Discussions

Looking for advice on getting the exterior of our house redone - currently wood siding ( 1200 sq feet bungalow). Would like vinyl siding (Hardie board?) etc possibly and also stone along the front ( bottom). Looking for any experience and advice people have had dealing with companies that do this, time line, approx cost etc. Any info is greatly appreciated. Please PM me anyone (company) I should avoid.  
 
Thanks in advance !

Cement board looks nice but it's just barely tacked on and provides no insulation value. Stucco is a much better material ...you can tint it to whatever colour you like and it's a less expensive material. That'd be my choice just to offer another opinion.

I would avoid hardie board siding unless you can find someone who actually knows what they are doing for the installation.  
 
I rented a house that originally had stucco siding, the landlord decided to reno (Fall of 2011), got rid of all the stucco and do hardie board. Yes there was that blue foam insulation installed under the hardie board but I found the house to actually be a lot colder in the winter times once the hardie board went up. Now maybe they didn''t seal good enough with color matched silicone after or maybe a cheap foam insulation was used under neath, who knows. All I know is, in my personal opinion, hardie board sucks in -40 temps, and my hydro bill actually went up because I was having to turn my heat up way more in the winter.  
 
Edited by ~BooBoo~, 2017-06-18 16:30:08

We built a new house in 1988, so this might be outdated, but the research I did then was stucco provided less air infiltration than any other siding, except for maybe brick. I don't think it provided any kind of R value. House wrap/tyvek should alleviate this difference in stucco versus other types of siding. Vinyl siding is quick to apply, most people could do it, secret is to get it straight and keep it straight. Some concerns we heard back then is hail or hockey pucks could damage vinyl siding in the cold winter. That's my 1988 knowledge for what it's worth in 2017