We're using Vinyl shakes by Tapco. We haven't chosen the exact ones yet, but are leaning toward the Weathered Vinyl collection that has the varying shades of color on each shingle, just like regular weathered cedar would have.

The website is linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vinly shakes

Hardiplank and Certainteed come to mind, both have cement fiber ciding that looks like shakes. We chose hardiplank shakes for portions of our exterior. Happy with them so far.

Amy

We used Nichiha's fiber cement shakes on our house. We chose the Redwood color, but they have three other colors of brown to chose from.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nichiha web site

Stanza - your house is beautiful. !!

I read somewhere that with nichiha that I need thicker trim - is this correct..?

we're building a shingle style and will definitely go with nichiha. in photographs it looks great, but if you see it in person it is outstanding. so much more believable than anything else. i've seen hardi, certainteed and the other vinyl options. the nichiha has a much thicker profile ...like genuine cedar so it gives off a very realistic look. if you choose a stained panel there are variations in the tone. not just a flat surface. it gives it a greater depth. i called nichiha and they sent me sample boards of each color and also put me in touch with a distributor in my area. when i phoned the distributor he let me know there was a club house at a local golf course going up using nichiha. ten minutes later i was there viewing it IRL, kids in tow. i was sold. thanks again, stanza for showing us your lovely home and for giving me a heads up on this product. before i saw nichiha i was very unsatisfied with my options for a decent shingle. no more worries in the siding department. now i move on to the inside! and yes, i think you'll need a thicker trim. if you use the search function you'll find a thread that goes into some detail about this. GL!

Doogan123 - yes you probably will need thicker trim. We used Azac and my contractor had to use two layers of that trim.

Joan

WOW - That is exactly what i am looking for. It looks pretty good. So this is a plain hardiplank shingle - just stained with superdeck mason select?. Is this a particular color - Does it come from the factory pre finished..? was it more expensive than any other color..?

thanks - i really like both this and the nichiha look from above

I'm growing my own Cedar trees. But they are not mature. It will take 5 more years to gain full maturity. I have them in 100 acre land. Its like a forest for me. Just wait for 5-6 more year if you need them i'll gonna sell you very cheaply.

Cheers mate.

Doogan,

Thanks. Yes it is plain hardiplank shingle stained with Superdeck's Woodperfect brand stain. I think all the base colors were the same price. Our builder found it for about $30 a gallon if I remember correctly. It was applied in a local finishing shop that our builder uses. Oh yeah, the color is Mahogany.

We had also looked at Nichiha, but choose the hardiplank - can't remember why now.

Blade Gardener - This is perfect. Can you give more details on the staining process? Did you end up paying a premium over having it done at the manufacturer? Did your builder give you any insight on how the stain would hold up over time? Most of the pre-stain guys give a 12 year warranty. Expecting the same???

Doogan,
We put Nichia on our gables and love it. Our installer put 1/4 plywood behind the 5/4 trim to make it work.
I don't have a picture to post as I am on the road, but will try to do so next week.

FYI in my area I found that the pre-finished Nichia was about 1/2 cost per square of the pre-finised Hardieplank shingles.
Around $350 a square versus almost $800 a square for the Hardie plank.

We have Certainteed in a green/gray. As others have pointed out, it comes in a few different colors. You can see photos of ours on my blog, below. Excuse the mess on the porch...

Here is a link that might be useful: My house building blog

blade_gardener Do you still live in this house? how did the stain hold up?

Apparently blade gardener hasn't been active since 2007.