# Certainteed Weatherboard vs. Hardiplank



## winkydink

Good question.
I am curious too.

Gotta figure Hardi is more knowledgeable about the industry. But how much is there to know?
Certainteed has changed hands a few times in the last decade or two. I heard it was a French owned company a while back.

Certainteed of old was in the asbestos~cement shingle business ( and many other bldg matls as well) for many years. I suppose the production is similar, but those asbestos shingles were sure brittle albeit thinner than most hardiplank I have handled.

I wonder if one of those old Asbestos Siding(shingle) cutters works on hardi pland?
Every lumber yard used to have them for rent. I occasionally see one at a pawn shop. 

wink :wink:

:euro:


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## Luke

I have done many jobs with hardi board and found it to be a good product, I have recently finished a huge job with the weather board and found it to be identicle. The manufactured caulking they recommend to use comes from James Hardie and I'm almost positive its the same product. The only difference I have found is the price, James is more expensive only because Certainteed is trying to get its name in the market. They have been known for siding products that haven't done so well in the states namely a wood composite ship lap siding that didn't hold together too well. Hope it helps, the least expensive way to go is get your product primed only and paint it once its on the walls, this is not as convenient if you have to setup, tear down and move scaffolding but it is good. The product is warenteed for the paint only not the cost of labor I have known a few jobs where the factory paint failed over a short time period and it is very expensive. You cannot color match factory paint in most circumstances, the shean is hard to replicate so if you do get pre painted materials get the factory paint to do your touch up work.


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## AtlanticWBConst.

The difference is going to be subject to opinion. 

I believe the products are identical as well, in their material and make up.

I have reviewed both products, but have only installed the Hardie Plank product. I have been very happy with the availabilty of the Hardie Plank caulking, repair kits, and pre-painted materials. = my 2 cents.

There are other posts on the site regarding installation of Hardie Plank. 

Good Luck in your Selection.


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## sidemouzer

The JH product is by far superior. The two products are made of different materials and the two companies have a distinctly different background in the fiber cement category. JH has no fly ash and is not brittle like CT.

JH pioneered HardiePlank in the late 1980's and brought fiber-cement to the US marketplace. They spend millions a year in research and development and without a doubt are the leaders in product quality and innovation when it comes to cement siding. Certainteed on the other hand is a roofing/vinyl siding company trying to find a way to make some $$$--plain and simple. As another poster stated, they have had issues in the past with finding a product that will get traction. My loyalty to James Hardie lies in the fact that I have personally seen Certainteed pull out of markets or flat out lose the business because they can't supply the market when the volume goes up. Right now they are giving away some of their business to get back into the markets that they had previously failed in before--down times allow for repositioning. Problem is fiber-cement is not their sole focus as comapared to Hardie. The price you pay is for the strong brand name of HardiePlank, install support, and the security of knowing Hardie will be selling fiber-cement two years from now...


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## Jer

Being a siding contractor I have installed both products for several years.
I have had no issues with either.
I do prefer the rustic cedar woodgrain of the Certainteed weatherboards over the hardi cedarmill grain and in my area the hardi is more expensive by about 15%.
I am getting ready to install fiber cement siding on my shop and inspite of the afore mentioned advantages of the Certainteed I am probably going to use Hardi.
One reason is that Certainteed recently changed their ingredients using less flyash which according to their distributor reps will be a good thing in that the dust from cutting will be less hazardous to breathe. My only concern is that more times than not when there is a major change to any product there will be some bugs that wont show up for a year or two.
The other reason I dont completely trust Certainteed is that there are several posts on the DIY sister site, Contractor Talk by contractors who have had major problems with the weatherboards. These problems however were with the old recipe material, not the new and as I stated earlier I have never had problems with the product.
I wish I could be more help here but at this point I think the jury is still out.


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## Tom Struble

certainteed never had a wood composite your thinking of LP certainteed bought cemplank which was the largest fiber-cement manufacturer in north America


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## troubleseeker

Not because of any problems I know of with other makers, but I have always installed Hardi and have never had any problems with it. It is also the most available in my area.


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## Cider

*Siding*

I also have no alligiance to either however, We have been installing Hardi for a few years now prepainted/stained and have had a few fail allready, thier primer is not staying atached to the plank and so the finish is coming off with it. And if thats not enough, Hardi says that its coating mfg problem and the coater says its hardis primer problem and that they are not having those problems with the weatherboards. We dropped hardi this year and are using soley CT products now.
Whatever you choose, if you are getting a prefinished product I highly reccomend having the plank fmg also be the coating mfg, so they cant blame a failure on someone else.

