'm really surprised you were at the Builder show several weeks ago not that long ago, and you were comparing I believe it was LP siding and Hardee's cement fiber product. They had Sledgehammer setup and the Hardee's products seem to be more brittle then the other manufactured product. They showed what would happen if it was hit with a baseball and the Hardie products suffered more damage than the other manufactured product. They also whack both products with a baseball bat and once again the Hardy product sustained more damage. And then you went and you chose the John Hardy product. I'm perplexed? I'm doing a shed to home conversion. Eventually you'll be a home but right now it's a shed. I have the lp manufactured siding on the shed and where are some simple scrapes the product got very soft and I had to fill it with a wood filler to stiffen it or is done I'd have to replace a whole side of a building. Could you share some thoughts on all of this. You did a 180 on your selection of siding and that's why I'm questioning it. Enjoy the show, learning a lot.
Sponsorship $ maybe?
11:20 He talks about the Hardy product being fire resistant, picks up the torch, and then puts it right down again... Doesn't even hit the product with the fire.
Eh, to be fair he didn’t hit the smart side with a torch either- something about interior fire hazards probably played a role ;)
bring a torch to a concrete sidewalk and lets us know if you managed to set it on fire.
@@apscoradiales depending on the cellulose to concrete ratio and depending on the temperature the gas from a chemical reaction or phase change could shatter the concrete...something i've tested by heating concrete with water or concrete with oil...you can also shatter concrete by freezing water inside the concrete very quickly.
I guess he just kind of figured everyone knows that was fireproof.
I've held a plumbers torch on a 1/2" strip of Hardie siding (8 1/4" long, 1/2" wide, 5/16" thick) for over 5 minutes until it was cherry red. No smoke, didn't crumble, didn't do anything. We let it cool, then stress tested it, felt exactly like a regular (un-burned) piece. It's called 'Fire Resistant' because it can get hot enough to start other objects touching it on fire, it's typically only rated 'fire-proof' if the back side of the object having flame applied to the front side-stays cool enough as to not cause smoldering to an object touching it.
Thank you for the video’s. The only thing good about fiber cement panels. Is the fire resistance. I wish we would have never put it on our house. If you need to do a repair on outside of the house. You will have to replace about half the house. Material snaps/breaks in half, has no give. Plus, you have to find a contractor that actually knows how to wrk with hardy panel material. The contractor we hired, got us good. Got job do in one day. While we were at work. Nails not set right, no H - edge trim, chipped/cracker edges, and motar mix put in small holes. Wish could tear off and replace with real wood. Sorry for the rant.
I've used the osb siding, it goes up easily, it's primed, and looks good.
I live in Sacramento, which is a semi-arid desert.
Matt, I like your videos, and information you provide. However in this case there are more siding options you didn’t mention that you may prefer over the James Hardie products. Royal Celect siding or Everlast siding are examples. Yes they are a little more expensive as compared to James Hardie products, however they don’t require the maintenance of the James Hardie or LP siding products. Additionally there was no mention of metal siding or the vinyl siding that has insulation. I’m sure the hardi board siding you use is great and all the siding you install is done correctly. Incidentally Royal Celect Siding was rated higher by consumer reports vs all the other siding you mentioned. If you want I can send you a link to their review of siding products. Again thank you for the work you do making these videos,
High end houses by me use real cedar shakes still... I guess when you’ve got money to maintain it, maintenance isn’t an issue.
Personally I like the look of the vinyl cedar shake from Foundry “Perfection Shingle” I think is the name. Did my garage in it. It is Very thick, can be had insulated and is really a high quality product.
I just did my house in Celect siding and extremely happy with it. Defintely agree that Matt should have covered more of the options available.
@@chriswall5132 Unfortunately unlikely, Matt is good but in his position he's got a lot of interests (and sponsors) to think about
Matt I love videos like this. Very informative to a curious homeowner. Thanks.
If the wood fiber has soaked up water, then it will be fire resistant. Problem solved!
