Joan,

Thanks so much for the helpful information and the pictures. This is exactly the kind of information I was hoping to learn! My husband will be delighted to see this!

Jaymie

Jaymielo - you are more than welcome. It's nice to be of some help. I am a very practical person, and knew based on my and other peoples experience in the area with cedar shakes, that I wanted to go a different route. And the thought of paying someone around $15,000 (that is the estimate for my area) to scrape and stain every 5 years, made the decision even easier. While the stain is only guaranteed for 12 years, I'm guessing that it will last longer, JMO. I looked at a house locally that used Hardishakes, and I did not like it as well as the Nichiha. The Nichiha is a bit thicker than the Hardishakes, giving it a more realistic look. The only thing about Nichiha, is that they are not a big player in the NE. So you might have a problem finding a dealer. Let me know if that is the case, because my contractor has the reps. name for the NE.

BTW - the Mascord house that you are looking at, is gorgeous. Has a lot of character.

Sue36 - we live in Connecticut on the western side.

Joan

I have put cedar shingles on a lot of houses in New England since the first one in '77. I can think of no reason why they would need to be scraped and stained every 5 years.

The only thing that will happen to the shingles shown below in 5 years is the color will be a little more of a silver gray. In 10 years the owners may want to wash them if there is any black fungus growth which will grow on any less than smooth surface. In 15 years they might want to add another coat of stain on the southern face but that's mostly roof and windows.

In my opinion, nothing looks better or is easier to maintain than real cedar shingles.

Those nichihas look as close to the real deal as i've seen, at least in the picture, but as m.a. stated, it's hard to beat the look of real cedar. I've installed a lot of sidewall on cape cod using white cedar,with red cedar on the roofs. This was many moons ago.It was traditional and many folks simply let them weather naturally.They were long life roofs and siding. Im sure the building practices have changed on the cape same as most every where else, but i was sure impressed with the traditional practices and quality built homes there ,even back then.

thanks stanza for posting the pics of your siding. i sent the company an email and am anxiously awaiting a sample. i've always loved the look of cedar if ony... if only it weren't wood ...termites, carpenter ants, woodpeckers...if only it wouldn't "weather" to that silver gray so many love but i unfortunately do not... if only i were convinced once stained it would not need any upkeep for 15 years... i am not...
now my choice is between the hardi shingle and the nichihas. thanks again, but will you post more pics of your lovely house?

All building cladding systems have deficiencies although some systems are too new for the problems to be well known or completely understood so they can look more promising than the older ones. There is no perfect solution.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardiplank issues

Jaymie, part of the answer depends on where you live. In the Pacific NW cedar shingles do not weather like they do back east. If left untreated they mold. I've had two houses with cedar shingles here. The first I reoiled every 2 years and they kept their new look. The second house had the shingles put on in 1900. They were painted and looked good. But they took a pressure washer cleaning every two years but always looked good. But sooner or later they take scraping before repainting. On our new house we're going with Hardie lap. Tom

Hey Jaymie,
Have you decided one way or another? I am also in the same quandry as you. I love the Nichiha product, and they have it available down here in the South where I am building, but the problem is installation. No one is familiar with it... though similar to Hardie, it's much thicker (1/2") and when lapped one on top of the other, the thickness is 1 1/8". Considering the real thickness of 5/4 trim board is 1", the Nichiha will stick out farther than the trim. Unfortunately for Nichiha also, I've talked with their sales engineer in the area and they don't have trim pieces available, no corners, no trim, nada. Hardie trim is also 1", so can't use those. The only option I see is to use 2x4s which are 1 1/2" thick. But then ya lose the low-maintenance one is trying to achieve with the fiber-cement. And it will have to be painted to match the Nichiha product. On top of that, since the product is so thick, one needs to pre-drill the holes to hang it... something most siding installers don't like to do and will charge extra for. Definitely have to do it though, a nail will break the siding every time. I'm almost resigned to going with Hardie for the simple reason of installation. Wondered what you had decided?

i'm wondering too, as we still have not figured out which material to use. our architect is pushing real cedar, but i'm just not convinced. it's not that we expect to live maintenance free (we'll need to repaint all the wood clad windows) but we don't expect to have to pay a painter the same amount as new siding would cost.
i received samples from nichiha (they were great to deal with, sent MANY samples free of charge and provided the info of a local distributor) but the finish looks SO shiny. we took a ride to see some houses finished with the nichiha siding and the finish actually gave off a glare in the sunlight. i was really hoping that was our answer, but really made the choice more confusing. each material has it's own issues; it's just a matter of deciding what we can live with comfortably. just wish there was a perfect solution! does anyone have pics of their stained/preserved cedar shakes after 5 or 10 years? i appreciate all the information here. it saves me from just jumping in to something ...nice to get varying opinions. thanks again.