That being said, there are some untruths ive read in this thread that id like to clear up. Fisrt of all Hardi bought cemplank not Certainteed, Cemplan is now hardi's low grade 25yr warranted plank. Hardi has a large amount of silica dust in it which is cancerous ( I know what isnt, right? ) when cut with saw blades CT does not ahve any silica in it making it a safer product for the installers and the homeowners. These two products are not the same and CT is a more brittle slightly harder to work with product than the JH planks.
Also as another poster has said the products that are in large part responsible for alot of false rumors on lawsuits in the siding buisness is LP chiplap siding which is basicaly a shaped pieces of OSB with a painted finish on it. widley used because it is very inexpensive and still looks nice initially.
One other thing that CT has an advantage on in the market for those of you gettting an unfinished product is the effevessence. Ct is highly superior to hardi in this area. has no bering on prefinished products but alot of planks go up only primed.
Hope this helps.


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## Golfcowboy

*The Giant Pickle*

I finished having my 4000 sq ft house built in November 2008. I live in woods of CT so I wanted something maintenance free. After researching Hardie and Certainteed I chose CT because of the colors (Olive) and the wood grain that made it look like cedar. I am not happy about the choice! I notice from the beginning some white spots, like dust or a film. I thought it was from cutting the siding and figured in the spring I would clean it. Well come to find out it is not a film, but lime coming through because either the siding was wet or the plywood behind it. I have to say it must have been the siding because it started happening right away. The CT rep came to my house with the owner of the lumber yard to tell me this. It didn't make total sense to me because I said all siding is stored outside. You tell me everyone has the same problem??? I don't think this stuff was cured right or something. Now the want me to clean my whole house with distilled vinegar!!! Of course they take no responsibility. The lumber yard says they will help but we want to make sure all the moisture is gone before they clean it. I am not real confident that it wont come back. So much for maintenance free....... Anyone have any similar problems let me know.
Signed

The Giant Pickle


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## barneys

*Certainteed siding*

We have CT fiber cement board on our home. We built our house in 2004 and the siding is shrinking and warping and in the upper Midwest, this is a big problem for CT. I believe these problems may have put our builder out of business as he has been trying to make repairs with no or little assistance from CT. They know they have a problem in this area. They are offering to supply new siding but will not pay for any labor to replace it or to paint it. My husband and I are trying to apply pressure to them, the supplier and the builder to fix our house. We don't feel it is fair that after 4 years we should have to spend $12k to replace siding because they have a bad product. Anyone else with this problem??


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## Jer

Well I went against my first instinct and now regret it.
Earlier in this thread I said I was probably going with JH on my shop.
I went with the new "improved" CT panel and now after only 60 days I am seeing unbelievable shrinkage in the panels.
Some panels have shrunk as much as 7/16 in. in length and up to 1/4 in. in width. No warping yet but I am sure thats next after reading the post from yesterday. :furious:


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## MJW

Both are very similar, if not the same thing............garbage :yes:

I've seen it shrink, bow, peel, and pop nails within a year. Said from day one that the stuff is no good. The guys that went exclusive to these products are going to get burnt some day.


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## JZumbolo

*JH vs CT*

Both products differ only slightly, but each does have there molecular stamp. People who are having problems with it are not installing it right. There is absolutely no way it should be warping, if it is installed right. The molecular make up won't allow it to shrink and swell as much as people are supposedly experiencing. If you stick with the install specs, then problems will not occur. Spacing and gaps, nailing and nails, what kind and how you caulk, paint base and what you paint, vapor retarder vs barrier, sub-sheathing, everything that is included in the specs should be followed. And I can guarantee when the Vendor came out to the job site and inspected the work he found everything wrong with the workman, but decided to be a nice guy and offered to replace the product, but not the labor, because they shouldn't have to pay for ignorance. I have seen it many times. Heck, I am guessing, but probably only half of vinyl siders know how to install vinyl. How many times have you seen vinyl siding warp 'til it pops? Doesn't mean its garbage, it just means the installer are idiots. They give us carpenters a bad name.


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## mheadlee

barneys said:


> We have CT fiber cement board on our home. We built our house in 2004 and the siding is shrinking and warping and in the upper Midwest, this is a big problem for CT. I believe these problems may have put our builder out of business as he has been trying to make repairs with no or little assistance from CT. They know they have a problem in this area. They are offering to supply new siding but will not pay for any labor to replace it or to paint it. My husband and I are trying to apply pressure to them, the supplier and the builder to fix our house. We don't feel it is fair that after 4 years we should have to spend $12k to replace siding because they have a bad product. Anyone else with this problem??


