oh my you have a beautiful home! did you paint it yourself or buy the kind with the factory color? I read alot of complaints of people saying it cracked as it aged so that is why I am having concerns about it, plus the fact that it is so heavy to put up. If we used it we would have to hire it done. Your paint color is pretty too. Using a bit and drill seems like it would take forever to put up

Well....when I got it...there WAS no color. I assume now the color goes through it totally??
Wow. Did not know that.

NO CRACKS or splits. Know not one person who has that has that issue.
No...not extra work. The drill works. Yes weighty..but not prohibitive. Two fellas installed it. ..good thing- it butts up real nice and with the long lengths..hardly any cutting. Caulk lines when unavoidable are TIGHT. No waves like hardboard. No puffing, expansion, rot when wet like hardboard or wood . Truly, I am a monster when unhappy...this stuff is good.

Few years later I did shed in the big pieces 4 x 8 ?? They are great too.
Talk to a contractor. I think complaints depend on the quality of the install.

No..the contractor's crew ( those two guys ) and a hired painter did inside and out. Hubby does the window sills - one thing not cedar!! They need paint frequently. And see why....??.... No cedar. I TOLD HIM SO, 😏. Materials and install very important.

The screened porch cedar and trex floor..exposed to weather ...now that trex...that stuff is $$$$$ that floor was an extravagance...but the porch does get soaked.

for compliment on house. But you do see that our house lines are very similar? I wanted to show you what the lap siding looks like in case that was what you were considering as opposed to vertical.

What I mean is...look at your house.....you have NO cuts... ( at the front ) the length of your longest area can be taken care of by the plank. The side you will have cuts bit not many. No one plank is long enough you will need a few. But they will be the entire length.. So maybe 2-3 butt joints max.

The little short pieces next to and surrounding the garage door....no cuts...maybe top of garage one seam.. Maybe. On each side of windows..no cuts..full length... Measure the longest length under the window those three long boards... ...maybe a cut (one there ) maybe not... But the Hardiplank makes a very tight seam.

May I also say that the gutter drainage... I had that problem...I put a pond there and the gutter feeds it. 😊. Don't tell your husband I said it! Hahahahaha

If you did not put a pond..you could put a disappearing water fountain ..let the gutter feed that! I did not say that either. 😝

well I don't know how they do a factory color I understand it is a finish they put on the surface though, like paint, so no, it does not go all the way through. That would be nice though. I would love to have a pond at the end of that gutter area but there is only like 4 ft or so before the sidewalk. As you can see from the photo the entire front yard seems to slope toward the house, so there is not anywhere to drain it, thinking about having the gutter pipe buried, because the yard does slope off -just on the other side of the house where you can't see in the pic. The little concrete area in front of the garage will eventually be taken out. We are enclosing the garage and making a bedroom. The garage is too small to park anything in anyway.


I do think the lap would look nice because we are using a metal roof and those lines will appear vertical and I worry they would clash or compete if both were vertical.

Frillylily said:well I don't know how they do a factory color I understand it is a finish they put on the surface though, like paint, so no, it does not go all the way through. That would be nice though. I would love to have a pond at the end of that gutter area but there is only like 4 ft or so before the sidewalk. As you can see from the photo the entire front yard seems to slope toward the house, so there is not anywhere to drain it, thinking about having the gutter pipe buried, because the yard does slope off -just on the other side of the house where you can't see in the pic. The little concrete area in front of the garage will eventually be taken out. We are enclosing the garage and making a bedroom. The garage is too small to park anything in anyway.


I do think the lap would look nice because we are using a metal roof and those lines will appear vertical and I worry they would clash or compete if both were vertical.

Oh now I see what you mean about the vertical issue...the seams on the roof being visually compared to the vertical siding. I agree it may put the eye in a bit of a fizz.

Enclose and make a bedroom... Well then you may not have to bury that pipe Frilly .. porches are relatively inexpensive square footage. Maybe you could build an enclosed porch to span that area or an open deck very low to the ground..and have the flooring hide/ go right in front of that gutter that runs across. You might even have an exit onto it from the new bedroom. Is the bedroom going to keep to the foundation footprint already established by the garage? Basically close it in? Or are you going to pull it out to mimic the other side of the house where the living space projects out?

You can also put a decorative rain barrel there and collect the rain water for use in the garden. Saves on the water bill. I haven't forgotten about pictures here just have too many things popping up and driving me crazy.