Kevin Thomas,you could fir the 1" trim pieces out by putting 1/4" backing material behind the trim,making it 1-1/4", or go wider with the backer,(3/8 or 1/2")if you want the trim to protrude farther out.Just make sure the backer isn't too thick or you'll see it at the inside laps of the siding.

What i used as a backer on a project was redwood bender board. It's about 5/16" thick and is generally used for forming radiuses on concrete projects.It was 3-1/2" in width.I liked the idea of using an exterior species wood such as redwood, because you will still get moisture behind the trim.This wasn't for a project using nichiha. I've never seen it until this post, but it looks realistic.Im more geared towards using real wood species shakes and shingles.

I notice on the gallery pictures on the sites posters mention above that some houses with shakes have trim board at the vertical corners of the house, and some do not. I prefer no trim boards. Is it correct that Hardie and other products like the Nichiha can be applied either way, with or without the trim? Would a builder charge more for the "no trim board" type? Thanks!

Kevin - I thought I might tell you of my experience installing Nichiha's siding. The installers were not familair with Nichiha but had installed Hardie. They were more than happy to do our job and did a very nice one at that. But they did not have to predrill any holes to put up the siding. They needed a special saw blade to cut it though. If you want, I can contact our siding guy and give you more information on that aspect. We also used Azek trim which definitely does stick out farther than the siding - so that wasn't an issue, and it is another low maintenance item.

Joan

Kevin,

I wish I had more to add but we are still weighing our options wrt the siding. We are strongly considering the Nichiha product, but it sounds like you are further along in the process than us. Any information you or anyone else discovers as you continue through your building process would be appreciated.

We used vinyl shakes from Tapco and are very pleased with the look. Many people have commented that they look like real painted shakes. My husband is especially pleased that they require no maintainence!

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y79/NBrooks/

Here is a link that might be useful: The Foundry vinyl shakes

our architect took us over to see a house he designed using pre dipped cedar shakes. i think i'm siding with the real stuff... i haven't seen anything that actually looks as good as a true cedar shake. i've taken a look at hardi shingles, certainteed and the nichiha shakes. while i have yet to see a painted nichiha sample, the stained was too glossy for me. wondering if the pre finished painted shakes have the same finish? time will tell. unless i find something that can top it i'm going with cedar.
earthhaven: thanks for the link to maibec. looks exactly like what i want!

We are building a cottage style house in Maine, We looked around at houses until I found the look I wanted. We went with the Maibec pre-dipped seacoast gray cedar shake 1-dip (I did not want them to weather naturally but I wanted some stain on them and you can see thru so slightly) two dipped would have looked too solid for me.

Or save yourself some major dinero and dip/stain real deal cedar shingles diy with cabots.

Of course the vinyl is easiest to maintain! A pressure wash every now and then--you're set! And of course nothing looks exactly like the wood--but, what do you want to do w/your time. . . and money?

I think this is the best looking vinyl shake, after much research. I'm using it:

http://www.certainteed.com/CertainTeed/Homeowner/Homeowner/Siding/Prodindex/CertainTeed/CedarImpressions.htm

I've been living w/cedar siding for the past 10 yrs--yep, it's lovely--and it requires time and money to maintain the look. Good luck w/your decision! --Lisa

i'm back on the fence again ...since i awoke this morning to the sounds of nature pecking away at our wood sided temporary house. blasted wildlife! why don't they move to the city?

stanza30,

If you are still lurking around, althought it looks like your beautiful house is done, I would really appreciate any additional information from your siding guy on the installation of this product. I found a local distributer in Omaha, but they have no experience with the product and are of course trying to push me to use Hardishakes, which they are familiar with, instead. We would really like to finish the corners like you did without trim pieces. On the ends that were cut like that, did you need to stain the cut edge and if so, where did you get the stain from? Does Nichiha sell a matching stain? The trim you purchased from Azek, was that for around the windows, etc? I doesn't sound like you had to fur out the trim at all. Do you know how deep it was?

