Why We Chose James Hardie Siding for Our Home
James Hardie siding has the most amazing style options which is one of the reasons it was chosen for our home!
I know we’ve been blessed. We’ve been so fortunate to have owned and lived in three different awesome homes over the past 16 years of our marriage, so I don’t ever want to sound like I’m complaining.
But…. even though we have turned each of these homes into places that we loved on the interior, the exterior of each of them never quite matched up to our vision.
I have always dreamed of giving our home an exterior look that matches what we have done with the interior. For years I’ve dreamed of new siding for our home. And finally, last spring, we took the bull by the horns and finally began to tackle this major project house project! While we are currently just over half way through our re-siding project, the change already has been completely transformational! If you are looking to re-side your own home, you can download the free James Hardie Inspiration Guide here.
Once we decided to re-side, we had to decide what to do it with. We considered and researched several different options before finally landing on James Hardie® fiber cement siding for several reasons.
Style
I have to admit that one of the main reasons we decided to go with James Hardie siding was for the style options. I mean, it’s pretty amazing how many different choices and combinations are available! There is a beautifully curated collection of colors, profiles, textures and widths, which means that you can give your home authentic character; even if it’s pretty builder-basic and doesn’t have much true character on its own (like our house). Alternatively, if you live in a heritage home, you can select siding finishes that work perfectly with your home’s style and architecture.
Choices range from HardiePlank® lap siding (which is the traditional plank style you likely associate with James Hardie), to HardieShingle® siding (with shingle profiles in both straight and staggered), as well as HardiePanel® vertical siding (which can be used to create a board and batten style finish).
We went with all-over HardieShingle® siding in order to create the coastal, beachy feel we were after and then opted to utilize HardiePanel® vertical siding in a board and batten siding design in the side and garage roof peaks.
Colour
As a huge colour lover, selecting the “right” colour for our new siding was a very important factor for me. There are several colour options that I looked at seriously, deciding between the more coastal colours of grey, white, or blue. You can even order samples, delivered right to your door, to help you make your choice!
We considered the following colours before finally settling on BoothBay Blue…
top row left to right: Pearl / Gray Slate / Night / Iron
bottom row left to right: Sailcloth / Light Mist / Boothbay Blue / Evening Blue
The best part is, you can simply pop over to the James Hardie website and order colour samples to help you decide between all the options you love most!
When discussing siding options with the manager of the local hardware store through which we ordered our siding, he really drove home the point that the colours available through the James HardieColorPlus® Technology were not only aesthetically beautiful, but that they would last so much longer than a regular on-site applied paint. This takes me to our next reason for going with James Hardie siding: maintenance.
Maintenance
I absolutely adore the look and feel of shingle homes, but really didn’t want the upkeep associated with traditional cedar shingles. No one wants to spend their summer re-staining their shingles every few years; and HardieShingle® siding totally achieves the same handcrafted look of cedar but offers lower maintenance than wood shingles! It’s a win-win! You can get the style and colour you love without the maintenance and cost outlay that can come with wood sidings.
In fact, HardieShingle® siding looks so realistic that many people who’ve seen our new siding have been shocked that the shingles aren’t painted cedar.
Performance
Not only are James Hardie® fiber cement products stylish and low maintenance, but they are tougher than the elements and offer unparalled ability to stand up to storms and harsh weather. They are more fire resistant than wood or vinyl siding, and they are water resistant (so important on our “wet” coast); meaning there are designed to resist swelling, warping, cracking, and damage from mold. They also can’t be eaten or damaged by insects or animals, which can be an issue in many areas of North America.
Warranty
We once owned a car that came with the “best backed warranty in the business”, and it turned out to cost us more in car upkeep and maintenance fees then we could have possibly imagined. But with our James Hardie siding, the warranty definitely lives up to its promise.
There is a 100% (non-prorated) warranty for 30 years on our new siding, and the ColorPlus® Technology has a 15 year limited finish warranty. So strong is the warranty, that HardiePlank® lap siding is backed by the Good Housekeeping Seal, and it has been chosen by builders annually as a brand leader in Builder Magazine (each year since 2009!).
Over all we are beyond thrilled with our choice and can’t wait to see this project through to completion!
And remember, you can download the free James Hardie Inspiration Guide to start planning your own siding project!
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Hi! I am considering Boothbay blue as well in the vertical siding for my beach home…but the sample I received seems much darker and drab than some of the pics online? Your photo of the various JH samples as well as your before and after look different in a good way! Can you confirm it’s Boothbay and any thoughts you had when selecting this color? I realize the lighting will be key as my home is shaded in the front but very sunny in the back so it might work for me:). Thanks!
Hi Kelly,
Sorry for my delayed response – for some reason your comment was hidden and still ‘pending’ approval. Anyhow, the colour of our house in the images in this post is Boothbay Blue. We also recently chose Boothbay Blue to do again on the garage/suite we are building on a different property. Mixing it with Evening Blue. We knew we wanted to go with a Hardie colour, and I knew I wanted blue, so Boothbay was my favourite as it was lighter and more blue/grey then the darker Evening Blue. Not sure if that helps, but hopefully it does! I know siding is a very big decision to make!
Krista
What color siding is the plank siding with the sectional in front in the poc
So beautiful! For the very first photo in the article, what color is on that home? Light mist? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Ashley – I’m not totally sure but if you head to the Hardie website then it shows examples of each colour and I think you’d be correct in assuming it is Light Mist.
Thanks!
It’s great to know that James Hardie sidings can help you to achieve a stylish siding without doing a lot of maintenance. We’re looking to replace our sidings with new ones. Since we are busy almost all of the time, we want to choose a type of sidings that will nor require us to repaint them once in a while. I will make sure to contact a James Hardie contractor soon.