How To Seal Hardie Board Siding Joints

Apparently no one here read the technical bulletin 9 that james hardie released in 2008.

How to seal hardie board siding joints.

Hardie boards should be joined in moderate contact. James hardie recommends butting field joints together in moderate contact to achieve a continuous looking joint. Laps will need to be periodically removed and or reapplied to maintain the seal over the life of the building. James hardie believes it is good building practice to seal the joints to prevent moisture such as wind driven rain and snow from penetrating the wall cavity.

A lot of moisture from rain snow misdirected sprinklers or exuberant water fights can get in there enough to do some serious and expensive damage. Deterioration of the caulking in the joint has become a maintenance issue for home owners over time. Hardie no longer recommends the caulking of any joint in their lap siding colorplus or primed. But here the main problem is people usually don t find the right type of caulk for their works.

Joint flashing is recommended for all hardie lap siding now. If you have loose hardieplank siding on your home it is important to fix it. If you use sashco s acrylic latex caulking sealant you can have any interior or exterior as good as new. A common problem with cement board siding products and some other types of horizontal lap siding is that older installation guidelines called for caulking the joint instead of flashing the joint.

It is similar to traditional beveled wood lap siding. You need to have the best caulk for hardie siding to help your walls and wooden surfaces to get rid of open cracks and thin spaces between joints. Joining hardie boards together is actually very easy but there are a number of ways that contractors get it wrong. Butt joints are a perfect example of poor joint design they re too small to accommodate a bond breaker so the caulk can t stretch properly once applied but they re also too large to simply leave alone.

Caulking around windows doors eaves and trim edges gives added insurance that leaks will not occur. Improved appearance when installed properly flashing at a field butt joint creates a better looking joint. Hardie plank joints butt joints james hardie siding is 12 feet long which means that siding on your longer walls will need to join together.