Does anyone else out there have experience with installation? Everyone around here is looking at me like I'm crazy when I say I want to use this. Very frustrating, but I obviously don't want to screw up on such a large investment.

Thank you!

Jay....we're planning to use the Nichiha shake siding for our house too, but as of yet I don't have any personal experience with it. I can tell you some of the info we found out though. :o)

I got in touch with the company through their website and they gave me the phone number to our regional sales rep (not the local distributors). He was able to give a lot more of the technical (and practical) info on the product than the guys at the lumber yard. He also gave me a list of places in our area that had used their products, so I could see them in person. Before that I'd been looking at small sample boards at the lumber supplies. It makes a big difference! He also sent me some samples to keep. :o)

We'll be painting ours, so I didn't ask about the stains, but he did recommend Duck Back paints. The boards come pre-primed and we will have to finish the cut edges.

I've only spoken to a couple of people who have installed it so far and both were very pleased with the product. It is thicker than Hardie, but neither had to do anything special (like pre-drilling) during installation. They didn't mention anything about the saw blades, but stanza30 did mention that they needed different ones when their siding was installed(thanks for the heads-up stanza!).

We're planning to use Azek trim too, so I didn't ask them about other options that they may have used in the past. Both installers said that they preferred the Nichiha over Hardie and I like the fact that it costs alot less too! Our lumberyard sells the Sierra Primed Shake Deep Groove in 20 board bundles at $168.30 per bundle, which breaks down to approx $8.40 per 8' board. We did price out the pre-finished in Maple too...$259.25 per bundle or approx $12.96 per board.

Hope that helps a little!

Persnickety,

Thank you for all the information. I've gone through most of the steps that you have but haven't gotten quite as good of information. I've had great success contacting the company directly. They sent me samples, architectural specifications, installation guides, etc. The samples look great. Unfortunately, as I said, there are NO installations close to our area, so we are basing our decision on pictures and the sample boards (which all look great).

I think yesterdays trip to the lumberyard was just a bit discouraging. I got a bad vibe from the salesman and he quoted me $17.25 a piece for the pre-stained (versus your $12.96) while handing me a Hardie brochure, hmmm. We will see what his attitude is like when I go back today. I plan on taking the sample board to show him. I'm hoping it will help him understand the look we are trying to achieve. He has no knowledge of the product.

However, from what you are saying, it sounds like with Azek trim and the knowledge I'm gathering here, my next step would be to start talking to installers and see if I can find someone who is willing to do the work.

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

I've seen quite a few other posts from you. Where are you in your building process?

Jaymie

I'm glad it helped a little! We haven't broken ground yet. I'm a bit of a research freak and am trying to get as much info as I can before we actually "get busy". So...I have lots of price lists, product info, and sub estimates. I figure the more informed we are the better. I'm hoping that it will help the process run more smoothly. *crossing fingers* I know there will be lots of bumps along the way, but I'd like to avoid some of those bumps if I can! LOL

Our local suppliers have really gone out of the way to be good to us. We've done several smaller projects before, so we've gotten to know the guys at the lumber yards pretty well over the years. When we started talking about building they really went out of their way to help us out. Don't get discouraged with the salesman! The prices in our area of GA are extremely low and we are getting a 15% contractor's discount. Have you asked if they can extend you a builder's discount?

Ah. It sounds like you are a bit ahead of us, but very much on the same path. I'm trying to do as much research as possible also before we break ground. We just got our final plans back and I have a mamouth spreadsheet going. I'm trying to get quotes and specify everything so that as much as possible, when we start to build, we won't be suprised by overruns. I figure that having this information will also help us decide where to cut and how much it will save us when and if we need to make modifications prior to signing a contract to stay within our budget. We are planning to use a GC, but I want to take a very detailed list of specifications, pictures, etc to our candidates when we have them bid the project.

As to the builder's discount, I had forgotten about that, so thanks for reminding me. As I'm doing this research, I'm assuming that the GC will be able to get a better price, but at least I have enough information about the diferent products to know that, for instance, the siding we have choosen costs so much per square compared to real cedar, certainteed, hardie, etc.

