When you are residing in your home there are so many things to consider that it can sometimes be overwhelming. During the 9 years that I was the James Hardie Regional Account Manager for Kansas City one of the main questions I would get from homeowners would be regarding painting.
Most of James Hardie’s products leave the manufacturing facility with two different options for painting. One is with a primer that is ready to be painted once it is installed on the home. The other way is when the material leaves already painted with James Hardie’s proprietary coating system called Colorplus. This article will break down some of the specifics of each and also the pros and cons from my experience working directly for the manufacturer.
All of James Hardie’s products are available primed, ready to be painted. This primer is added during the manufacturing process and the product can be installed for 180 days before it needs to have a primer reapplied before painting. If you are in Kansas City area the primer will be a greenish color and it is tested for our specific climate and is engineered to enhance the performance of paint. James Hardie says that additional primer is not needed but I would recommend checking with the paint manufacturer and follow their guidance since they will be the ones warrantying the finish. The siding will come with a 30 year non prorated warranty (trim is 15 year warranty) that covers the actual material but the paint will not be covered by the warranty.
Some products like Sierra 8 panel and 9.25” Lap and 12” Lap siding are only available in primed. The main reason is the way they are installed it requires the nail heads to be exposed and would require too much touch up if it was Colorplus and it would look like your wall has chicken pox after a few years once the touch up paint fades. I will discuss this in more detail in the Colorplus section.
One of the main benefits of using primed and painting is the flexibility it gives in color selection. You can choice from countless paint manufacturers and tens of thousands of colors. Just go to your local big box store, lumberyard or paint store and pick your desired color and you are ready to go!
Another benefit is regarding the availability of the products. Most, if not all, primed James Hardie products are stocked locally at various suppliers and can be on your driveway within just a few days ready to be installed. Same goes for the paint. It doesn’t take long for Home Depot to mix up 5 gallons of Smurf Blue paint, if that’s your color! There are also a number of different accessories that are required for siding installation and all of these are available in primed ready to be painted.
A common myth is that primed and painting is a big cost saver versus Colorplus. I don’t typically find this to be the case. Most siding installers charge close to the same amount whether they are installing primed or Colorplus and the difference in cost of the material is close to the cost of exterior painting in Kansas City.
James Hardie has a great resource that is easy to understand that discusses the specifics of how the product should be painted and I’ve included a link below.
James Hardie Colorplus is a propriety coating system that James Hardie Building Products developed specifically for their siding products. They have been using and improving this system since the early 2000’s and were the first siding manufacturer to paint the product before it leaves the factory. Most of the siding that is sold in the Kansas City area for remodeling projects is Colorplus. It is a time-tested, proven product that performs very well in our climate and is cost-effective compared to other options.
First thing lets talk about how the product is actually made. James Hardie has 10 different plants across the United States but only a handful of them have the paint lines used to produce Colorplus products. Most of the product we use in Kansas City comes from Peru, Illinois about an hour outside of Chicago.
Colorplus products use a coating system that was developed specifically for James Hardie Fiber Cement is actually made by the company. The quality control standards to make sure that all pieces of the same color are exactly the same are tighter than the automotive industry. It really is remarkable that in the 9 years I worked for James Hardie I never received a call regarding a certain color not matching exactly as it should. All products start out as primed James Hardie products and then are heated up a few degrees to help the cement take the paint. It then has an initial coat applied and rides on a conveyor belt through an oven to bake the coating on. The product continues to move down the line where it has additional coats applied and these layers get baked on as well. Once it has reached the end of the line it has a plastic wrap put on the surface to protect it during shipping and transportation to the job site.
Colorplus has a 15-year warranty and is all backed by James Hardie so that if there is ever an issue you only have to deal with one manufacturer.
James Hardie has two different color collections that provide an almost unlimited number of combinations to get the color scheme you desire.
The Statement Collection is the most popular 25 colors in the Kansas City market and is the most affordable option. All of the accessories can be easily matched to these colors and they are stocked locally so they are relatively easy to get if you need 1 or 2 additional pieces.
If you can’t find something in the Statement Collection then you need to check out The Dream Collection. There are over 700 colors to choose from and almost all of the products can be painted any of these colors. These colors are about 25% more expensive than Statement Colors, not all of the accessories are an exact color match and these are all special order. So if you run short it can be an issue.
As good as Colorplus is, it is not without its downsides. As the manufacturer rep for James Hardie, I saw the good and the bad of Colorplus projects. Like most things in construction, it really comes down to the installers and contractors.
The main issues that I saw were related to touch up and caulking. The touch-up paint is the same coating but since it is not baked on it tends to fade and weather differently than the siding will. That is why James Hardie recommends not using touch upon areas bigger than a dime. The caulk that is used is color-matched but it is applied differently than traditional caulk and if the installer is not familiar with it or hasn’t been trained there can be problems. Nail holes are not supposed to be filled with caulk and neither are the seams between planks of siding. If the installer does either of these things it will be very noticeable within just a few months. There is no good way to fix this other than painting the whole house.
Hopefully, this gives you a little better understanding of the two main choices of James Hardie siding and provides some insight on the pros and cons of both. At Canes Exteriors we have over 16 years of experience working directly for James Hardie and have trained hundreds of installers across Kansas and Missouri. We have in-house painting crews to handle any primed siding jobs that need to be painted or if you are interested in Colorplus we have thousands of hours of experience in touching up and caulking per the manufacturer’s guidelines. Call or email today and we can provide a no-pressure / no-obligation quote on either option!
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