James Hardie Siding in Kansas City: Installed, Repaired and Painted by One Crew

James Hardie fiber cement siding is one of the best things you can put on a Kansas City home. It doesn't rot, it doesn't burn, bugs don't eat it, and it barely moves with our hot summers and freezing winters. That's why paint lasts on it: a surface that isn't swelling and shrinking every season holds a finish for years. At All Seasons Painting, my crew installs Hardie, repairs it, and paints it. One crew, one walkthrough, one number.

I'm James Griffin. I've been painting and siding homes across Johnson County, the Northland and Lee's Summit since 2013. Here's why I like Hardie, and why having the same crew do the siding and the paint matters more than most people realize.

Why is James Hardie siding a good choice for Kansas City homes?

Kansas City weather is hard on a house. We get hail in the spring, hundred-degree afternoons in July, ice in January, and humidity that keeps surfaces damp for days. Wood siding soaks that up and rots. Vinyl gets brittle and cracks. Hardie is cement and fiber pressed into a board, and it shrugs most of that off.

Hardie also makes a version built specifically for climates like ours, with freezing winters and big temperature swings, so the boards you get here are made for here. On the houses we work on in Overland Park, Leawood, Liberty and Lee's Summit, Hardie that was installed well twenty years ago is still solid today.

Why does paint last longer on Hardie board?

This is the part I care about as a painter. Paint fails for two reasons: the surface under it moves, or it stays wet. Wood does both. It swells when it's damp, shrinks when it's dry, and every cycle works the paint loose.

Hardie does neither. It stays the same size through the seasons and it doesn't hold water, so the paint film sits still and stays bonded. Painted right, with a premium exterior paint, a Hardie house goes years longer between repaints than a wood house, and when it is time to repaint, it's a wash and two coats. There's no rotten trim to replace first, which is where the money goes on a wood house.

Why should the same crew install and paint it?

Because siding and paint are one job, not two. When a siding company hangs the boards and a painter comes later, the details fall in the gap. Cut edges don't get sealed. Boards sit bare through a summer and the primer breaks down. The new paint doesn't match the wall next to it. Then each trade blames the other when it peels.

My crew does both. The person who installs the board seals the edges and primes the cuts, and the same crew paints it while the surface is fresh. You get one walkthrough, one written price, and one person to call. That's how a siding job turns out looking like a finished house instead of a patched one.

What Hardie work do you do?

• Repair. Hail chips, cracked boards, damage around windows and corners. We replace the damaged boards, seal them, and repaint the wall so the repair disappears.
• Repaint. Faded or peeling Hardie gets washed, spot-primed and painted with two coats of premium exterior paint.
• Full re-side. On a whole-house job we strip to the studs, put down sealed sheathing, and install the new siding with every edge sealed before it's painted.

A lot of the Hardie in the Kansas City area was put up by builders, and some of it was never painted well or has never been repainted. If your Hardie house is looking tired, that's an easy fix.

Hardie or LP SmartSide: which should I pick?

Both are excellent. Hardie is harder and won't burn. LP SmartSide is engineered wood that's lighter, easier to repair, and handles hail a little better. I install both and I'll tell you honestly which fits your house. I wrote about the other one in our guide to LP SmartSide siding in Kansas City.

Tell me about the house and I'll walk it with you, no pressure and no sales pitch. Call or text 913-704-4418, or request a free quote.