I originally looked at this forum just to see if Hardie was holding up. After doing many installs of Hardie lap siding I have have not seen any problems with the siding itself. Truly Impressive! It is possible to get the wind under it, but it would have to very strong. In these areas where high wind is common I would not use any lap siding unless you don't mind face nails. Now I looked very carefully at the pics posted by Jim Katen, and noticed that many of the cracks were vertically aligned. A single bowed out wall stud could be the culprit here. Combined with trying to hard to make a flat siding job (bent to aggressively at this point). I found this on my own house in one spot. If you look down the side with your face near the siding, I bet you can see it bowed out. Also the installers used way to many face nails. This is another indication of problems under the new siding. Thirdly my guess is there was likely some of the new planks were damaged prior to installation. Those pictures combined with a siding specialists report should be an easy small claims case. My guess is the installer or company he works for knows he left in shoddy condition and won't be very helpful, but it's always proper to start there. On the cracked paint above, it looks like just plain old cheap paint. Three years with low solids in the paint, looks about right. Sorry to say. Possibly combined with having been painted over wet hardie or during high humidity. The later is an on going issue with painting contractors trying to make a living when they KNOW they need to wait to paint. I live in the Northwest and I love to paint (good $ too) but I only paint outside between June and August with at least a solid week of warm weather. Having to go back and fix problems can kill a small business. Best wishes to both of you!
