HOW GORGEOUS IS THAT?!?!?!?! IT LOOKS FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for sharing.

It looks beautiful, Jaymie!!! I love the color. Can't wait to see more of it finished, please continue with the updates. This is so exciting!!!!

Amy

Thanks guys. I am SO happy. I honestly had visions of my DH and I out there hanging it with our GC (which is a recipe for disaster). After we had all the material sitting in the back yard, our first sider backed out saying "he didn't want to mess with it". That was a bit scary, but our GC is fabulous and worked through it much more calmly then me. Now, all I want to know is if the new siders are cussing us out with every board they hang or if they've found it really isn't so different than Hardie. I'm anxious to talk to our GC and find out.

Ohhh...you are such a tease! Can't wait to see the whole thing! The little glimpse looks fantastic!

I know you slept well last night. LOL It looks fabulous!!! Please keep posting progress photos.

Thanks lindy and persnickety, I'm headed out to the house in a few hours. Hopefully the siders returned today. Maybe they will be done! (kidding) :)

tease is right! tell those guys to speed it up and show us more skin! looking good ...can't wait for MORE!

Here are a few more pictures for those who are interested. I would say they are 75ish percent complete. They still have the entire back of the house to do (which is mostly windows but makes for a lot of cuts). The windows are trimmed out in the back though and look really nice.

A bit of information for those of you interested in the installation. I talked to the installers and they said it was going on a lot easier than expected. They said it was fun to do something different. They said the material was a lot more sturdy than Hardie and that you could pick up an entire piece without fear of it breaking. The downside it that cutting the siding produces some rather noxious remnants. The guy doing the cuts was wearing a mask. The other thing we were worried about was the depth of the trim boards. Here is a close up of that.

I forgot to measure exact dimensions when I was out there, but if anyone is interested, I can do that.

Here is the right side of the front of the house. The lower portion will be stone and the garage doors will be cedar wood doors to match the siding. The braces will all be painted to match the trim color which is basically the cladding color on the windows.

Here is the north side of the house

I think the pics show much more of a "sheen" than I ever notice in person.

Here is the south side of the house.

Here you can see how they are trimming out the windows. I was concerned they were going to skip the "sill" but they had been added over the siding today.

Finally, here is a picture of the front of the left side of the house. I don't think they quite have the right break between were siding stops and stone starts, so I have to talk to the GC on Monday about this.

If anyone has any specific questions, please feel free to ask and I'll get you as much information as I can. I realize I'm a guinea pig of sorts. :) j.

How important is it too get the trim finish-painted beforehand?
Seems like the best way to avoid tons of cutting in where the lap shingles meet vertical trims on the narrow edges.
Casey

Casey, I agree that it would have been desirable to paint the trim before installing the siding to avoid having to meticulously "cut in" where the shake meets the vertical trim boards. Unfortunately, we did not do that. Luckily, we do have a very good painter lined up to do all our exterior painting and staining and the color of our trim will be very close to the primed color of the trim. Hopefully that will help. Jaymie

Hey jaymielo,

Welcome to the wonderful world of Nichiha siding. We have no buyers remorse, and it sounds like you don't either. It will be interesting to see how well it holds up over the years. What color did you choose? It looks a lot like ours. And if you think you feel like a guinea pig, we were really pioneers in the Northeast!

Joan

Hi Joan! You were truly the guinea pig and I'm so happy you were. We would never have found this product without your generosity in sharing on GW. I am honestly indebted to you and am so happy with the product.

It will be interesting to see how it weathers. Ours was also obviously prestained also, so I'm really hoping it lives up to (and exceeds?) it's 12 yr finish warranty.

We went with the mahogany color which is just a little less red than your redwood. We did end up putting in the corner boards (which I'm regretting as I look at your beautiful corners this morning) but I still love the product and am very happy with the way it is turning out. Is your trim "creamy" or is it white. I seem to remember you used Miratec trim boards... Did you paint over them?

Hope you are enjoying your gorgeous home and thanks again for sharing so generously on GW.

Jaymie

Isn't fun to see something work out so well?! Our trim is Azac, and it was painted, what I call, a very light buttery yellow to match the windows. BTW, your house looks beautiful.

I thought it was interesting to hear the feedback from your install people. Our guys had never worked with it, but were more than willing to try their hand at it, and they had the same feeback as your guys did. Although, I was not happy to see that they didn't wear masks when cutting the boards. Sigh.

Joan

It is great fun to see something work out. I'm so interested to see if people will recognize that is a unique product or if no one will notice. We just can't look at it without prejudice.

Our installers are also not really wearing masks. The other day, the one doing the actual cuts had a very small "medical" type mask on, but definitely not the recommended "proper fitted respirators".