Hi Jaymielo - I certainly am lurking today. I am very sympathetic with your siding problems. I really had to put my foot down on my choice of fiber cement siding. My architect couldn't imagine having anything but a living breathing material. But he doesn't have to suffer the consequences of such a decision (see exibit A in my first post above.) I cannot tell you how many complements I have gotten on this house, and no one knows that it isn't real ceder. Yes, if you get close, real close, of course they might be able to tell. I guess I was fortunate to find a sider that had worked with Hardie and was willing to install the Nichiha. They did a very good job and did it fast. I'm including a picture that will show how they finished the corners. They simply primed the edges for the winter and will stain when it gets warmer. I'm fairly certain that Nichiha sells the stain, but I'll check on that for you. As I mentioned before, they had some problems with the stain process in the factory, so we are going to get the stain from them (at their cost) and have our painter correct the stain problem when the weather warms up.

I did find out that my contractor had to use two layers of Azek to get it to the thickness needed for the trim around the windows. So that will be an extra cost. I can also find out how thick they were.

Don't give up. Good installers should be willing to work with the Nichiha product. It is thicker than Hardie, but essentially the same kind of product to work with.

Joan

Joan...I'm so glad you're lurking today! I have drooled over your house since you first posted it. If I remember correctly (probably not LOL) you used manufactured stone, but I don't recall which kind it is. Would you mind sharing? It's lovely!

Hi persnicketydesign,

Yes you were right it is Owens Corning Cultured Stone. Apparently it is one of the better cultured stone products, or at least our stone guy thought so. Ours is the Cobblefield stone. They have a lot of different colors for that particular series. That stone is easy to dry stack and is therefore cheaper on labor costs. Ours is the Chardonay color. Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it.

Joan

Joan,

Thank goodness you are lurking and thank you for all the information.

If you could find out the thickness of the Azek trim for around the windows. That would be very helpful. I'm looking at the estimate from my lumber yard and I'm interested whether he is quoting the right dimensions. It looks like it comes in 5/8", 1", and 1 1/4" thickness, but the actual dimensions of the product are then 5/8", 3/4" and 1". If the shake siding sticks out 1 1/8", I would guess that maybe two layers of the 5/8" were used?

Also, do you know what kind of a product is used to prime the cut edge(like you have done over the winter) prior to staining?

I did find out about the stain, if anyone else is interested. It is Woodperfect Series coating by Mason Select.

Joan:

Thanks for this posting. I'm getting set to reside my house in White Plains, NY and have decided to use Nichiha FC siding. I have not had any luck finding a contractor familiar with the product (they all want to sell me vinyl). Can you give me a referral to your contractor (western Connecticut, right? What town?) I'd like to see what he says. If you like, you can send me a side email at sstadtmauer@hotmail.com. BTW, I think your house looks great. Thanks, Steve.

nichiha put me in contact with the local distributor for my area and i was pleased to learn the stained shakes have just been applied to a local clubhouse at a golf course ...just 4 miles from my house on the other side of town. i loaded my kids up in the car and off we went. it looks stunning! interestingly enough there was a house a few hundred feet away that used the certainteed vinyl and the difference is night and day. the nichiha certainly looks to be the superior product. i spoke to the distributor about my concerns with the shiny finish that came on my samples and he assured me that it would wear down. although the building i saw this evening had no visible sheen to it. you can see slight differences in the color/saturation, just like on real cedar and it gives off beautiful shadow lines since the product is so thick. i made my dh ride over there with me again as soon as he came home from work and he exclaimed, "wow! that's beautiful!" this from a man who has been dragged out the door without having his dinner first. my architect and builder are going to see it tomorrow as they've never heard of or seen nichiha.
stanza, if you're lurking thanks so much for posting the pics of your house. without your post i never would have known there was another brand of cement shake besides hardi. i can't wait to see painted samples but i love everything about the stained. while choosing the finish will be difficult at least we now have a hands down choice of product. thanks again!

kateskouros, what part of the country do you live in? I can't find anyone in my area that has it. None of the contractors have used it and none of the dealers have even sold any yet!

i live in central nj near holmdel. if you need the retailer info let me know. my builder has never worked with it but says he loves the way the product looks and wants to try it out. can't say i'm happy about being someones guinea pig, but i trust him.

We will be the guinea pig in our area also. As you install and get pictures, please post how it is going. I think the product looks great, but with the "newness", it is always so helpful to share pictures and installation information.

