Hi there,

I am looking for an economical siding for our next ICF house. I don't like the vinyl and I do like the look of bricks, stone, wood and stucco, but these are very expensive and some require maintanance.
I consider choosing cement fiber siding, which can very well simulate the real thing (stone, wood, stucco) w/o being much more expensive than vinyl. Also, it has no maintanance.
Is this a good choice to go for an ICF wall? Are there any better alternatives? I live in Ottawa, Canada.

Thanks,
Beno

You can use just about any siding with an ICF block wall. ICF is pretty much air tight and water tight and it is very strong. What you do want to pay attention to is how siding is fastened to any particular brand of ICF block. There are different ways to do it and some brands of block are easier to fasten to than others.

Cement fiber products such as Hardie Panel or the Hardie lap siding are cheap enough. But, they have to be painted occassionally. The paint stays on a lot longer than on wood. The lap siding looks nice too.

Some people are using colored synthetic stucco on ICF. The blocks don't expand or contract with temperature changes. So, the stucco doesn't crack and fall off. Because the color is added to the stucco, it doesn't need to be painted.

There is also an interesting type of concrete siding. It is relatively thin and it attaches to the wall with screws. It looks like stone and comes in different colors. It requires no maintainance once it is installed.

There are so many different siding materials on the market now. New stuff is coming out all of the time. I've seen steel siding that is made to look like shakes. You can go to the home improvement store and pick what you want. I would suggest that you take the manufacturer's data for the block you are using with you while you are shopping so you can see how the attachments are made.

Sleddog, look at the interior thread. there are a couple products that work for exteriors as well. Not sure of the pricing though.

Ardose.....what type of concrete product are you talkig about that looks like stone but is installed with screws? Web site? Pricing?

One product that comes to mind is Novabrick (LINK). They call it a self-ventilated mortarless brick siding. It fastens to a building with screws and comes in a number of different colors. I would not say that is the cheapest way to side a house. But, it is less expensive than having a brick wall constructed. Somewhere, I remember seeing river stone set in epoxy. They come as panels that can be used inside or outside. I think they are installed using a special bracket that screws to the wall.

There's also a type of paint that you apply to wall and then spread a fine stone over.

There are thin brick veneers that are applied to a wall with a mortar that acts like glue. There are also stone veneers made to be applied the same way.

Hope that helps.

The product is novabrik (without the 'c'): LINK
Is it less expensive than fiber-cement? They say: "Novabrik costs about the same as good wood siding."
I think that fiber-cement is cheaper than wood siding, correct?

Fiber-cement siding is cheaper than "good wood siding". If you want cheap siding that is low maintainance, fiber-cement will probably be your best option. It won't rot and it holds on to paint better than wood. The really cheap pressboard lap siding tends to fall apart after a few years so you might want to avoid that. There are different manufacturers of fiber-cement siding. So, it's worth shopping a little and watching for sales.

If you intend to apply fiber cement siding to ICF blocks, you may be able to just glue it on rather than use nails. There are some newer adhesives that grab fast and permanent. Then, all you would need to do is caulk the seams.

No, you can't "glue-on" fiber cement siding..what are you thinking of????

As to economical siding, I suggest you decide what your budget is, how long you plan on living there, how much return you can get when you sell, and after you balance everything out, buy the best siding you can!

When you post "economical" I think vinyl, which has it's market, and it's place. You say you don't want vinyl, then use Fiber cement and move on!

I have it on my own ICF house, I use it on my clients houses, and it will payback in long term value. I've also used manufactured stone to completely cover a house exterior, and it's not a budget concious choice! Use it for accents, and you'll be fine!

I am think of the 4x8 fiber cement panels the I have used in the past. They cost even less to use than fiber cement lap siding. I have glued them to the exterior of studs without using underlayment. ( I used long metal braces under the panels to stiffen the walls.) It has worked quite well.

IFC blocks expand and contract very little and don't warp. If installed and filled correctly, they shouldn't move at all and you can glue wallboard on the inside and fibercement panels on the outside.

You're missing the point! I agree that glue can work well siding to wood, but glueing the 4 x 8,9,or10' sheets onto a foam backer or substrate is a disaster waiting to fail! at least in my climate, the northeast. The weight element alone will cause it to eventually start to drop! I also understand you need fasteners so that the glue has a chance to cure, but I wouldn't just glue it!

The last barn I did with 4x10 sheets we used ss rs nails into the wood studs; worked fine. However, if nailing or screwing large sheets of fiber cement to ICF straps I would probably also use glue to try and stop any slide action. In this case it wouldn't hurt, however, I would still consider my mechanical fasteners as the primary attachment method!

I don't see the point choosing a fiber cement board at all. I gather the idea is to achieve a look of something it isn't for a more cost effective process. We are looking closely into this idea but installing individual peices seems to be as time consuming as conventional siding hence pushing up the labor expense. I am close to pulling the trigger on a product that can give the appearance of virtually anything like brick, stone, stucco or even wood that is easy and quick for the installer saving labor and raw material costs. Our project is already running over and this seams to make the most economic sense. I have always thought that if you want to resemble something than get the real stuff but material and especially labor has gotten way out of hand. we have spoken to Permacrete and are planning to visit Gigacrete in Las Vegas this month while on vacation there. I will let you know what we find!

Hi beno,

 

            We used Novabrik on our Icf Home I live in right now, 2 full walls of 18' x 28' and a wall of 53 x 18'
covered to -+ 50% ( windows and Door ) costed 6095$ in brick/Ledge/corner stones ....

Took us 3 weekend ( 4 to 6 person ) to do it, with 0 experience....

lemme know if you want Photos...

Francis

I'd like to see the pics too.

Are Permacrete and Gigacrete products I could use as exterior siding on ICF? Do I paint them?
How does their price compare with FCS (fiber cement siding) ?

Here are some Photo's...

Don't mind the typar, my father was very anal about it...

We used Hardie Board siding (the fiber cement that looks like wood siding).  It's stronger & the paint lasts longer, especially since we got the Color Plus siding with Boothbay Blue.  The builder just attached the Hardie Board right into the firring strips. 

A caveat: the Hardie trim pieces are very fragile, and our builder said that next time, he would use Hardie siding but PVC trim.  Once the Hardie trim pieces are installed, they're fine, but he said they're a pain to work with.  Each little piece cost him $15, too, and he snapped quite a few in the installation process.

If you're interested in exterior photos (you honestly can't tell the difference between my ICF house and my neighbor's stick frame), here is my building journal:

LINK

Cheers!
Heather W

What about this product:
HDP - high density polyurethane
FSH-OLAP - Cedar Motif Siding - Full Panel
LINK

Great fake looking product. LOL
What's wrong with REAL cedar shingles ?