Matt, it's fine that you prefer Hardie over LP because each have their strengths and weaknesses. But this is probably the most biased and misleading video I've seen you make. FWIW, I sided my house in MN with Hardie 15 years ago and I like it fine--but it has its drawbacks and failures like others have pointed out. I'm currently building our retirement house and am using LP Smartside--which has more than proven itself in Minneapolis. I think Hardie is a decent product, but your review should have been more balanced.
@ The Key point here is that was a past product called Inner Seal. It failed and LP paid dearly. But rather than give up, they revised and improved the product in 1997 and introduced SmartSide which has performed fantastically for 23 years. I wouldn't be surprised if Hardie gave Matt a piece of old Inner Seal for his test rather than SmartSide. He never said it was "SmartSide", and the test was dishonest enough to make me believe they may have done that. Sad to say, but Matt's rants against this product are baseless and he does his audience and himself a disservice by stating "it is not a good siding option" without any proof or data. That's reckless and simply bad science. I challenge the LP haters to present statistical data on how much better Hardie has performed over the past two decades vs. Smartside. I'll bet it's very close, but favors SmartSide. Opinions and preferences are fine, but opinions stated as fact in a pro forum like this is not something I can trust. Data Matt, Data!
"Will my concrete porch swell move or change with that water absorption? No"
Ever see northern porch concrete that is exposed to water and then freeze / thaw cycles?
Correct day man... Austin TX may not have freeze thaw but the North Central, Midwest, and Northeast regions absolutely do, and a test for those areas is putting the samples from the bucket (not a real world application btw) in a freezer and seeing the effects of frozen moisture expansion on the product. game changer.
No kidding.. let’s just totally forget that the majority of North America experiences freeze thaw cycles. I wonder how much hardie pays for him to “love” it so much, because Personally, I hate that crap
@@ericgillhouse4923 Thank you for this. It made me wonder why I hadn't seen such a product in use in Michigan. Not that I want to use vinyl. But there (should) never be a case where your siding is wet with no paint on it for 2 days straight!
And what I have seen is a 3/16" gap required
Thanks for the video Matt. We love long term treatments for homes!
What about traditional shingles or other wood siding? These manufactured products are not the only options and many 100+ year old houses have wood on the side. Never mind stucco or other wall renderings like lime, and there are tons of metal options as well.
He said at the beginning he was only looking at lap siding.
They didn't get paid him to talk about those types. This product demo is EXACTLY the same you see at home shows. This is an AD. He failed to mention you do gap an caulk Hardie when it butts up to trim. Also gap and flash or caulk at butt joints.
@@waggy401 My house was still has the 1896 redwood shiplap siding on it.
I love the look of wood siding, but you would have to be an idiot to use wood when fully residing a house now. Milled pine siding now cost more than hardie artisan, and will only last a fraction of the time and require much more repainting over the years. Thats not even considering something more rot resistant like CVG cedar, which would run around $70-100 per board. Wood is too expensive for the hassle.
@@manillafresh57 Hardie Artisan is garbage. If you can't afford real materials, build a smaller house. Fake wood siding, fake anything is junk.
I don’t build anything. I don’t plan on building anything yet I can’t help but watch these videos. Lol. Very entertaining.
I would be glad to put free Hardie plank on my house like Matt too. Best siding in the world when free.
The IRS will want it's share of the free product Matt receives. Free isn't free when you have to pay tax on the income.
James Gleason So true
I agree Adam Daley. I don't love the aesthetic of vynil, but I have seen it out perform everything on a windy, cold at times, hot at times, totally weather exposed houses on a small island off the coast of Maine. I also have a huge stack of crumbled Hardie siding next to my shop.It truly does not deal with water as advertised. In Austin Texas: I bet it does better.This video was a surprise coming from Matt. It reads like an add for James Hardie. And yes: pretty harsh on other trades. We are all working together.
Best exterior siding for the house is stucco with color coat, without paint. Stucco color coat is 50 time as thick of paint. Last a long time and manance free finish. No need to paint, if stucco get dirty just use pressure washer to clean
I love stucco and the look of stucco but there are too many failures in Houston which cause major structural damage. I have seen hundreds of homes seeping the brown black goo as the wood structure dissolves. I am a real estate agent and the average cost of damage many of the homes which had stucco has run around $20K. Few know how to install stucco properly.
