Hi, I have a brick house with board and batten siding around the front doors. Long ago, the board and batten was painted a sickly yellow. Furthermore, there's some rot along the bottom of the board and batten. I'd love to have something smooth like stucco here, because the brick is already enough texture. Is it possible to remove the battens, place some wrap, and do the stucco (repairing the rot, of course), or do I need to totally remove the board and batten? Is there a better alternative? Thanks.

Howdy, I'm a new homeowner trying to get a few things wrapped up before winter (coming soon in Vermont). Our house is only a bit over a year old, but the previous owner never finished painting/caulking the Hardiplank Color Plus (pre-painted) fiber cement siding. Many of the field cut ends of the siding weren't primed or painted at all, both at butt joints between two pieces of siding, or where the siding butts up against window or corner trim. After a year of exposure (including a winter), there's slight deterioration of the Hardiplank at those untreated ends. [IMG]http://lh3.ggpht.com/roberts.jase/SMxO3NB-kYI/AAAAAAAAEAk/lsdFv94sReo/s320/P1010167.JPG[/IMG] Also, the former owner did NOT add any sort of flashing behind each butt joint, as is recommended by James Hardie. The joints are spaced about 1/8" apart, rather than in direct contact (I know that's fine for caulking). Since there is no flashing behind, I'm assuming caulking is required to keep water from going through the cracks. I'm trying to figure out the best way to finish up the job at this point. I was hoping to be able to get some primer and paint into all of those gaps, but I tried tonight with a very small brush and it seems pretty much impossible. Will caulk alone provide enough protection on those untreated Hardiplank ends? Anything else I can/should be doing? Anything different I should do on the siding butt joints vs. the joints with trim pieces? Is actually acceptable treatment to leave the field cuts unpainted and rely on the caulk to seal them? The [URL="http://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/install/install_plank_north.pdf"]install instructions[/URL] do seem to leave that as a possibility: "CUT EDGE TREATMENT: Caulk, paint or prime all field cut edges." Also, under ColorPlus section: "Terminate non-factory cut edges into trim where possible, and caulk." I know I may be over-thinking this, but I'm just hoping to do the job right to get the maximum durability I can out of the siding. Thanks much!