Jaymie

Kate, can you tell me the name of the golf course - I'd like to swing by and get a look when I'm in NJ next week. Thanks!

it's in a new community in colts neck. the golf course is called shadow isle ...rt 34 S past delicious orchards to professional circle (enclave of 4 story (?) office and medical buildings.) turn in and go straight ahead to the back through the gates that say shadow isle PRIVATE. as far as i'm concerned it's not private until people are playing there. for now they're just building.
the contact i got from nichiha is PPW 800-631-5460. they should be able to set you up with a retailer. my builder just called to tell me his supplier is gettig more samples of the product and price quote as well. let me know if you get over there. GL.

HI All,
Looking over the comments about Nichiha shakes and love the look. I saw a few posts from someone in New Jersey and was wondering what kind of pricing they found in our area. I have been quoted from $560.00 to $242.50 per square for the primed. Someone earlier had a much lower quote around $160.00 per square. Any help in locating the best place to buy along the eastern shore? Seems Hardi-plank is what everyone thinks of when you mention cement fiber siding. Also curious to know what the best trim options are??? I noticed this is an issue with this choice of product. Thanks so much for any and all help!

Sorry I can't help in finding the best pricing in the East. However, as far as trim, I can offer two options. I know some people have used Azek trim. I found Miratec to be a much lower priced alternative in my area. It is a primed (versus pre-finished) composite product. Just be a little careful when ordering your trim. As with all 5/4 dimension products, it's actual thickness is 1". The Nichiha product, when installed, stands out 1 1/8" from the wall, so you need to either double up the trim pieces or fur out the trim in order to have it stand out beyond the siding.

Any one else out there installed this product in the last few months and have pictures or advice to share?

Thanks a bunch, Jaymielo...I'll be sure to pass the trim info along to my builder. My builder LOVES cement fiber siding but is unfamiliar with Nichiha brand...so I am trying to do a little research to expedite things. Any info is much appreciated! Really hoping to get an idea of reasonable pricing for my area. Recently received our Superior Walls quote from a local guy and found it was doubled...guy was charging us $132 per linear foot when the normal cost is $55 - $65 per linear foot...UNBELIEVABLE. Decided to take matters into my own hands and become an informed consumer...need to make sure we are getting a fair price. These forums are awesome!

No problem scottiedoglover, Best of luck. I think your doing exactly the right thing by becoming as informed as possible. We find we are taking tons of ideas and products to our builder, but are learning as we go since we are first time home builders. I agree this forum is a life saver. We would have built the wrong house, too quickly and for too much money had I not stumbled upon this resource. We'd probably be living in newly completed house, miserable! LOL!

As I get more information about the Nichiha product, I'll be sure to share.

jaymielo, did you get to see the clubhouse?

Actually, I'd love to, but we aren't anywhere near NJ! It was stevestat that was going to try and take a look.

Does anyone know the price of the nichiha shake siding per square ft or per bundle? thanks

Our lumberyard sells the Sierra Primed Shake Deep Groove in 20 board bundles at $168.30 per bundle, which breaks down to approx $8.40 per 8' board. We did price out the pre-finished in Maple too...$259.25 per bundle or approx $12.96 per board. Those prices are with a 15% discount that they very kindly offered since we're OBing. :o)

thanks for the info...i was quoted one price 5 months ago and now the lumberyard is telling me triple.....the prices that you are quoting are more inline with the original.. thanks

Any chance you could give me the name of your lumber company...I am thinking it might be cheaper to order through them and then have it shipped. Thanks.

Sure! It's Howard Lumber in Evans, GA. Their phone number is (706)868-8400. I even have the stock numbers....primed is 16215, maple is 16216, and the mahogany is 16456. Our estimate was from mid-March.

The prices might be so much less here because Nichiha USA is based in Atlanta (about 2 hours away).

Thanks. It seems a little strange to order from a company in GA...and have it shipped to Ca. The last price I was quoted here was 29$ per board....it might be cheaper to order through Howard Lumber..I am going to at least check into it. Thanks.

jdmatt-
Did you ever find out any info on the pricing, and the idea of shipping from Georgia? I'm in CA also -sure could use a break on theprice.
thx.

Someone on My Retirement forum pointed me to Nailite. We have been in our 1970 built house since 1984 (30 years) and need to have vertical style siding (re-siding). This is some lengthy topic and I appreciate all the information so far. We are mid-Atlantic, 20 miles West of D.C.