You're trim color looks very nice with redwood shake. Ours will be "Beach House" by SW, which is very close to the cladding color on the windows. I would call it a "warm" white. I'm really hoping things look good when we have all the pieces there. We have to add in the stone and the trim to know for sure.

Jaymie

I am so glad you all shared info about this product!! Thanks again!

Your house is turning our just beautiful! You should be proud of all of your decisions! Great job!

Stanza so glad to be reminded of your lovely home. Just wondering how the weathering is with your siding. Are you pleased? TIA!

That looks so beautiful, Jaymie! I'm blown away, just a gorgeous end result. Congratualtions, looking forward to more pics!!

Amy

You are all so kind. Thanks for all the support and letting me share. j.

Hi eventhecatsaboy (my goodness that is a mouthful),

We are just coming out of our first winter with the siding and it looks as good as new. Like Jaymie, I'm hoping the stain will hold up long past the 12 yr. warranty. I know the siding itself will long out last my time on earth!

Joan

Jaymie & Joan thanks for sharing your opinions and pics of your beautiful homes. I sure wish we had known of this product before we put in our DIY Natural stain cedar planks. We were so opposed to anything other than wood to go with our Timber Frame....but I think your siding would have worked for us... oh well...at least I love to stain. Good thing...huh.

Here is the back of our house, hopefully will get the back door in now that the weather is starting to get nicer, then we can finish up that section. I stained every single one of those boards!!! Plus painted the trim before it went up.

flowerchild,

I was just recently admiring your home on another thread. I commented that I think we have the same front door. Is yours from International Door? We only have the sidelights in so far (with a bang door) but they look very similar.

Your cedar is beautiful and matches your home perfectly. DH and I were originally very opposed as well to using anything other than real cedar until we discovered the Nichiha product. For us, it was a good compromise, but nothing beats the beauty of the real thing.

Best of luck finishing up your DIY project! Such a lot of work! You are to be admired. Jaymie

Yes, it does look like the same door. I don't remember what the company is. It took me 3 weeks to get the nerve to stain it. I finally just went with a natural stain. I love it. Did you pick out your hardware for it? We went with Emtek. A nice solid, very heavy piece. It has the little piece that covers the key hole. It looks nice but is a pain to open when you have your hands full because you have to raise the cover with one hand and put the key in with the other.

Thanks for your encouraging words. IT IS A LOT OF WORK!! We have to look at it as a "hobby" or just a "way of life",,,,in order to keep our sanity. And the mantra "It will be worth it all in the end"

flowerchild. Is your door mahogany or another wood species? I'm sure it was nerve racking to stain.

I was just looking at entrance sets this morning. Emtek is the front runner. I did not know that about the key hole though. Thanks for the information. That is definitely something to consider.

Best of luck finishing up! Jaymie

Jaymie- your house is looking great! How exciting! Love your siding!

Joan- your home is just gorgeous.

PD

Jaymie - Yes, the door is Mahogany. Actually it wasn't that difficult to stain once I decided which stain to use. I don't mind a couple of small indiscrete splotches. To me that makes it look more custom-made. I don't attempt to give it that look but if it comes out that way so be it...

I will look up the entry set so you know which one I'm talking about. I thought that little piece was extra $ but it came with it. At first I was excited that we got it but after using it a couple times and scratching it with the key I decided I didn't like it.

Flowerchild,

We haven't attempted to stain ours yet... I'm delaying the torture of choosing the stain for it until the siding and stone is done and the garage doors are stained. There are just too many "unknowns" in my mind right now and I'd like to see as many components together as possible before I make a decision. It definitely does look like the same door though. I was excited to see yours installed because ours is being held by our lumber company (who took delivery) so I've never actually seen it in person. Just the sidelights. I'm assuming I won't see it for quite a long time because we are leaving the bang door in place as long as possible to prevent damage to the door.

Is this the Emtek entryset you put on? From the Arts and Crafts or Craftsman collection? I'd love to see a picture of the finished product if you get a chance sometime. And any more info you can dig up on the lock would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!!!

I was torn between going with a very dark stain or natural, extremes on both ends. All the trim on windows/doors is white and I knew I didn't want that on Mahogany.
The Arts & Craft is not the one we have. I did consider that one. I have posted a link to the site where we purchased it, along with some inside and outside pics of the door with hardware.

Front Entry door with hardware installed:

Inside with hardware installed:

Close up of inside hardware:

Close up of outside hardware. See the little swingy thingy that covers the keyhole? That's the pain I was talking about.

I hope seeing the actual door with hardware in place will help you in making your decision. Soooo many decisions huh...

