Anyone else see this?

[gtblum]

Just saw this on TV. Is it something new?

http://www.certainteedfibercementsettle ... m/hc/en-us

[Jim Katen]

I just heard about it yesterday.

I see a fair amount of Certainteed FC siding and haven't seen a failure associated with it yet.

[Robert Jones]

Is there an easy way to differentiate between CertainTeed and Hardi?

[hausdok]

Is there an easy way to differentiate between CertainTeed and Hardi?

Not that I've ever been able to tell; except CertainTeed's instructions aren't as thorough. Every once in a while I'll write up a new house for bunch of errors, while assuming it's the J.H. product and then I'll hear from the client how the site foreman says that the inspector is all dinked up 'cuz it was CertainTeed siding - not J.H. Since their basic instructions are the same, I amend the report to call it CertainTeed instead of HardiPlank and I fire it right back at the guy again.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Tom Raymond]

Before HardieZone the woodgrains were different, but I would need a known sample in hand to tell which is which. Very little of either around here. The new Hardie is much thicker in my zone.

What I have seen fail had all been installed wrong; too close to the ground, in contact with a sidewalk, panels ripped into fascias, etc. The only exception was a short lived cement trim product. I only used it once and don't recall what it was called, Hardie bought me Azek to replace it.

[mark parlee]

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This is one of the problems with the CertainTeed product; vertical fractures. This is a 16 unit town home complex that we are investigating and they are now in the class.

We are reviewing the offer at this point and will be making some decisions on accepting or rejecting in the next month or so.

[Jim Katen]

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This is one of the problems with the CertainTeed product; vertical fractures. This is a 16 unit town home complex that we are investigating and they are now in the class.

We are reviewing the offer at this point and will be making some decisions on accepting or rejecting in the next month or so.

In my experience, those fractures are caused by mishandling during and before installation.

[mark parlee]

Jim

That vertical fracture is a known problem with this particular brand of fiber cement siding and was one of the triggers in the class action.

This was a problem in that the siding was delivered too high in MC and as it dried it shrunk. there are other indicators of this shrinking as well but do not show up in a posted picture as well.

These were prefinished pieces of siding and one of the shrinking indicators is the way the paint distorts.

Some of these vertical cracks are nearing 3/16" wide. This is from shrinking and the shrinking from too wet a material which is a manufacturing defect.

This is the way the court saw it and the way the experts classified it despite plenty of opposition. I am doing expert testimony on this case involving my forensic investigation of the project. at this point no mishandling of the product is being asserted. some missed installation details, Yes.

The photos show the results of this shrinkage of the material.

551 pictures to caption and 16 reports later and a lot of research into this product.

The first picture shows how much the siding has shrunk from the splicer and that the left side is dropping out of plane. As you can see in the last photo the nails at the ends are fracturing out the siding and letting loose, this due to the shrinkage. this shrinkage also shows up as vertical cracks.

The class is justified, Too bad it will not bring as much relief to my clients as they will need to do corrections.

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[Jim Katen]

Thanks, Mark.

Does this only happen when the material has not been adequately dried during the manufacturing process or can it also happen if the material was adequately dried during manufacture, but was subsequently soaked just before installation?

Does the problem seem to be limited to Certainteed or does it happen with Hardie as well?

[mark parlee]

Jim

I have not seen nor heard of this happening to the Hardie product.

This particular job was a prefinished color job and some of the investigation lead us to information that the product tested high before prefinishing and that the prefinishing company actually had to dry the product down before performing their operation.

Apparently they did not get it dried down enough. I have reports from various contacts around the country that this vertical fracturing was a pretty widespread problem. I cannot confirm how widespread it was but I have heard from three contacts around the US.

As far as can it re-wet if improperly stored. I am not sure about the CertainTeed product but the old hardie would absorb moisture if left exposed. We installed hardie for years and never witnessed this particular problem of vertical fractures and I have reviewed a lot of jobs with problems but never a vertical fracture on the hardie product.