What are your thoughts on plywood vs cement hardiboard as the primary siding material to replace a cedar board and batten siding.

We've got a 1970's era "Shed Roof" contemporary style home with board and batten cedar siding (over black building board) that we think needs replacing. All of the windows were badly done and leak, and there are areas that have some serious warping, gaps and rot, as well as some damage from birds (in the highest, hardest to reach areas naturally).

We're trying to decide what to replace the cedar with and have no real idea of the best materials for the siding and these forums have been the best source of information I've found so far. Our though is to rip and re-use parts of our existing cedar to make the battens, giving it a more authentic look (we hope).

Thanks!
Ken

 

Ken, welcome to the forums! Cedar RB&B was quite popular and still is, but if it is aged, or installed without proper flashing, it can be a nightmare. It appears from your description, the windows were probably not flashed on top and sides properly and leaked. The plywood materials, which resemble RB&B or T1-11, will give you the vertical design you already have, whereas the Hardie Plank will be a horizontal product. The wood product will age and require more maintenance, but both wood and Hardie will need painting.
If you decide to remove the cedar and rip it down, be sure to use the original on the front and sides of the house, as you will probably run out of material due to damaged pieces by the time you get finished, so new material should be reserved for the back of the house, or a side that is not seen much.
Post back if we can help further. Glad to see more Suthun' guys on the forums!

 

Thanks for the info. We have a LOT of wood on the house, so I'd be amazed if we ran out.

You got it right about the windows. Little or no flashing, the top edges of the outside window frame is flat (if we're lucky, angled back in some places) and collects water and with the extreme texture of the wood, it just lets rain flow right back against the house. I've had to caulk them a number of times to keep water from just flowing into the house.

We actually hadn't heard of the T1-11 until I found these forums, so it's something we'll look into. I said Hardiplank, but meant HardiPanel (see link) for vertical use with the cedar battens on top.

http://www.ebuild.com/products/productDetail.hwx/Q/siding-brick-stone--exterior-trim/vertical-siding-panels/catCode.1638/productId.265914/pageNum.0

Ken