I don’t care what anyone says, I hate hardie siding, I put it on a couple houses when the owner wanted it and it’s a nightmare to work with to follow every last one of their stipulations to not have a void warranty, I’d never put it on my own place, ever, not even if it was free.. my house is clad with vinyl and always will be, hell I could probably not touch it and it would still be there the day I die. But I live in a frost area so that water he’s talking about that won’t hurt it? Ya that expands when it freezes and turns this crap to mush in a hurry
Not to mention it's poison for your lungs.
Ernest Cantú yep! We had a warning posted in the local siding dealers for a while about the dangers of cutting it without proper dust control and respirators.
Hardie siding is a great product. Running down other products isn’t required to prove that. The other two products you showed are great products as well, and all three have limitations.
Very fair comment. He failed to point out that caulk is required for James Hardie as well. Also, tools are easy to install vinyl, fairly easy for LP, but difficult when installing James Hardie. Didn't mention many con's for his (future) paid promo on this "comparison"
We install both hardie and LP and use the exact same tools for both. Different saw blade is only difference
Eric Gillhouse and lets not forget that cutting vinyl and wood doesn’t carry the risk of silicosis..
Sometimes you want to add an outlet or other penitration after the fact, would have been nice to go over the best way to do that properly.
To him there is no other way then his way. Or it’s wrong!
I don’t get all these guys hacking holes and mounting outlets in siding like they are doing it in drywall. I prefer a surface mounted box with a small penetration. Use a matching mounting block if available and you want it to look more custom.
quick answer is, don't cut a hole wrong, i would never use someone that cut a square hole for a round pipe in siding ever again. if you need to cut a hole for an electrical box for outside, make sure there isn't a stud or anything else in the way, put the box up to the wall and mark along the outside edge, then cut only inside the line, it should fix kind of tight so use a rasp/file along the tight edges until it fits smooth, then seal the edge with caulk
@@saigyl9149, Great advice !
for an outlet, use a 3.0 cut-in box. it cuts in with a 3 5/8" holesaw blade (use a Lenox carbide tipped blade for Hardie siding) and takes an Intermatic 1020C cover.
or so I'm told.
I'm convinced this house will be nothing but exterior walls and insulation.
Hahahaha
He's waiting for a company to sponsor the drywall (or whatever stud covering) so he can do it for free, and push their products to his channel.
Re-sided my (masonite lap sided) garage with cement board siding "scraps" from a job. Love it. Paint adhesion is better on CBS too, in my opinion.
Ok, so I've watched you for years, appreciate most of your content (esp the contractor/vendor shows and mayhem/destruction experiments with your homie)...but, I've held back this comment for far too long:
I know you're in sticky TX and all, but bruh...2 words: GOLD BOND
James Bramlett I read your comment and was intrigued by the “GOLD BOND” at the end. I have a vague memory of seeing something called gold bond in my grandfather’s medicine cabinet when I was a little kid... so I searched “gold bond” and apparently it’s a foot powder that can also be used for jock itch! I’m thinking you are paying *way* too much attention to Matt’s personal hygiene 😀
@@jpe1 Just when he's standing in place....always seems to be rearranging 'the boys' which unfortunately catches my eye every time. The distraction is frustrating as I really enjoy his content. Sorry, but now you'll see it every time too :)
Bigger pants would help. Big boy pants, not skinny jeans
James Bramlett LOL I get it now... and yes, I wish you hadn’t said anything I hadn’t notice before 😂
@@jpe1 sorry man :)
I installed some hardi-panel 10 years ago on a house as skirting for a manufactured home, and plank siding above it to about 3' off the ground. 10 years later it's cracking, brittle and needs replacing. I re-sided this house recently w/ LP smartside and it is pretty good. I had one sheet sided 10 years ago by a bathroom where the old T-11 was rotten w/ LP smartside siding and it's held up quite well. zero rot. I will be doing all LP smartside going forward. Hardie is hard on tools and is too brittle.
I've fixed a lot of houses that have hardi board, they all swell and crumble, plus the dust is horrible, you have to wear a mask, i put lp smart side in a bucket for 4 months no swelling no paint issue, 30 year warranty on paint, paint your cut ends that are not caulked, plus they have splicers, you do not have to caulk all your joints just fyi
LP doesnt last 5 years in the pnw.
