Certainteed cement board siding
user-1093260
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
I am building a new home in zone 6. I was considering using a cement board siding product. I am aware that Hardy Board has been out for quite some time and that there have been some product issues in my area . My building contractor is a Certainteed Pro installer (Vinyl siding) so I am wondering about the reliability of the Certainteed product. I read that there were some class action suits back in 2010 in regard to this product. Does anyone have any experience with these products.
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I used Certainteed cement board a few years ago on a few houses. I had major expansion and contraction problems. about 15-20 pieces cracked on each house - some on the middle of the board and a lot cracked at the butt joints where we had to pin the joints to keep the product laying flat since we were doing the blind nailing option. Homeonwers complained that they could hear it popping at night. The Certainteed representative was no help at all and they denied our claim for warranty replacement. We had to replace all of the broken pieces on the houses and repaint the entire house. I specifically remembered the installation guidlines and when we called for our warranty they had changed the language on their instructions as they knew they had problems with the product.
I have since started using the Nichiha product - I believe it has more recycled content and is made closer so have actually been getting some "green points" when using it as well. We still use the Hardie prducts from time to time but Nichiha is cheaper and some products are thicker so I think it looks better.
I installed Certainteed panels as an open rainscreen last fall (2011.) This spring I noticed a couple small blemishes developing. When the weather started to get really warm all the panels that receive direct sunlight during the heat of the day have major cracking along the lines of the fasteners. The local sales rep. hasn't made a site visit yet but he is claiming over the phone it's an issue of not using enough fasteners. Dana, beware, the product is obviously flawed if you have other options pursue them.
Interesting, I did a huge home here as a sub. Didn't know people were having problems. Thousands of homes and commercial buildings are covered in Certainteed cement board siding. Will have to stop in at the home we did a few years ago.
A fellow contractor has put up quite a bit of the prepainted product s loves it. The one home near me does look great. Haven't seen anyone changing boards....