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Figure 1-23: Fiber cement siding, blind nailing method (C) Wiley and Sons, S BlissFiber Cement Siding Nailing Defects
FC siding & shingle nailing guides, mistakes, repairs

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about installing fiber cement siding troubleshooting, defect causes, remedies, warranties, warranty claims

Fiber cement siding defects, failures, problem troubleshooting:

This article describes the types of problems that occur in fiber cement siding installations in North America, including siding shrinkage gaps at butt joints, cracks, breaks, and loose or buckling siding boards or shakes.

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Improper or Inadequate Nailing of Fiber Cement Siding - Loose Siding

Gaps at vertical trim joints of HardiePlank siding (C) Daniel Friedman

Here we illustrate FC siding defects that can be traced to nailing errors including:

Inadquate number of nails

Wrong type of nails

Nails improperly located

Exposed nails where blind nailing was preferred

Damage to the siding during nailing

Nails into an inadequate sheathing (too thin, too soft, damaged, rotted) or that should have caught a stud and didn 't

In my first loose fiber cement siding photo, the fact that I can lift the board away from the wall suggests inadequate nailing - nails omitted.

Loose HardiePlannk siding at gable end cuts (C) Daniel Friedman

Unfortunately more nailing defects were apparent at the gable ends of the home where the lap siding abutted (or was supposed to abut) the gable end trim.

Left un-nailed the corners of most of these siding boards were curling away from the building. .

Gaps at vertical trim joints of HardiePlank siding (C) Daniel Friedman

Consistent with our earlier warning that one bad installation feature suggests more SNAFUs are in store, even in a casual inspection we noticed other disappointing details on this home that was less than ten years old:

Exposed Nails in HardieBoard® or in Fiber Cement Siding

Exposed nail in Hardi-Board board and batten siding (C) Inspectapedia.com EvanQuestion: Damage, peeling and discoloration has occurred around many nails in Hardi Board & Batten Siding

2018/12/25 Evan said:

I've had Hardi Board and Batten installed for less than one year.

Damage, peeling and discoloration has occurred around many nails.

Please see photos.

Reply:

That looks like a surface nail or face-nailed fastener that was poorly set and patched over around a hammer ding-mark.

If face nailing is required the nails should be driven just flush with the surface, not into-it and not breaking the board surface. And painting-over is not normally recommended.

If many of your nails look like the photo then the siding installation was not the best job. Also I raise question about whether or not the proper type of nail was used.

Here is what the company says about face nailing their product:

Face nailing is applicable where dictated by building code, in high wind areas, and when fastening is to OSB or equivalent sheathing without penetrating into studs.

Face nailing exposes the fastener head to the elements and allows for the fastener to penetrate through two sheets of overlapped plank.

Fasteners shall be installed between 3/4 in. and 1 in. from the bottom edge of the board and the head must be snug, not counter sunk or overdriven. ( JamesHardie 2014)

So from your photo I suspect

  1. That the wrong nail type was used - a small-headed nail
  2. The nail may not be properly located as it appears to be popping
  3. There was a nailing error - a hammer ding - leaving a crescent depression in the siding
  4. A repair effort was made using a filler and maybe a paint.
  5. I also see some red discoloration that suggests that whatever was used to fill the hammer ding may be inviting a leach-out of the binder in the Hardi-Board siding.
  6. I can't comment on the nail location from just your single photo.

It is possible to fix this damage by removing the bad sealant, setting the nail. sealing the surface against bleeding (perhaps lacquer primer), filling with a Hardie-approved filler, and painting with a color-matched paint. However unless you make a suitable modeling tool every one of these damage spots will remain rather noticeable.

HardieBoard board and batten horizontal joint details at InspectApedia.com and cited in detail in this article

Illustration: from James Hardie Siding Products BEST PRACTICES – INSTALLATION GUIDE SIDING AND TRIM PRODUCTS pp 43-70 pages on board and batten installation.

None of the illustrations specifically address vertical batten nailing, and the presumption is that nails follow the face-nailing instructions for other HardieBoard trim.

When I installed traditional wood board and batten siding we took care in nailing the battens to avoid splitting as the underlying boards expand and contract with changes in temperature and moisture.

To avoid that problem we either nailed the batten in the underlying board vertical butt joint gap so that the nail was not in either board - both boards could float below the batten

or we nailed the batten along one side so that it was nailed through just one of the two abutting vertical boards.

Board and batten type siding (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Above: a modern board and batten sided building I inspected in 2001 - this was not my siding job and this is NOT JamesHardie board and batten Hardieboard siding. In this photo we see that the apparently un-flashed horizontal joints are likely to lead to trouble.

It would help my analysis to see more photos and to know

While there may be different requirements for the vertical battens, otherwise with just a few exceptions such as pin-backs at the bottom edge of the first course of siding and some trim details, there should be NO exposed nails with Hardi Board siding. siding is normally blind-nailed.

Here is a clip from the company's instructions

HardieBoard nailing details from Bulletin No. 17 cited in detail at InspectApedia.com

JamesHardie Siding installation tips are available in both detailed instructions and in technical bulletins from the manufacturer, some of which we provide here.


...

Continue reading at SIDING, FIBER CEMENT DEFECT DIAGNOSTIC QUESTIONS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see this

FC Siding Defect Article Series Contents

SIDING HARDBOARD IDENTIFICATION & CLAIMS

Suggested citation for this web page

SIDING, FIBER CEMENT NAILING DEFECTS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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