Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
hoosierbred

Anyone use Apex Fiberglass siding?

hoosierbred
11 years ago

This is my first post. We are going to be building our retirement home (so our last home) hopefully next year. We have our plans and we just sent out bids to subcontractors last week. We are asking for bids for Apex fiberglass and Hardie fiber cement sidings. I posted a picture of our front and rear elevations.

Has anyone used the Apex siding? We have samples of it and Apex has sent me some photos of homes done in it. We are quite swayed regarding the low maintenance of it since we presently live in an all cedar home. The one thing they do not manufacture are shakes.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Comments (24)

  • MGDawg
    11 years ago

    I'm interested in the answer as well. Looks like a nice product. Once you get the bids back, can you post the pricing difference between the two?

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I sure will, MGDawg. Bids are due in by end of Sunday. Our son-in-law is handling that. As soon as he sends them to us, I'll report back. From what we researched, the product price was suppose to be similar to that of fiber cement. However, it's been said that labor is cheaper because it's easier to install. But we will see.

  • MGDawg
    11 years ago

    Any updates Hoosierbred?

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Son-in-law just got back in town from vacation. I'm sure he's swamped with work and family. I'm sure we'll hear something by the weekend. We are anxious to get the bids, but trying not to pressure family. :-)

  • MGDawg
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the update! Have you ruled-out Hardie or you have simply not received a quote yet?

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    My hubby has said he would prefer just going with the Apex. I like the product but would love to see it on a home and not just in pictures. We are planning to go down to our property in mid-September and we were told that a home is being built close to our property which is using the same color Apex Fiberglass we want to use. We would love to see it up close and personal before making a decision. And, we are still waiting to get all our bids in from the subcontractors so we can determine where we are on the whole construction cost and whether we need to re-bid now or wait until next year prior to building.

  • erineve
    11 years ago

    what did you end up going with? we are trying to decide between fiber cement & apex.

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We have decided to go with the Apex Fiberglass. The main reason is because we finally got to see a house up close that had it installed - and in the same color we wanted to use - Rock Garden Green. There is a new home in the final stages of building about 2 miles from where our new home will be built. We've been able to talk with the builder and the contractor who installed the Apex on that house. The contractor said he had no problem with the installation. The house looked GREAT and we were very pleased with the look.

    The home had used vinyl shakes in their gabled areas and now we think that is what we will do, too. Trying to take some cost out of our build, we have decided to eliminate the beams in the gable areas on our build. The home that we looked at didn't have any and we were pleased how it looked with the shakes.

    We are putting our present home on the market in March this year. As soon as we get an offer, we will send out final bid specs on the new place and see where we end up and optimistically hope we finally start building later this summer. Can't wait!

  • buddy110
    11 years ago

    Hoosierbred, where do you live?

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    We presently live in central Indiana. Our property where we will be building is in SW Indiana.

  • happygirl323
    10 years ago

    Hi Hoosierbred,

    I'm in Indianapolis. Would you mind sharing your siding contractor's info. I maybe adding siding to my home reno project.

    Thanks!

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    happygirl, we aren't building here in Indy area. We are building in SW Indiana. We are using Benthall Brothers in Evansville. No dealers in Indy. If you go to the Apex site and look for dealers, it appears the only other IN dealers are in Ft Wayne and in Bloomington. Apex also has a FB page. In the beginning of our decision making I posted there and got more info. The President/owner of Marvin ended up emailing me several times. Very helpful. Maybe you can find out if there will be a dealer in Indy area soon. Hope this helps.

    BTW, we ended up changing our colors due to trying to match colors with the pole barn which we will be building close to the house. But now we plan to use Clay as the primary color and Bronze for trim/accents. Still haven't started our build as we are putting our present home on the market in two weeks.

