Hardie Board: How we decided on our siding

When choosing building materials, the size of your house can be a large factor in your decision. The larger the house, the more materials you need and the more money your renovation will cost you. In our case, our house is small and the shape is favorable for building materials. A rectangle. A perfect rectangle. No architectural detail, no cuts, no butts, no alligator...okay I'm done.

When driving around our town there is A LOT of new construction happening at the moment. Every corner of downtown seems to be a new-build and the style is changing from the forever-loved stucco Mediterranean style that Floridians gravitate toward (think stucco, terracotta color and lots of brushed bronze metal) to a more relaxed British West Indies look. I. Am. Loving. It.

These photos are actually of a house in our town.

Our house pretty much decided for us that we needed a total overhaul of the exterior. For lack of a better phrase, it was throwing up it's siding on to the ground below. Like, we had chunks of siding missing and exposed wood just hanging out like a rogue bra strap. But worse. Aside from the color that we weren't too fond of, the siding was in dire condition. It was wood, very thin and splintering and falling apart. The previous siding had a vertical pattern to it (it came in sheets with the grain running vertically) and the windows had a simple trim around some of them.

We knew that we wanted to use James Hardie material for the side of the house and we decided on the horizontal lap siding.

I loved the look but more importantly, I loved that it was completely different than the previous siding. Key word here: different.

So I proceeded to pin roughly 10,000 images of James Hardie horizontal lap siding and stalk all of the homes within a 20 mile radius of our house with horizontal lap siding and planned every aspect of the exterior renovation around this horizontal lap siding. You see where this is going, don't you?

We couldn't use the horizontal lap siding.

After much deliberation it was decided that our little minty house on the hill wasn't "square enough" for us to run horizontal siding. Basically, the house had settled a bit on to one side and the horizontal siding would have made this too obvious We're talking a 3-4 inch difference from one end of the house to the other which could potentially be noticeable and drive an OCD person (cough: cough: ME) certifiably insane.

So. Plan #2 which I had all lined up and ready to go. Oh wait, that's a lie. I was relying on Plan #1 working and hadn't given anything else even a flutter of my beautifully long (lie) eyelashes. What did I do, you ask? I spent the next 3 days pinning 10,000 photos and driving around town like a crazed maniac looking at other options.

We knew a few things:

1. We still definitely wanted to use James Hardie siding. I love it's look and it lasts for a lifetime. It is made from fiber cement, has a beautiful finish and wears well for years and years.
2. We wanted a "coastal cottage" look.
3. We wanted to be able to paint it ourselves (you can get James Hardie siding pre-primed but your color choices are limited).

So, remember how I said I just wanted the siding to be totally different? Yeah, well...we chose a vertical siding AND I COULDN'T BE MORE OBSESSED.

It is actually a lot different than what we had.

It is technically called "Board and Batten" and is really a super clean and classic look.

You start with large sheets of Hardie Board (we chose a smooth texture as opposed to a Cedar Mill texture which mimics wood) and then you add the "battens". You choose the spacing and it is totally up to you how close or far apart you place them. We chose our battens to be two feet apart and we didn't worry about how they lined up with the windows.

James Hardie pre-primed products come in a yellow color which makes it all the more exciting when you paint it!

My Dad looking super thrilled after cutting around my oval window!

James Hardie is definitely not the cheapest building material around. For a house our size it was still a sizable part of our exterior renovation expenditure. Just to give you an idea, the battens alone cost us over $1,000 and we still had trim and the actual siding as well.

So while the boys applied the Hardie Board to the side of the house, I caulked.

Every. Single. Seam. And. Nail. Hole.

It took me dayssssss. Upon days upon days.

It was actually enjoyable. My fingers bled, yes, but I enjoy mundane tasks that I can make perfect. And caulking is definitely one of those tasks. Every batten, piece of trim and siding seam had to be filled with caulked and then wiped down. I was the lone caulker and my Dad gave me a nickname that I won't mention on this blog. Hint: it started with "Caulk" and ended with a word that rhymes with witch. You do the math. I was proud of my title. I can now walk around the house and see all of my beautiful handy-work.

Stay tuned for the next post of our surprise architectural detail that I have dubbed "The Home Maker" because it has quite literally Made Our Home Amazing. Thanks to Plan #1 (Horizontal Lap Siding) not working out, we have an even more amazing outcome thanks to another amazing James Hardie product!