 Yes. Live in Grove City, Ohio suburb of Columbus. We have 6" beaded siding that we paid extra for as an upgrade. Our siding is less than 5 years old and is warping terribly in areas that are near our windows. obviously due to the sun but seriously. how can i be responsible for anything other than full replacement siding and installation of a different type. this siding has an obvious manufacturing problem and should not be sold without correcting such. please let me know if you had any success with certainteed. my builder and its installing contractor said they have no responsibility to do anything.


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## Exterior Finish

Having been a siding contractor for 25 yrs as well as a custom prefinisher for 10, I can say that both products have their good and bad points. CT is definitely a denser(brittler?) product, which creates different handling requirements than JH. It also means that CT will be less susceptible to moisture infiltration than JH. In our experience, the CT Fibertect system is far superior to JH PrimePlus in both paint finish quality and in preventing efflouresence. 
To those that have had efflouresence and "excessive" shrinking issues, insist that your suppliers keep these products protected. 100% of these issues are created by moisture infiltration, and can be mitigated by proper storage and handling procedures. However, once on the jobsite, its kind of hard to blame the product when the installers have no regard to the protection of the product, or to the proper installation of it. I have seen siding sitting uncovered through torrential rains, snow, and sleet, which was then installed the next day. BAD IDEA!!! 
By ignoring the mfg's instructions, these guys give the products, the prefinisher, the general contractor, and the entire industry a black eye. 
The other thing to keep in mind, in regards to shrinking especially, is to look at the local climate you are in vs. the one the product was manufactured in. EX: Siding manufactured in Oregon and installed in AZ will most likely shrink...adjust your installation practices accordingly.


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## bobthebuilder10

mheadlee said:


> Yes. Live in Grove City, Ohio suburb of Columbus. We have 6" beaded siding that we paid extra for as an upgrade. Our siding is less than 5 years old and is warping terribly in areas that are near our windows. obviously due to the sun but seriously. how can i be responsible for anything other than full replacement siding and installation of a different type. this siding has an obvious manufacturing problem and should not be sold without correcting such. please let me know if you had any success with certainteed. my builder and its installing contractor said they have no responsibility to do anything.


Who was your installing contractor?


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## Exterior Finish

Hold the phone there!! If you are experiencing warping and delamination around your openings, it MIGHT NOT be the siding!! There are a number of things that can cause this, not the least of which is the improper installation and sealiing of windows and doors. These provide the largest chance of escaping moisture in your home and should be considered. You may want to call your builder/contractor and have them remove some of the product to check for moisture infiltration. They need to check for proper metal flashing and caulking of the product and make sure that any exposed cuts have been painted.
It is also recommended that in high humidity areas, these products be installed on a rainscreen (furring strips) so that any moisture that gets behind will either dry or drain.
It may also be that the siding(hardi i presume) is simply defective.

To date, we haven't had any warping or delamination issues with Certainteed but our local climate is dry enough that we wouldn't expect any from either product. The issue we have seen with both is shrinking in the hot summer months

Hope this helps


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## Phillysun

The Hardie product came out of the Northwest and has the longest track record. There is no perfect solution for siding that will be 100% maintenance free regardless of what some sales person says. Cedar is no longer heart grade so it will rot in 1/3 the time with a new house unless it is kept patched and painted. 

Hardie and other cement board products do contain silica which is released into the air while cutting or drilling. Silica causes silicosis (cancer) as it is too fine for the lungs to expel it and it builds up over time. My brother was a carpenter and his lungs are damaged from years of exposure to pressure treated wood. I know drywall contractors that are also afflicted from years of breathing in gypsum dust. My uncles and grandfather worked around wood all their lives but of course they never had to work with pressure treated timber or fiber cement board or be exposed to the thousands of chemicals we bring into our homes on a regular basis. I try to take precautions to minimize my exposure, particularly with insect or mold resistant products or treatments. 

Hardie recommends scoring and breaking their cement board. I use a respirator when using a cut-off saw with the product and a Hole Pro hole cutter shield when making holes for pipes and vents. Tungsten carbide cutters will work well but bi-metal hole saws are slow and dull quickly. I have cut 8" holes in ship lapped Hardie siding with the Hole Pro adjustable hole cutter with its tungsten carbide blades and using just a 18 volt cordless hand drill. With the shield all the dust is collected and dumped into a bucket for disposal. Some companies have started to make snips that work with fiber cement board and are alternative to a cut-off saw that is worth considering.


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## moonar

*Fly Ash Bricks Manufacturer in Chennai*

This forum tells about the bricks manufacturing in chennai.





Fly Ash Bricks Manufacturer in Chennai


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