Siding Options Vinyl vs. Fiber Cement

waterman1971 · 09-22-2011, 08:26 PM

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almostnormal · 09-23-2011, 06:10 AM

Are any of you familier with this fiberglass stuff? http://www.apexsiding.com/ Its something I'm thinking about...

woodworkbykirk · 09-25-2011, 09:46 PM

to fix a peice of vinyl thats coming off all you need is a $8 zip lock tool, it unlocks peices when you need to repair it. once unlocked you can get at the nails on the course below

as for harti, you can allow for the waviness in the wall. simply shim behind the rain screen furring and eye down the wall as you go looking for high spots and low spots. in regards to insulating behind it, i do it all the time every house i side gets 1" of rigid foam put on the entire house before the siding goes on.

any siding job can look like crap, it takes patience and proper prep work is what makes it look like a million buck

just ask the man with 50 nail guns

howdy riz

Decoramould · 09-26-2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woodmeistro

good lookin shop. I have worked with hard coat stucco and effs (foamboard with dryvit on it) and would not use the later because of it being easy to damage.

EIFS (Exterior Insulation Finish Systems - your "foamboard and dryvit") can be reinforced with a second layer of heavy-duty mesh. While it's generally less impact resistant than other claddings, it can be easily reinforced. It adds about $2 per square foot to the area that requires it, which is not the entire house (high foot traffic areas and doors). See link below.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wooworkbykirk

as for harti, you can allow for the waviness in the wall. simply shim behind the rain screen furring and eye down the wall as you go looking for high spots and low spots. in regards to insulating behind it, i do it all the time every house i side gets 1" of rigid foam put on the entire house before the siding goes on.

You'll want to be careful with this. Installing EPS over a wood sheathing without a proper weather barrier or drainage layer between is a recipe for disaster, especially in Canada.

Fiber Cement is becoming more popular up here, and from what I've seen of the installers' practices, it's not something I'd want on my time. If installed properly, it can be real nice and long lasting without concern for moisture. But that's not what I've seen.

Given the choice between vinyl and fiber cement, I'd go with fiber cement. Given the choice of those or EIFS, I'd go with EIFS (ensuring it's installed properly). You can get around the "softness" of EIFS by having it reinforced with an additional layer of "heavy duty mesh" (or "high impact", or "panzer") - see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZcbV...B25161D20F4244

woodworkbykirk · 09-26-2011, 04:33 PM

when we put foam on we use extruded poly, not expanded. the only issues that have been seen with it locally have been complaints from neighbors when small peices of scraps blow into their yard. as long as the product is installed properly and proper flashing techiques are used its fine

Decoramould · 09-26-2011, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wooworkbykirk

when we put foam on we use extruded poly, not expanded. the only issues that have been seen with it locally have been complaints from neighbors when small peices of scraps blow into their yard. as long as the product is installed properly and proper flashing techiques are used its fine

XPS is fine as well. Most EIFS manufacturers are beginning to use geometrically defined insulation boards now however, of which I've only seen EPS.

And yes, as long as there is a trowel-applied weather barrier and drainage channels, there shouldn't be any issues.