Hardie Plank: Buying it pre-finished or paint it on the house

Q: Is it better to buy buy a pre-finished Hardie Job or buy it pre-primed and paint it on the house?

A: In depends on the following:

The criteria for buying a pre-finished Hardie plank job are the following:
1. You are replacing all the siding on your house and not individual sides or boards.
2. You have selected a installer who specializes in pre-finished siding installation and not someone who has done 1 or two jobs (if you don't you'll end up painting the whole thing anyway)
3. You don't need to do other painting like the soffit, fascia, doors, windows, etc (I'll explain why below)
4. You don't want any Hardie Shake on your house.
5. You don't want a color outside of the options that Hardie gives you.

The criteria for buying a job that needs to be painted on the house (pre-primed) are as follows:

1. You want a custom color or are working with a exterior designer
2. You have selected an installer that has not worked with pre-finished Hardie before (because you have checked all references)
3. You want Hardie Shake in the gables or decrotive trim.
4. You need to do other painting anyway like the soffit, fascia, doors, window sashes, trim, etc. The cost of doing those items may be less if you opt to do the siding as well, and you'll only know the total cost if you include the price of painting with the price of siding. Only after you compared the siding and painting costs in both scenerios, will you be able to determine the total cost of each.
5. You only want to replace parts of the siding and not all of it.


Important to note: Don't let a siding installer tell you that a pre-finished Hardie job is better than painting. It may or may not be. If you choose the right painter (someone who has done a detergent wash, backrolled the first coat, painted in the right conditions and uses quality products) the on site job provides a superior finish. Often times I'll talk to homeowners who say "the pre-finished job is baked on." Not true. A pre-finished Hardie job is NOT baked on. It is put through a heated environment that allows it to cure faster. This is done to control the environment and so they can produce more in a shorter amount of time. Acrylic paints don't "bake on." In fact, right on most cans of acrylic paint it says you are not supposed to put paint on surfaces that are above a certain temperature.

Remember, talk to multiple contractors and consider multiple options.

Nick Dettering
651-336-0561