Here is a link that might be useful: Knobs & Things

Thanks flowerchild for all the pictures. The door and hardware look GREAT! I love your door (and hence mine, lol) and I also really like the look of that handle set from the inside. It looks so rustic and hand forged. Man, I can't wait to get mine installed. The waiting is killing me... j.

jaymie: It was very exciting when got the door installed. At that point I finally felt it was truly a home and the door was inviting me in. The handle is rustic. I tend to lean more towards the Arts & Craft look and DH likes rustic, so every decision is a compromise. Luckily those two styles can be mixed W/O looking "wrong".

I stumbled upon this thread while searching for siding options. Since that time I have received samples from Nichiha, and are fairly certain of the product, still up in the air with color. Thank you and Joan for sharing views of your home, they are beautiful.

June, I'm so happy to have helped someone else since Joan brought the product to my attention oh so long ago. Best of luck with with your project and please let us know how it turns out! I love to see finished pictures! Please let us know if you have any questions. Jaymie

I'm another Nichiha siding lurker that has been following Jaymielo and Joan's progress - thank you both very much for all the info!

I spoke with the (only) CA distributor of Nichiha products yesterday, and got a little pricing info that I thought I'd share (I'm only talking about the CF shingle siding product, not lap siding). He said he sells Nichiha's primed shingles at about 30% less than Hardie's "raw" product (i.e. needs to be primed, adding cost to the job). Nichiha's painted or stained products sell for just a smidge over Hardie's raw product.

He said that while they've carried Nichiha for years, it's only in the last year or so that the product has gotten significant requests. Feedback from contractors, he says, has been good - they like the way it looks. Like most of us, they like the thickness (and the resulting shadow) that the shingles have. He hasn't heard anything in the negative about installation (pre-drilling or anything like that), though he said they haven't really asked about it, either.

He sent a few pictures that their sales rep took of recent installations (mostly charcoal gray) and they were stunning.

Hope that helps - I think we're going with Nichiha, if we ever get our building permit (initial plans have been with the city for almost a month now, with no feedback yet - argh!).

gerberadaisy, Thanks for the additional information for all those interested in the product. I have a little more on pricing... persnicketydesign reported in March of this year that
Locally it's running $198.00 per square for primed or $305.00 per square for stainted/painted.

Before we had a GC (this was me walking into a builder's supply company a little over a year ago) I was quotes $16.80 a piece, each of which covers 5.17 sq ft, so if I'm doing my math right, that is approximately $325/square. I don't have the exact numbers handy on what it ended up costing us per square with our GC's discount.

I do know that when our GC priced the siding, we said it was very expensive but once he saw it he said he could see why, since it was so sturdy and realistic in appearance. Because he said it was so pricey, I've often wondered if we were getting taken when I hear other people report that the Nichiha is running less that Hardie. However, in retrospect, our GC was probably making this comparison to primed Hardie lap siding. It is fairly rare in our area of the country to see an entire house finished in one material, even in high end neighborhoods. Lots of houses will use one product on the front and then use lap on the sides and back, so in comparison, our choice is probably more expensive, but worth every penny in my mind.

Your house siding is beautiful. We just sided our entire house ( 70 sq.)
with individual cedar shakes. A long process for sure, your product may have saved us some time. Is it a composite or a real wood product. Like you we definitely had issues with siders and finding someone who could install shakes. It is very uncommon out here in the west to do all shake. We did finally find someone and I must say I love it. We had been planning to let it weather naturally but have been talking about staining as of late. Seeing your beautiful stained siding makes me even more likely to consider that as an option. Here's how my house looks now. Not quite finished with columns and much clean-up and landscaping yet to do. We are still about a month away. After 2 years I have had many sleepless nights, I am glad you can rest a little easier now.

acountryfarm, Stunning house! 70 sq is a lot! It turned out beautifully.

Nichiha is a composite fiber cement product. We were initially going to use real shake. In fact, my husband absolutely refused to build this house with anything except the real deal until I discovered the Nichiha product thanks to Joan. For the look we were trying to achieve, I thought we would really need to be on top of things to keep the real shake nice and dark to prevent weathering and, let's be honest, I know us. I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it and lately, just too tired lately to tackle that project. For us, this was a perfect compromise.

However, your house is gorgeous! Love all that shake. What a beauty.

It looks great jaymielo! We eventually went with natural cedar clapboard and painted them individually like flowerchild. Now I'm wishing our's could last 12 years without needing maintenance!

The siders are finally done, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of the back. We had a several week delay waiting for the second half of our siding to be delivered from Nichiha. It's not the "complete" package because now we are waiting on the stone (half of which they had to produce also, story of our life), but we are slowly getting there. They are working on the inside, so I'll focus on that for now... Lot's to stress about. ;-) Hope you are all well! j.

