i need to give a shout out for the nichiha. we have weathered gray and it looks so beautiful on our home. it has a lot of tonal variation in it, so not "flat" color. the installers really liked working with it as there was NO breakage. it has a nice, heavy reveal, more similar to real cedar. this was my main complaint and what i felt was lacking with the other brands.

i took a lot of slack from our architect and builder as they'd never heard of it. my husband was beginning to cave. i'm glad i stuck to my guns. they're all amazed at how beautiful it is and now recommend it to others.

nichiha will send samples free (and very quickly) so give them a call. good luck!

I can only tell you what NOT to use....Certainteed fiber cement siding!! Ours has cracked, split, and is shrinking! We have replaced several boards to only have it do it again!!
I have had others email me with similar problems so, Good Luck!

We live in a rainforest so the building code for exterior cladding has evolved to deal with the higher than average rainfall in our region. Local code requires a capillary break comprised of treated wood sticks be installed underneath cementboard siding. I haven't seen or heard anyone locally having issues with their Hardie/Certainteed. It makes me wonder if other jurisdications have similar requirements and whether it may solve some of the issues that have been reported with all brands of cementboard.

We just finished our house with Nichiha Sierra Premium shakes in Mahogany. They did a great job, especially since it flares over the stone, has mitered corners and the curve at the face of the gambrel. Obviously, we don't know what the track record will be, but we haven't heard of any real issues with Nichiha.

Here is a picture that our neighbor took for us on Christmas day:

Jo Ann

funny thing is, everyone comments on not knowing Nichiha, but Nichiha is a much much larger company then James Hardie. It is basically THE standard in Japan and other areas on that side of the world. It has not grown in the US residential market until recently in the last few years. They have far more options as far as stamped cladding options, as well as clip systems for install which not only decreases install time, but also creates a rain screen cladding which is required over exterior XPS foam applications. We spec it on a lot of our projects, but really you can not go wrong with either JH or Nichiha.

Do the nichiha shakes need to be re-colored after a certain amount of time? If so, how long does the original coloration last and how is it redone?

We are using LP Siding. I have read many threads on GW about the good and bad of the various fiber cement products available (I found the web full or horror stories on all of them, Hardie, LP, etc). My recommendation is to ensure the installer of your siding is highly experienced with that particular product and is officially certified/trained by the company manufacturing the siding. The key is proper installation of whatever product you choose. So many of the problems people run into with these products is due to incorrect installation and that is where homeowners have been left in some really bad situations. My builder was using Hardie for quite some time and is now using LP - he has had very positive experiences with both products (and we live in the weather challenged midwest! lol)

Best wishes in your new build!

We do appreciate the thoughts that you all have contributed toward our decision making process regarding siding for our new home to be!

We want to replace the awful vinyl siding on our 16 yr old home with a cement fiber product. We've only heard of Hardie, so I'm glad to see there are other options. Are the Nichiha shakes individual shakes or do they come in a "stamped" plank?
Also,what trim was used on your homes? The pictures are beautiful!

We are also using LP SmartSide on our new home. Our builder highly recommends it for both quality and price.

The Nichiha on our house is factory "stained" with Duckback Woodperfect stain and the warranty is for 12 years. The material is in planks, not individual shakes. The trim is Miratec, I think.

If you want to see other examples of Nichiha on the forum, do a search on "gobruno". I also found a thread from persnicketydesign with lots of pictures by doing a google search.

BTW - the US factory is in GA & DH got good support by talking to them before we made the decision. Also, if you don't like the colors Nichiha offers for factory stained, you can look up Carolina Colortones who does other coolors using Woodperfect with the same as factory warranty (I think).

HTH - Jo Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: Persnickety's Macadamia Nichiha Thread

Thanks saune and drjoann for great info.
Happy New Year!