Yeah, he also didn't paint the cut edge that he soaked in water for 48 hours. Smartside wins for me in middle Tennessee. Silicosis is real bad for you.
I’m also unaware of any houses that are built to do well in a flood which is the only thing this is representing. Having it underwater for 24-48hours with the backside unprotected as well like it would be normally doesn’t really tell me much about how it really works
Stucco seems to solve all of these problems. You can easily seal all penetrations and then stucco. The synthetic kinds don't even need to be painted so it's less maintenance. However, I'm from AZ and that's how we do it here so im not sure how well it holds up in really harsh environments.
I encourage you to do a video where you burn that osb/engineered siding. I've thrown a few scraps into a fire and was shocked. The stuff ends up up combusting like a rocket engine.
And probably emits dangerous gasses from the adhesives used to make the boards.
I've heard anecdotal evidence from fire fighters that houses built with OSB burn faster than those with plywood.
Cool vid as usual.
I believe hardy still expands and contracts with temperature. I've done some pretty intense testing on it. Including freeze/thaw cycles and comparing the force to make it snap or break while wet.
My biggest concern is a hardy panel eventually falling off the screws with too many wet freeze/thaw cycles.
I wish they made it more dense. I worry about its durability when it's wet.
If you had done extensive testing, wouldn't you know for sure if it expands and contracts? Also, why are you screwing Hardie board?
Matt I love your videos but the water test on the LP siding is very misleading. LP explicitly states that all ends must be painted before install. Dunking an un-painted end in water completely goes against the way it is supposed to be installed. Not a fair test. Now yes obviously it would be a problem if the installer didn’t follow instructions and it got wet, but that’s on the installer.
As for caulking the butt joints, go watch Kyle’s videos (rrbuildings) where he put LP on his rental house. He gapped the panels 3/16 and he showed what they looked like after being installed for a while and the joints are closed- no need for caulk. I’m not saying LP is as good as hardie or will last as long as hardie- it hasn’t been out too terribly long so it will take some time see how it holds up, but I do believe some of your comments/concerns aren’t completely accurate. I still love your videos.
"...that’s on the installer..." you going to chase the installer a few years after the siding goes bad?
Good luck finding him - he's probably changed company name several times, and that makes it impossible to go after him through the warranty or a law suit.
I guess I should add then that we need more contractors out there that care and will pay attention to their installers to make sure they are following manufacture installation instructions- this goes for all products, So that the problem wouldn’t be left with the homeowner down the road to have to deal with.
I could drive through subdivisions where I live and bet that a gc is never on site when things like siding or windows are getting installed, things that need to be installed properly.
But who knows, 20 years down the road this LP siding may have the same demise that the old engineered wood sidings had.
I live in the dry West. LP works great in our environment. No issues with caulk separating - use a good quality caulk. I also don't run LP near drip lines without gutter or in areas it will be hit with sprinklers. LP is the way to go in dry environments. If you install this smartly - you will have no issues.
It would have been good to include metal sidings here too. Steel and aluminum sidings have virtually no expansion or contraction and they are 100% fireproof, 100% waterproof, and immune to freeze/thaw damage. Fiber cement is no longer the go-to here in Alaska because at least one or two major manufacturers (including Hardie) stopped honoring warranties.
Very good to know! Between that and how brittle it can be, that can be a deal breaker.
Unlikely to hear such on this channel too, for any number of reasons
Hello Matt I love your videos. Im a electrical contractor and was wondering if you could make some videos regarding electrical systems inside your homes. Thanks!
I really enjoy your comparison videos, you seem to cover most things pretty evenhandedly and back them with real-world or testing evidence. However, I have to say this one was a little light on one side. The dust concern is pretty serious when it comes to fiber cement, but it's not the only downside, and probably the cheapest of the cons to mitigate. Install labor, the weight of the product, shorter board lengths, and brittleness all of which increase the job costs. A couple things on the engineered siding, specifically LP, is that it CAN be slip sheeted just like the fiber cement. Gap it properly and prime/paint the ends or use the factory ends and you are good. You can also get LP siding in longer lengths which reduce the amount of seems and even at 16' one person can safely carry the board.