The trim hasn't been painted yet, but it will be SW Beach House which is very close to the Cashmere aluminum cladding on the windows. The chase on the right side of the house will be clad in stone.

The double "man" doors here will be trimmed out with boards to match the garage doors in the front and add a little visual interest.

We are still "thinking" about the corner boards. Not sure whether to try and match the mahogany color in the siding or to paint the same color as the trim. Anyone have an opinion?

jaymielo--
Your siding looks beautiful, I bet you feel much more relaxed now. Such a long process and it can so stressful.
We also did not paint our trim before siding went up, or should I say our contractor forgot. We had an original bid to paint All window/door trim for 1,000 before siding went on. Well now that siding is on painter says 8,500. Just figures, really thought contractor should pick up the painting at this point.

Anyway, beautiful home, have fun working on inside.

Oh man. I hope our bid doesn't jump that much, but we will see. That would be a real kick in the head... Oh well, another issue for another day. Thanks for the kind words acountryfarm. I'm really looking forward to shifting my attention "inward" (and I wish I was speaking philosophically) for a bit. j.

finally! i've been waiting on you for weeks! you must be so thrilled ...it looks gorgeous, really. now i can't wait to see the inside! as for the corner boards, i think i'd paint. either way it will look beautiful. please keep us updated!

kateskouros, YOU'VE been waiting! I've been in pain! ;-)

Thanks for your feedback on the corner boards. I'm thinking the same these days, but I may have to play around a little bit in photoshop to convince DH. I'm liking the contrast and definition they provide and think the corner boards compliment the window trim.

They started on sheetrock today and got maybe a third of it done. Very happy to finally see our "rooms". Now for floors, paint, cabinets and frosting. There are so many things to coordinate, but I'm itching to be done, sleeping in our new bedroom, cooking in our new kitchen, etc! Our rental is looking mighty shabby these days. This is definitely one of the fun parts. (Of course they all have been when I'm not swearing about the friggin' house. lol.)

Hi Jaymie and Joan

I'm thinking of using Sierra Premium for a shed. I take it you are both in New England and am wondering where you ordered the board from.
Many thanks

Simon

Simon, We are actually in the Midwest. We called Nichiha and they were able to refer us to the distributor in the area who when referred us to the local reseller. Nichiha was very helpful and sent lots of samples. I would suggest contacting them directly.

Jaymielo: Wow, I just sent you a msg asking the color of your house near the beautiful wood stairway and now I just saw your house (and Joan's) with the beautiful siding and my heart is racing! It is gorgeous! I love the colors on both houses so it would be difficult to choose at this time. We are just at the tail end of finishing up drawings for our house and starting to look at more of the details. Our house will have a little of the arts and craft, contemporary and asian look. Would you think the siding you chose be appropriate for this style (as best as I can describe)? Our designer is talking cedar siding but hasn't mentioned what kind, style since we really haven't gotten there yet. I would like to tell him about this product. What do you call your kind of siding that seems to overlap? Thanks much for your help and congratulations on a beautiful home!

Hi kulagal, Joan is the real pioneer here. I discovered the Nichiha product on GW when I was looking for an alternative to cedar siding to minimize maintenance. At that time, she posted her gorgeous home and about a two years later, we used the same product, but with a slightly different finish color.

We attempted to build our house with an arts and crafts feel, although now that it is nearly done, most of the neighbors refer to it as the Cape Cod house. Go figure. I definitely think that real cedar siding or the Nichiha Premium Sierra Siding (which is the overlapping siding you see above) would be appropriate on an arts and crafts inspired home. We have been extremely happy with the product.

Good luck with your decisions and please ask any questions you may have. I love to give back to the forum which shaped and changed our home in so many ways. There are more pictures on our blog which you are more than welcome to peruse for ideas if you want. We are about 2 weeks out (fingers crossed) from completion.

Oh wow! Your whole house is looking great! I think I would say that you definitely went toward the Arts & Craft style - certainly in the interior. It was great looking through your blog. I'm hoping we can eventually set something like that up for friends and family. Two questions: Love your garage - is that the Nichiha siding as well or real cedar wood? Where did you resource them? Also, your entrance door - beautiful - what company did you use? I love how you used stained glass in the window areas. How lucky you are to finally be close to moving in. Thanks for all your help! Cheers!

The garage doors are real cedar. They are River Pointe garage doors by Raynor finished per the manufacturers specifications with Sikkens Cetol 23. We bought them locally through our GC after LOTS of searching. The front door was made by the International Door and Latch. This we sourced this ourselves and got a very reasonable price on it from e-doors.com. Good luck with your build! I'll watch for your plans/progress posts! j.