  • dadereni
    10 years ago

    Hoosierbred, congratulations on the progress of your new home project. Until you can take pictures of your own Apex in a few months, if it isn't too difficult would you be able to snap a few photos of that nearby house--especially close ups of where pieces meet, at corners, windows, at a sloped roof, etc. So as to see whether at arm's length this could appear much as wood siding. Most of us won't have ready access since this isn't in widespread use yet, and it would be good to see real world pictures not touched by the manufacturer. Certainly promising as it doesn't need to be caulked at ends and would stand up to water and weather extremes better than hardie. Thanks,

  • happygirl323
    10 years ago

    Thanks Hoosierbred. I will try to contact them through FB or the Apex website. Do post pics when it's complete. I'm sure it will be beautiful!

  • ribidibi
    10 years ago

    We just started our 109-year old house exterior re-do -- using Apex siding with Ex-Cel color trim boards (factory-applied two part ceramic pigment, urethane finish). Ours is the 1st house in Boston proper to use these two products. We went with them because the Apex boards look like clapboard and the Ex-Cel trim comes in colors -- so we won't have to paint the house again! They've stripped the old clapboards and wrapped the house and started putting up the trimboards. The colors (SW's Intellectual Gray trim with Colonial Gold siding) look great together. I'll post more photos as the job progresses.

    Big smiles! Ri

  • hoosierbred
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    ribidibi, glad you were able to get the Apex siding. We will not be using the Apex siding after-all. The distributor in our area is no longer able to order or install the product. We even called another distributor but their install crew will not travel to install it.

    So, we have gone with Plan B. At this time, we have bid out LP siding and LP trim boards. We might go with the LP shakes for our gable areas, but we like the Certainteed Cedar Impressions Double Staggered Perfection Vinyl Shingles, too, for the shakes. The vinyl shingles would save us some $$.

    Can't wait to see what your home looks like after the siding has been installed.

  • ribidibi
    10 years ago

    Thx, Hoosierbred. I wonder why Apex is so hard to get installed? We had a long conversation with the finish carpenter who works for Cape Cod Lumber about Apex, while he was putting it on their new building in Abington, MA. He said it was much easier to work with than Hardie Board. We drove down to Abington just to see the product on a building. Its being used in western Mass. but not here in the city. Now Cape Cod Lumber is a distributor. That's where our contractor, Yeti Home Improvements, gets it. So glad we're able to use it. Good luck with your project, too, Hoosierbred. I think the shingles will look awesome. That's the one thing I'd have liked to ads to the house re-do. Next time. LOL.

  • dadereni
    10 years ago

    I got my hands on some samples of the smooth finish apex clapboard and corner trim. I was impressed with the material. In my opinion it's a great improvement over vinyl, especially if you get clean cuts and butt to the trim rather than use the alternate j channel pieces. I'd want to see some completed projects before saying how it compares to a solid product like cedar or fiber cement. Certainly a lot easier to lift and cleaner to cut than fiber cement, and nice profile closer to the hardie artisan than the standard thin hardie plank. Ribidibi, do post some progress photos, I'd like to see how it goes and how the details are handled where it meets the roof.

    This post was edited by dadereni on Fri, Jul 19, 13 at 19:14

  • ribidibi
    10 years ago

    Here's an update on our residing project using the Apex. A couple of the Apex corporate people came out to see how it was going (since this is the first house in Boston using it). They said our crew was doing an excellent job with the installation. We've been a bit hampered with rain, but it's coming along. Wait until you see the brick colored moulding that's going around the windows. Coming soon!

  • PRO
    Windows on Washington Ltd
    10 years ago

    Looks great.

    I have seen the stuff and while it is harder to work with and certainly a material premium, it looks great on the home.

  • ribidibi
    10 years ago

    we're getting closer... on a short hiatus while more siding is ordered. still a lot of trim work to do, but coming along. the apex looks amazing. keep getting the "what? that's not clapboard?" reaction from passersby and neighbors.

  • ribidibi
    10 years ago

    P.S. All the trim will eventually be gray, the alcove painted, and the mouldings finished. But... I'm lovin' it!

  • mindyslo
    4 years ago

    ribidibi - are you still loving the Apex? We are in Needham (previously in JP) and need to re-do our siding.