Matt, coming from personal experience everything you said is true but I wish you also included how current demand is driving material to be scarce. Reluctantly I recently decided to go with vinyl siding on my house because it was the lesser of 2 evils. HB was 2 months out. Vinyl was 2 weeks. Also, vinyl siding manufactures are having issues keeping up with trim options. Light fixtures, outlets, hose bibs etc. Lastly there is a huge difference in price between the LP, vinyl, and Hardie. Great info otherwise!
Can you do a video on the right sequencing of a job? I know it won't be the most entertaining but could be very informative.
Really excellent that you start out by disclaiming your commercial relationship with James Hardie as it shows real commercial and personal ethics. I like that you then go through the products and that while fibre board and similar products like those from Boral can absorb water but that they dry and don't degrade easily. This is the complete opposite of PerkinsBuilderBrothers video about the same topic where they say LP SmartSide is the best but with no disclaimer of their commercial relationship up front (there is at the end) and even worse their tests are not like for like and they entirely avoid the issue of fire. I love their videos but as an interested homeowner I think yours which go into why building is all about detail and systems and are therefore more authoritative and credible.
Great promo for hardie lol yes it's a good product and looks great if installed correctly but it's a nasty job
Being the next gen buyer in the Pacific NW we are still dealing with all the early 90's LP that our parents bought a boat with the settlement money instead of replacing it. Thank God for cheap materials in houses to help keep them "affordable" but we are going to pay in a few years for sure!
On second thought, cheap materials represent no difference in overall price to me, because my neighbor's house and profits
I own a semi. I refuse to go near James Hardy. They waste our time and intentionally overload us hoping we'll just leave overloaded instead of waiting hours jumping through their hoops to get enough product removed to be legal. I have air scales on my truck and trailer, so I know they put an extra 3-5000 lbs more than what the load was supposed to weigh. I could've easily hauled what they said the load weighed on the rate confirmation. This happened at several locations to me and others I personally know. The overloading is definitely intentional. Their products will never be on anything I build.
I fully agree James Hardy has multiple court cases against them in NZ (search for "NZ leaky building syndrome").!! Hardietex disintegrates whilst looking at it! We had it on our house and within 10 years we had to reclad, whilst the material was "guaranteed" for 15 - 20 years, especially when you are using a direct fix method. I would avoid James Hardy as the plague if I can.
Captain appreciate your issue with JH but the info on the product is still valid. One of the issues our civilisation is still working out is great products / processes owned by bad / problematic companies.
cut their banding and start shoving stuff off until you make weight, then strap down and leave. if enough drivers do this, they might get the hint.
That has nothing to do with the quality of the product now does it.
So ... We should avoid putting this great product on our homes because they overload your little truck? Why did you even write this? That's like those folks that give bad product ratings because Amazon took too long to deliver. It does nobody any good.
All good points! One thing I would change... It is very time consuming to put the siding on after the other trades have finished. I find it is better to talk to the other trades about how to make proper penetrations and then ego back after them and reseal the way I know if will stay sealed.
One problem I have experienced with Hardie siding is that the paint can bubble if water gets on the back, because it soaks through and releases the paint from the surface. Also it is very brittle and very hard to repair without damaging surrounding pieces.
I like the Arlington boxes. They have the trim built in for various siding's and can be taped just like the windows, but on all 4 sides externally. Then on the inside the few air holes into the box i ensure to tape those and foam around the hole the wires enter. Also they sit flush aren't a "wall wart" and are still waterproof with internal space for a plug.
On engineered wood siding, every cut end is suppose to be sealed with primer. You should seal it, then test it...i bet you have a different result. This is even mentioned in the LP Smartside installation guide. Assuming that was LP Smartside?
The engineered wood siding is supposed to be touched up with paint on the cut ends. I suppose it still displays a worst case scenario when the paint has been chipped and the product is exposed to water..
Also, there is a colour matched aluminium clip option that some manufacturers offer to mitigate the need to caulk the gapped joints.
LP 16' boards
Hardy 12' boards
Funny this was never mentioned.
