Anyone who is researching siding for their home knows that James Hardie can make a beautiful addition to your home and has great return-on-investment. However, that is only true if it is properly installed. Not only will it ruin your investment, but James Hardie warranties are also only valid when it is installation follows James Hardie specifications. Sometimes a lower bid for installation isn’t as good of a deal as it appears. In this article, we’ll show you some signs of a poor installation job and how you can avoid them.
The siding was not caulked where it meets the trim.
Below you can see that it is face-nailed. James Hardie is designed to be blind-nailed (hidden) with only the occasional face-nail where necessary. You’ll notice numerous face nails in this picture and that is not recommended by James Hardie.
In this picture, you’ll see where the seams are all aligned. With James Hardie, along with most any siding, it is designed to be staggered.
In these last two pictures, you’ll notice a lot of waviness in the siding. Much of this is due to nails that are too short or not nailing into the studs correctly. Another issue prevalent in these pictures is that there is no flashing in behind the butt joints where the siding meets.
At EMA we have seen a lot of these types of poor installations. They are typically the result of an inexperienced crew. James Hardie has a list of qualifications in order to become a preferred or elite preferred contractor:
- Compliance with Installation Best Practices
- Professional Sales Approach
- Satisfactory credit report
- State Licensed
- Liability insurance $1,000,000 per occurrence
- Workman’s compensation Insurance*
- Satisfactory background check with at least 6 past clients
EMA Construction is an Elite Preferred James Hardie contractor. If you’ve had an improper installation we can help or if you want to get it right from the start, reach out to us today for a free estimate.