That is a great idea too. My roof won't allow ..it is steeply pitched metal and in a good rain all the water directed to the gutter is so much it overwhelms. But if that gutter isn't a main one, it would be great to have a barrel. Sometimes the city sells them for $50 - with spigots and all.

I wouldn't mind a rain barrel but I don't think dh would go for one especially on the front of the house. We have a well anyway and so don't pay for our water. I use most of my water in the back yard garden which is too far away to haul from the front. The garage area will have a door on the side (west) of it leading out to the 'new' driveway (which is invisible as of now )
The bedroom will be about 12x13 when closed in and then a large closet on the back side (north end of the house, house faces south). I don't think we would extend it to match the other side of the front because it is just going to be a kids room and besides that would cost quite a bit to add the extra. If I was made of money though I may consider it, it would sure look nice.
Hmmm had not thought of building over the drain pipe, did think a gazebo would look nice.


With a little work and whole lotta luck, my house could look like this
http://in1.ccio.co/yD/8B/V/042...

Now THAT is a beauty !

A different roofline only

@frillylily

I am having fun with your facade. My granddaughter sophia has this coloring program on my
Ipad. You could get similiar for your computer or device and play. Sometimes the DH's need to see things to embrace the changes we want. I may upload my house and play a little!

well then ! I do like the first one, that would be a nice idea for a porch area. We were thinking of putting some kind of arbor type thingy over the front door to kind of give the appearance of a porch and spruce the entryway up some. the gable looks nice, but I think would be too costly, even as a covered porch.
Sometimes the only way I can get action from my dh is to tear something up. I can tear stuff up, I just can't fix anything He can't stand things to be an unfinished mess usually, so that will spur him into action.... (need an evil grin right here)

The unfortunate thing about my house is that it sits maybe 50ft from a busy outer-road. There is no way it would be allowed that way today, but back then there were no set back rules and also this black top was probably just a little gravel private drive. House was built in 1943. So I imagine the road was widened or even moved/put in much later and took the front yard making the house set really close to the road.
We are going to put picket fencing eventually, right now I do have a row of boxwoods started along the road. Hope to add some privacy and block some noise and maybe give a little pause to our doggies running out to the road on accident occasionally. Plus the front was so small I wanted to add something besides a tree that would look too large, I did plant a robinson crabapple there.

I am going to mess with a photo of my house in this program. I get to see the change without the sweat and expense!

It is astounding how much we are impacted by the changes to the transportation structures of our communities. Roads get widened and pop up very quickly!

Well, the good thing is that you are looking and asking the right questions and whatever you decide will be well thought out! I know what you mean about sometimes having to undo something already existing to force the DH's hand.

0ur clay is so hard...impossible to dig in it to bury a gutter... On one side where we had to divert water, we got some of those prefab cement blocks and made a 2.5 foot deep planter box...about 1.5 feet high..2 rows. We "planted" flexible drainage tubing coming right off the gutter! It did not BLOOM 😝 but it did the trick! I put St. johns wort in the planter box, It is a shady north face and so not many choices

Frillylily said:So this is the front of the house, not a great pic but it gives an idea of what it looks like. We will be using a chocolate brown metal on the roof and the siding color we want to be a sage green.
I did notice on the Smartside website that they carry the same material in a lap board style (horizontal instead of up and down). There are some pretty rigid instructions when installing any siding I have noticed and I wonder if some of that is so they have lots of excuses for not honoring a warranty later. That seems to be the major complaint with the James Hardie brand, they tell everyone it was not installed right, but it would be near impossible to follow all of the details. A nail cannot be closer than 2 inches from any cut. It has to be driven a very particular depth and if they are over driven it voids he warranty, it must be within so many inches of the soil line (which is impossible on many homes, including mine because it is closer than that to the soil) ect ect.

Have you considered using Vinyl Siding. I went with Kaycan and it has lasted almost 2 decades with no issues. This is a waterfront property with exposure to storms and harsh winters.

@Siding Guy, check the date for this thread. By now, 9 months later, the job may have been completed.

My choice would have been #1 red cedar shingles R&R but that's because I like DIY. That's what I installed on my house in Connecticut.

If I had my choice I would go with the steel siding, a neighbor has it, the house is 30 years old and never has had to be painted.