Lp is made from wood scraps,like osb,it's junk. Hardie is cement,holds up gorever,and factory paint is 15 year warranty
Matt, I'm surprised that you didn't mention PVC siding like Royal's Celect (cellular PVC). It's nice and beefy and interlocks far better than typical vinyl. It's what I'm going to use on my house in upstate NY next year (it has a higher R value than fiber cement). Thanks for the episode.
Everlast is much better. Has a Co extruded acrylic finish that will never need painting.
Celect is a painted product
I chose Royal’s Celect for the home I am building. My first choice was Everlast, however they have limited color choices. I’m going to call them to see if I can use the paint found at the link and not void the Everlast warranty. The reason I went with Royal Celect, is the colors my wife wanted for the house. aquasurtech-oem.com/index.php#/
@@gceurve1 Thanks for the heads-up Gerry. Somehow I missed that in my research! I'll definitely look into it - according to YT videos it's easier to install than Celect. I like the way the joints are fastened together with the plate. -Joe
So sorry to see Matt selling out. I really used to love his videos. You can't say something isn't sponsored and then immediately launch into a story about a brand that will be sponsoring a future video. Half of the video seemed to be about the name brand. At one point, Matt even mentioned that there were other name brands of the same material and then didn't even mention one other brand name. Videos like this clearly show how prevalent bias is these days and why people should be cautious when watching reviews of name brand products online.
Yep, he is totally brand bias and it’s whoever can buy his vote. He doesn’t care but to sell a product to us.
Absolutely true, though I do use an awful lot of JHardy.
I used Cape Cod repainted pine lap siding made in Nova Scotia. EXCELLENT.
Neighbors are jealous.
Proper sequencing is the whole point of general contracting, it's literally the bread and butter of the job.
...And yet so many GCs get it so wrong. As a low voltage integrator, I can’t keep count of how many jobs I get called to AFTER siding and Sheetrock have been hung 😤...even when I had made it clear I need in before the walls get closed up. 🤦♂️
@@benjaminallyn1200 Actually, they changed the definition of "literally" to mean "figuratively" in situations like he used.
Yes it's stupid, but unfortunately, because people use it that way, it's officially a definition now.
@@TheDarthJesus It's "literally" the "crux of the metaphor" therefore it's a literal example of the metaphor? That's all I've got! It's just a thought. It seems that grammar policing has really suffered since real Nazis entered the political sphere. /s... It's been a much longer slide than that!
Your smile landed the joke with the bbq grill and vynil.
Some people believe that fiber cement is environmentally friendly because it is made from items like cement, fibers, or fly ash. However, the process to produce fiber cement requires the use of a lot of utilities, and the weight of the finished product makes shipping harder on the environment.
A third-party Life Cycle Assessment shows the overall environmental impact of fiber cement to be worse than real cedar siding, stucco, vinyl siding, and insulated vinyl siding, particularly in areas of global warming potential and water intake.
The cancer risk is high if not handled correctly
Finally, there is no recycling of fiber cement siding
As for Fire and Hardie products: I've held a plumbers torch on a 1/2" strip of Hardie siding (8 1/4" long, 1/2" wide, 5/16" thick) for over 5 minutes until it was cherry red. No smoke, didn't crumble, didn't do anything. We let it cool, then stress tested it, felt exactly like a regular (un-burned) piece. It's called 'Fire Resistant' because it can get hot enough to start other objects touching it on fire, it's typically only rated 'fire-proof' if the back side of the object having flame applied to the front side-stays cool enough as to not cause smoldering to an object touching it. I did this personally, didn't hear about it from someones cousin's brother etc, i did this in March of 2020-not 20 years ago. It does NOT burn. Have a good day.
if you want the best result, have the electrician come in first and box the house out. THEN bring in HVAC and plumbing. that way you don't have to move big pipes to get a lighting location.
and, gee, LP lap is back... I'm old. I remember it failing from last time around.
and yeah, tupperware siding is worse than waferboard siding.
I live central Washington state, LP siding works great unless your sprinkler or shrubs are touching it. Hardie is great but is tough on tools and the time it takes to install. That being said. I would do hardie if the client is okay with the cost. Love the show