Project House: Hardie Plank for the Back Porch

Getting started...this is the back porch as it was when we bought the house. It's a lovely quiet space that I know we will get a lot of use out of. However, like all of the addition, it was sided with T1-11 (thank you 1980s) which is not the best product for south central Texas. In a drier climate, it might hold up, but here, if you don't paint it every couple of years you are looking at rot, and this house looked like it hadn't been painted since the 80s renovation: reference the mint green paint with barn red trim.

We are in the process of replacing the T1-11 with Hardie siding. It's a much better product for humid climates and we are told squirrels don't like to chew on it, which is good because they have chewed plenty on this house already. We started under the porch since it was one of the areas with the most rot. As you can see, the first thing we did was add a window because the interior of the house is very dark. We'll be replacing those two horizontal windows at the back with 4 vertical windows as well. I want more light and those old windows don't meet code so replacing them whenever possible is a good thing.

I like this because you can see the before and after in one shot.

 The trim color is Parador Stone by Clark & Kensington, but the hubby calls it Chocolate Mousse. The siding is called Grey Flanks by Pratt & Lambert and he calls it Not Chocolate Mousse. I am very pleased with how these two colors look with the brick, which is a mix of browns, tans, and grays.

And this little guy is the Nibbler.

Ok, it's actually a cement board cutter, but it looks like a fish and nibbles away at the board to cut it, soooo...... 

Cutting the Hardie planks is surprisingly easy. My husband (the engineer) read--and I'm pretty sure memorized--the manufacturer's installation specifications and of course had to buy all the exact tools for the job, so that has made it quite easy. I'm in charge of painting and cutting. I decided to use Clark & Kensington exterior satin as I am super impressed with this brand and it is available at my local Ace. (C&K was recently purchased by Benjamin Moore, so I expect it to continue to be an excellent product.) Obviously the cutter is made by Makita and it is as easy to use as an electric bread knife.