i'm not sure how much help i can be, but we're doing fiber cement. probably nichiha. i would prefer to go with one of their stained pre finished colors but am still unsure.

if i do a custom color i want them to do it. it will probably cost more than having it painted on site, but the finish is under warranty which i believe is the case with all of the factory finishes. a little more peace of mind in a project like this seems worth the cost. GL, i hope all goes well.

sturdy, there has been much talk of this topic. It is definitely cheaper to get prepainted siding UNLESS you're going to do the paiting labor yourself.

As far as ordering it from the factory already painted:

We read about ColorPlus on the Hardie website and decided THIS is the product we will be using on our new build. (We live in the Pacific NorthWest, BTW).

When we met with our sider (who's been siding for 30+ years and is AMAZING)... he said, "As a friend, I will not let you put that stuff on your house."

Don't get me wrong... he thinks Hardie is great, it's just their ColorPlus system that he's not fond of. He says he's had nothing but problems with it.

What he recommends is going to a third party coating company, who has a much better coating process, better warranty, and you can pick ANY paint color from anywhere and they can match it. And that's what we'll be doing.

Good luck to you. :)

great info whidbey, thank you very much!

We have prefinished certainteed. In case you don't know this, Certainteed comes in 20 or so standard colors, but you can also get it in a LOT of other colors. Just ask your Certainteed sales person for the custom color paint chips and you might find that you can get your Hardie on the Certainteed. I don't recall there being much of a price difference between a standard color and a custom color.

Thank you for the info. Carolyn53562...was the lead time greater for the custom color? If so, do you know how much longer? Whidbey...did you haul all of the siding to the coating company and then pick it up and take to the house? How much did the coating company charge? We may side the house and wait to paint till we find the right color and price to paint. The manufacturer says we have up to 2 yrs to paint.

Sturdy, no... the lumber yard sends it over (no charge). Well, probably a hidden charge in there somewhere. :)

We're actually waiting for the lumber yard's call tomorrow regarding the price. I already know it's going to be a whole lot less than what it would have cost to paint. Plus, with our weather here (LOTS of rain) we wouldn't have been able to paint for some time. Will let you know the cost when we find out. :)

Well we looked into the custom paint by Certainteed. It takes 4 weeks. We do not have 4 weeks.

Whidbey...what was the lead time on sending it to a coating shop? Please let me know what the charge for the coating is when you get it.

sturdy, should be hearing on Monday. I thought I remembered my sider saying it would be a week to ten days. Will let you know when I find out. :)

We were just told 3 to 4 weeks for Certainteed to be painted as well. That is in Vancovuer, B.C. Were you given a 25 year guarantee with yours?

Gardenmax
could you tell me wher you found the best deal on Certainteed in the vancouver area?
Tks

Yep, 25 year warranty too. :)

Sturdy, I finally received the dollar figures, but it's all lumped together. I need to find out cost per board before I post anything or it won't even make any sense.

Just waiting to hear back from my siding guy... again. :)

sturdy, got the pricing back though I'm not sure of cost per board. Total price for entire house pre-painted including the Hardi siding is $8,513.00. It was only $2,541.00 to have it painted and the siding itself was just under $6,000 (for a total of $8,513.00).

Ordering tomorrow morning and it should take two to three weeks until delivery. Lumber yard will send the order right over to Woodtone and Woodtone delivers it to the jobsite.

Hope this helps. ;)

Whidbey, how many square feet are you covering with the siding? Does your price of $8513.00 include installation?

eastgate, no. That's materials only. Siding labor is approx. $11,500. Not sure how many square feet as there are too many sides to tally up. We have 9' ceilings (10' in the garage). House is a modest 2800 square feet inside. The siding cost includes all of the trimboards and soffit material as well... but not the cedar shingles on top or the stone on the bottom.

Canuck 50, sorry for the delay. We were on a long holiday and then the computer had trouble. We bought our Certainteed from Curtis Lumber on Marine Drive in Burnaby. Now we are having issues with the dollar amount for Hardie shingles. We are only using the shakes in the peaks and around the front door. The quotes, including the 25 year guarantee paint is close to $8,000.00. Unbelievable. These are separate hardie shingles, not the ones that come on the strip with about 5 shingles. Anyone out there have any prices like this or thoughtful solutions around it. Hopefull for answers.

We are making the same choices right now. It was cheaper for me where I live in Wisconsin to go with the Hardie Colormax than to hire someone to paint. I have been warned several times to stay away from Certainteed, they are being suid right now for some problems with their siding. Hardie seems to be okay and I have heard that the pre-finished stuff is nicer than having it painted. Yet to find out when I order though.

Missleah; every large company that makes exterior building products has been sued, including Hardi. About a month ago, someone was planning to do just that.

I've used both products and can't tell the difference (other than slight pattern).